Sarah Cypher

flashiness, a form of over-writing, when the writer chooses words that draw attention away from the story’s content and to themselves. We cannot forget that we are reading. Revise by toning down the narrative voice.

NO: The car purred and growled and caterwauled and, with a screech, shredded the outer three millimeters of high grade rubber across a swath of Flanders Street as it took off like a demon cat.

YES: Uncle Jimmy’s Subaru idled in a cloud of exhaust. When I gave him a whistle, he revved it one last time—the engine made a predatory growl—and then took off down Flanders Street, leaving a layer of high-test rubber on the pavement and the smell of burned hair.

***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.

clock, a story element that gives the main character a limited amount of time to accomplish an important task. It is essential because it creates suspense and urgency.

EXAMPLE: Consider adding a clock to the character’s promise to improve his grades. If he doesn’t earn a B by mid-semester, he’ll be off the basketball team and he’ll lose his scholarship.

***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.

blandness (also flatness) is a problem created by not enough attention to detail. The writer relies on dull adjectives, overused adverbs, and simplistic actions to convey emotions and description. The effect on the reader, after several pages, is boring and numbing because the writing doesn’t tell us much, and further, lacks the precision of music that comes from having an ear for the English language. Revise by adding succinctness and more voice.

NO: He ate his sandwich with one hand and drove with the other. The light turned green and he accelerated through the intersection. He listened while she spoke, and made a left at the next light.

YES: He navigated the streets, driving, eating, stopping, and going when the lights prompted him to go. He paid fastidious attention to everything but his wife’s voice.

***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.

foil, a character who represents the recessive traits of the protagonist. The foil character helps illuminate what the protagonist could have been—or might still become.

EXAMPLE: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Gollum is Bilbo Baggins’s foil. Although seemingly opposites, Gollum was once a hobbit whose greed and selfishness corrupted him. Bilbo must avoid a similar fate.

***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.

sensibility is the writer’s deeply personal worldview, covering everything from how he or she regards humanity to what is worth writing about. It’s a feeling that pervades the whole body of a writer’s work, and influences the types of themes he or she covers. It’s why the kind of story that appeals to Stephen King will probably never be written by Danielle Steele.

EXAMPLE: {If you believe that it’s OK for your hero to crush puppies’ skulls for sport, then I’m not sure I can connect with your sensibility enough to edit the rest of your story.}

***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.