So, I was in the New Member intro threads, and I realized something. Someone new to writing or otherwise new to talking to people about writing may not understand some of the terms we used. Terms that come to mind are WIP, MC, and the most uncommon one: SPAG. I know when I started the forum, I was definitely confused and people had to teach me the proper definitions of things. Which led to the idea... Why not have our own WF dictionary to reference newbies to? I've already got these words/acronyms: MC WIP SPAG WF Pantser Plotter I am sure there are others. So, I ask you, what are some words that confused you when you were new to writing, and new to the forum?
All those are examples of things I learnt here. Another one is YA (young adult= teen). Um, I can't think of any others right now.
A glossary wouldn't be a bad idea in my opinion, I'm still trying to figure out half the terms from context. It might also be interesting to select a common dictionary for definitions and such, such that misunderstandings can be avoided or resolved.
I've been on here for a while (Over a year? I'd have to look it up.) and I still find myself puzzling over acronyms and terminology from time to time. So, yeah, good idea. One caution, however. It's going to be difficult to 'sell' the actual meanings of some words because of widespread misuse or commonly-held belief in the wrong meaning(s). For instance, there was quite a heated discussion a few weeks back over what constitutes a theme. A lot of people were exposed to definitions by well-meaning teachers or critics—working in other media than literature—where the word is used differently. It's hard to convince someone that the definition of a word they learned "at their father's knee" (so to speak) is incorrect.
This is a good idea. I'd say there are also a lot of genre-specific terms out there that could also be included, since genres tend to have their own subcultures and jargon. I was reading one of the sci-fi threads and someone didn't know what FTL (Faster Than Light) stood for--I don't say that to be judgmental, just that I'd like to make things more inclusive by having a place people can go to brush up on the lingo.
