ASM: Turkey City Lexicon
Just like the military, Fiction writers use a specialized language born out of a need to accurately and succinctly describe situations in a hostile and changing environment. Enter the Turkey City Lexicon for years. Growing out of a science fiction writer’s group in Austin, Texas, it’s an invaluable resource for all writers.
It’s a collection of humorous writing tips, apt names for writing errors and a kind of secret handshake for writers all rolled into one.
For Example:
- The Kitchen-Sink StoryA story overwhelmed by the inclusion of any and every new idea that occurs to the author in the process of writing it. (Attr. Damon Knight)
- And plotPicaresque plot in which this happens, and then that happens, and then something else happens, and it all adds up to nothing in particular.
- Eyeball KickVivid, telling details that create a kaleidoscopic effect of swarming visual imagery against a baroquely elaborate SF background. One ideal of cyberpunk SF was to create a “crammed prose” full of “eyeball kicks.” (Attr. Rudy Rucker)
And it’s now been released to the public at the SFWA website.
Learn these terms. Use them wisely and you’ll get more out of your writing workshop. The other writers wil no exactly what you mean by an “As you know,Bob” passage and you’ll look like you know what you’re doing.
Which, of course is half the battle.
