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Turkey City Lexicon: Difference between revisions
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* '''[[Show, Don't Tell|Show, not Tell]]:''' A cardinal principle of effective writing. The reader should be allowed to react naturally to the evidence presented in the story, not [[Take Our Word for It|instructed in how to react by the author]]. Specific incidents and carefully observed details will render auctorial lectures unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling the reader "She had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," a specific incident -- involving, say, [[Noodle Incident|a locked closet and two jars of honey]] -- should be shown.
* '''[[Lampshade Hanging|Signal from Fred]]''': A comic form of the "Dischism" in which the author's subconscious, alarmed by the poor quality of the work, makes unwitting critical comments: [[Who Writes This Crap?|"This doesn't make sense." "This is really boring." "This sounds like a bad movie."]] (Attr. Damon Knight)
* '''[[Author Appeal|Squid in the Mouth]]:''' The failure of an author to realize that his/her own weird assumptions and personal in-jokes are simply not shared by the world-at-large. Instead of applauding the wit or insight of the author's remarks, the world-at-large will stare in vague shock and alarm at such a writer, as if he or she had a live squid in the mouth. Since SF writers as a breed are generally quite loony, and in fact make this a stock in trade, "squid in the mouth" doubles as a term of grudging praise, describing the essential, irreducible, divinely unpredictable lunacy of the true SF writer. (Attr. James P Blaylock)
* '''Squid on the Mantelpiece:''' [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov said that if there are dueling pistols over the mantelpiece in the first act, they should be fired in the third.]] In other words, a plot element should be deployed in a timely fashion and with proper dramatic emphasis. However, in SF plotting the [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]] are often so overwhelming that they cause conventional plot structures to collapse. It's hard to properly dramatize, say, [[Developing Doomed Characters|the domestic effects of Dad's bank overdraft]] when a giant writhing kraken is levelling the city. This mismatch between the conventional dramatic proprieties and SF's extreme, grotesque, or visionary thematics is known as the "squid on the mantelpiece."
* '''[[White Void Room|White Room Syndrome]]:''' A clear and common sign of the failure of the author's imagination, most often seen at the beginning of a story, before the setting, background, or characters have gelled. "She awoke in a white room." The 'white room' is a featureless set for which details have yet to be invented -- a failure of invention by the author. The character 'wakes' in order to begin a fresh train of thought -- again, just like the author. This 'white room' opening is generally followed by much earnest pondering of circumstances and useless exposition; all of which can be cut, painlessly. It remains to be seen whether the "white room" cliche will fade from use now that most authors confront glowing screens rather than blank white paper.
* '''Wiring Diagram Fiction:''' A genre ailment related to "False Humanity," "Wiring Diagram Fiction" involves "characters" who show [[Dull Surprise|no convincing emotional]] [[Angst? What Angst?|reactions at all]], since they are overwhelmed by the author's fascination with [[Expospeak|gadgetry or didactic lectures]].
* '''[[Who Writes This Crap?|You Can't Fire Me, I Quit]]:''' An attempt to diffuse the reader's incredulity with a pre-emptive strike -- as if by anticipating the reader's objections, the author had somehow answered them. "I would never have believed it, if I hadn't seen it myself!" "It was one of those [[Contrived Coincidence|amazing coincidences]] that [[Freakier Than Fiction|can only take place]] [[This Is Reality|in real life]]!" "It's a [[Million-to-One Chance|one-in-a-million chance]], but it's [[Crazy Enough to Work|so crazy it just might work]]!" Surprisingly common, especially in SF. (Attr. John Kessel)
== Part Three: Common Workshop Story Types ==
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* '''[[Deus Ex Machina]] or "God in the Box":''' Story featuring a miraculous solution to the story's conflict, which comes out of nowhere and renders the plot struggles irrelevant. [[H. G. Wells]] warned against SF's love for the deus ex machina when he coined the famous dictum that "If anything is possible, then nothing is interesting." Science fiction, which specializes in making the impossible seem plausible, is always deeply intrigued by godlike powers in the handy pocket size. [[Deus Est Machina|Artificial Intelligence]], [[Lotus Eater Machine|virtual realities]] and [[Nanotechnology]] are three contemporary SF [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]] that are cheap portable sources of limitless miracle. Said to have been developed in ancient Greek theater, where the 'god' would be an actor suddenly thrown into the scene, without explanation, to [[Hand Wave]] glaring plot holes and/or explain a badly-written, confusing story to the audience.
* '''[[Life Embellished|The Grubby Apartment Story]]:''' Similar to the "poor me" story, this autobiographical effort features a [[Most Writers Are Writers|miserably quasi-bohemian writer]], living in urban angst in a grubby apartment. The story commonly stars the [[Write Who You Know|author's friends in thin disguises]] -- friends who may also be the author's workshop companions, to their considerable alarm.
