E-F #AtoZChallenge

 

My A to Z challenge theme is writing terms.

Today is brought to you by the letter F.

However, I’m going to backtrack and include E because I was getting some medical tests done yesterday and it left me completely exhausted.

Edit: To review a piece of writing to correct grammatical, spelling, or factual errors. Editing often includes shortening or lengthening of a piece of writing to fit an available space before publication. Self-editing can save you many headaches once you send your work to an editor. I have started sending my clients a pre-editing form that they make certain edit calls before I see it. It’s in their best interest and it will ultimately result in getting their work back faster.

Epic: A long narrative poem, told in a formal, elevated style that focuses on a serious subject and chronicles heroic deeds and events important to a culture or nation. Nowadays, we see epic attached to just about anything. “That was an epic movie.” “Her response to the instructor was epic!” Epic is used as a subgenre of fantasy. An epic fantasy is like Lord of the Rings. It’s not written in poetic style,  but it vastly encompassing chronicling the heroic deeds of two seemingly unimportant hobbits.

Euphemism: A phrase used in place of something disagreeable or upsetting. For example – “passed out” for “fainted”. Using the word murder is distasteful, so instead authors will use snuff out, rub out, knock off,  kill, a one-way ticket, and other slang terms. Just as an interesting aside, I  have found many confuse euphemism for colloquialism.

 Fees: Money paid to the writer for his/her services.

 

Flash Fiction: A piece of fiction written in less than 500 words. I first stumbled upon the phenomenon of flash fiction via Chuck Wendig of Terrible Minds. It’s a great way to get the creative juices flowing.

Formatting: The manner in which a manuscript is prepared and presented. There are professionals that do this although many Indie authors do this themselves. Formatting has changed a lot with the advent of ebooks. 

Freewriting: Writing continuously without worrying about how well you are writing. This kind of informal writing is meant to explore one’s thoughts, unload one’s feelings, or reflect on something. This takes practice!  This is one of the ways that I clear my mind. I will set a timer and for thirty minutes just write –  write whatever I am feeling, whatever I am grumbling about inside, whatever is weighing on me at that moment. Then I take a break, get a cup of coffee or a glass of water and then free write my story. I get the most words down like this,  but it will require more time spent in editing. I use this when I’ve been logjammed in my writing. For instance, yesterday I was working on my WIP, and I got hung up on a small detail. This happens often, getting hung up on a detail. This particular detail is the name of my Main character. When I read the beginning of the chapter to my daughters, they began laughing and giggling. My character’s name was Terbius Jaspar. They thought it was hysterical and couldn’t believe that I didn’t see that everyone  – EVERYONE – would hear it as turd bus -AKA the big green rolling turd. *Hangs head* I spent the rest of my writing time coming up with a new character name. 

Then of course there are the rabbits that pop up everywhere!

Write on my friends, write on!

Till next time,

Ellie