As I dive deeper into writing longer works, I thought it might be helpful for some of you if I took the time to define a few of the terms that you may see me using when I am discussing my stories and the process of their creation on the blog. I hope this short list helps you out.
MC: Main Character, a.k.a. who or what the story is mainly centred around.
WIP: Work In Progress, a.k.a. a novel or other piece of writing that is in an unfinished state, or in progress.
Protagonist: Generally considered the "good guy," a.k.a who the author wants you to be rooting for. This character can be the same as your MC. The protagonist is the one moving the story forward in good ways, trying to accomplish the end goal of the story.
Antagonist: Generally considered the "bad guy," a.k.a. the one getting in the way of the protagonist or MC's goals. The antagonist doesn't necessarily have to be a human. For example, it could be an illness the protagonist is battling. The antagonist is the one trying to keep the story from moving forward. The antagonist's main purpose is making attempts at thwarting the end goal of the story.
Novel November: My version of NaNoWriMo. You can read a bit more about that at the end of this post, where I attempt to explain why I now say Novel November instead of NaNoWriMo.
Dialogue: Conversation between two or more characters.
Monologue: One-sided conversation, a.k.a. when a character is literally talking to himself/herself. I think that a character's private thoughts would also count as a monologue. Written letters and journal entries might count as well.
Genre: A specific category in which your book belongs, a.k.a. historical fiction; fantasy; science fiction. Genres are just ways of grouping similar books together. Doing this can make it easier to find more books you'll like, as you can search up [insert genre here] + [any other specifications you might have] and end up with lots of new books to try.
Draft: Writing that is still in the editing stage, a.k.a. a partially finished manuscript. A book might go through two or three drafts before it is finished, or it could go through ten. Those are made up numbers, but you get the idea. Not every author completes the same amount of drafts.
POV: Point of view, a.k.a. the perspective from which a story is told. The basic story POVs are first, second, and third person. First Person stories are told from the perspective of the MC. Second Person stories are told from your perspective. You are inserted into the story as one of the characters. Second Person seems to be pretty rare. Third Person stories are told from the perspective of a narrator who is outside of the story. The narrator uses names as well as third person pronouns (he, she, etc.) when referring to characters. There are many different variations of these POVs, but this gives you a starting point that is (hopefully) clear and not confusing. If you'd like to see extra definitions, see this post on masterclass.com.
Backstory: What takes place before a story begins, a.k.a. the history of your book's fictional world, or your MC's life before the story starts. Generally when I say "backstory," in the context of story creation, I am talking about a character's past life before the beginning of a story I have written (or am in the process of writing). It's basically anything that theoretically takes place before a story begins. One of my current WIPs, Dear Kasey, is filled with backstory. You can read the first bit here if you'd like to see what I mean!
Flashback:Â When a character "goes back in time," a.k.a. when they revisit past experiences their head. Flashbacks can be a very important tool for writers, giving them a creative way to weave in backstory crucial to their tale. This can be done in a variety of different ways. Techniques include through daydreams, dreams in the night, etc. Flashbacks can also be triggered by a sight, sound, smell, feeling, or, I suppose, taste, that brings an important memory to the character's mind.
Manuscript:Â The finished story, a.k.a. a story that has been polished and is ready to send to the publisher. Typically after a publisher accepts it, there will be more polishing to do, but the book must be manuscript-ready before being sent to a publisher.
Working Title: A pen name or nom de plume for your book, a.k.a. a title you slapped onto your book when you began writing it, for ease of speaking about your WIP. Sometimes a working title might stick around and become the completed book's published title, but other times it will shift and change, perhaps even several times before the title for publication is chosen.
Fun Fact: A pantser is someone who writes "by the seat of their pants," meaning they do no story outlining or plotting. They just write and see where the story takes them. The opposite of a pantser is a plotter, someone who outlines their story before beginning to write. Pretty sure I am mostly pantser, but it depends on the project.