* '''[[Tomato Surprise|The Jar of Tang]]:''' "For you see, we are all living in a jar of Tang!" or "For you see, I am a dog!" A story contrived so that the author can spring a [[Shocking Swerve|silly surprise]] about its setting. Mainstay of the old ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' TV show. An entire pointless story contrived so the author can cry "[[Twist Ending|Fooled you]]!" For instance, the story takes place in a desert of coarse orange sand surrounded by an impenetrable vitrine barrier; surprise! [[Tomato in the Mirror|our heroes are microbes]] in a jar of Tang powdered orange drink. This is a classic case of the difference between a conceit and an idea. "What if we all lived in a jar of Tang?" is an example of the former; "What if the revolutionaries from the sixties had been allowed to set up their own society?"<ref>Didn't they actually do that in Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark, and many alternative communes?</ref> is an example of the latter. Good SF requires ideas, not conceits. (Attr. Stephen P. Brown) When done with serious intent rather than as a passing conceit, this type of story can be dignified by the term "Concealed Environment." (Attr. Christopher Priest)
* '''[[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Just-Like Fallacy]]:''' SF story which thinly adapts the trappings of a standard pulp adventure setting. The spaceship is "just like" [[Space Is an Ocean|an Atlantic steamer]], down to the [[Star Trek|Scottish chief engineer]]. A colony planet is [[All Planets Are Earthlike|"just like" Arizona]] [[Star Wars|except for two moons in the sky]]. The "[[Space Western]]", [[Space Pirates]] and futuristic [[Hardboiled Detective]] stories have been especially common versions.
* '''[[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|The Kitchen-Sink Story]]:''' A 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)
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* '''[[Random Events Plot|And plot]]:''' Picaresque plot in which this happens, and then that happens, and then something else happens, and it all adds up to nothing in particular.
* '''Bogus Alternatives:''' List of actions a character [[Take a Third Option|could have taken]], but didn't. Frequently includes all the reasons why. In this nervous mannerism, the author stops the action dead to work out complicated plot problems at the reader's expense. "If I'd gone along with the cops they would have found the gun in my purse. And anyway, I didn't want to spend the night in jail. I suppose I could have just run instead of stealing their car, but then ... " etc. Best dispensed with entirely.
* '''Card Tricks in the Dark:''' Elaborately contrived plot which arrives at (a) the punchline of a [[In
* '''[[Idiot Plot]]:''' A plot which functions only because all the characters involved are idiots. They behave in a way that suits the author's convenience, rather than through any rational motivation of their own. (Attr. James Blish)
* '''[[Kudzu Plot]]:''' Plot which weaves and curls and writhes in weedy organic profusion, smothering everything in its path.
* '''[[Plot Coupon|Plot Coupons]]:''' The basic building blocks of the quest-type fantasy plot. The "hero" collects sufficient plot coupons (magic sword, magic book, magic cat) to send off to the author for the ending. Note that "[[Word of God|the author]]" can be substituted for "the Gods" in such a work: "[[Because Destiny Says So|The Gods decreed he would pursue this quest]]." Right, mate. The author decreed he would pursue this quest until sufficient pages were filled to procure an advance. ([[Dave Langford]])
* '''Second-order Idiot Plot:''' A plot involving an entire invented SF society which functions only because every single person in it is necessarily an idiot. (Attr. Damon Knight)
== Part Five: Background ==
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* '''[[Space Western]]:''' The most pernicious suite of "Used Furniture". The grizzled space captain swaggering into the spacer bar and slugging down a Jovian brandy, then laying down a few credits for a space hooker to give him a Galactic Rim Job.
* '''[[Writer on Board|Stapledon]]:''' Name assigned to the voice which takes center stage to lecture. Actually a common noun, as: "You have a Stapledon come on to answer this problem instead of showing the characters resolve it."
* '''[[Recycled in Space|Used Furniture]]:''' Use of a background out of Central Casting. Rather than invent a background and have to explain it, or risk re-inventing the wheel, let's just steal one. We'll set it in the ''[[Star Trek]]'' Universe, only we'll call it [[The Empire]] instead of [[The Federation]].
== Part Six: Character and Viewpoint ==
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* '''[[The Everyman|Mrs. Brown]]:''' The small, downtrodden, eminently common, everyday little person who nevertheless encapsulates something vital and important about the human condition. "Mrs. Brown" is a rare personage in the SF genre, being generally overshadowed by swaggering submyth types made of the finest gold-plated cardboard. In a famous essay, "Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown," [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] decried Mrs. Brown's absence from the SF field. (Attr: Virginia Woolf)
* '''[[Trope|Submyth]]:''' Classic character-types in SF which aspire to the condition of archetype but don't quite make it, such as the [[Mad Scientist]], the [[AI Is a Crapshoot|crazed supercomputer]], the [[The Spock|emotionless super-rational alien]], the [[Tyke Bomb|vindictive mutant child]], etc. (Attr. [[Ursula K. Le Guin]])
* '''Viewpoint glitch:''' The author loses track of point-of-view, [[Switching POV|switches point-of-view]] for no good reason, or relates something that the viewpoint character could not possibly know.
== Part Seven: Miscellaneous ==
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