The Editor's Lexicon

, I recommend Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, Elizabeth Lyon’s Manuscript Makeover, Lajos Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing, John Gardner’s Art of Fiction, and William Zinsser’s On Writing Wel

This book may be perused in its entirety, or consulted like a dictionary.

Character

Character refers to the people the story is about.

Plot is what happens.

Voice

Voice is the storyteller, and what it sounds like.

Theme

Theme is the idea underpinning your story, and the reason your story is being told.

I. Premise

Premise is what the story is about, in a few simple sentences.

I wish we’d had a guide like this in my early writing workshops, because knowing how to talk about fiction helps writers be more helpful to one another.

In other words, by learning the lingo, you will learn to see your work more technically and revise it better.

I have noticed that writers improve when they can identify and name their manuscript’s weak spots, and understand how and why those “wobbles” must be repaired.