Turkey City Lexicon (14kb) [1/1]
Michael Caver
THE TURKEY CITY LEXICON
A Primer for SF Workshops
Edited by Lewis Shiner
(NOT COPYRIGHTED)
Brought to The Net by Michael Caver
rat...@atheist.tamu.edu
Available via WWW at
http://atheist.tamu.edu/~ratboy/Turkey/lexicon.html
1. INTRODUCTION
1a. Origin
2. WORDS
2a. Said Bookism
2b. Tom Swiftly
2c. Burly Detective Syndrome
2d. Eyeball Kick
2e. Pushbutton Words
2f. Bathos
2g. Brand Name Fever
3. SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS
3a. Countersinking
3b. Telling, Not Showing
3c. Laughtrack
3d. Squid in the Mouth
3e. Hand Waving
3f. Fuzz
3g. Discism
3h. Bogus Alternatives
3i. False Interiorization
3j. White Room Syndrome
4. BACKGROUNDS
4a. Info Dump
4b. Stapledon
4c. As You Know, Bob
4d. I've Suffered For My Art
4e. Re-Inventing the Wheel
4f. Used Furniture
4g. Space Western
4h. The Edges of Ideas
4i. The Grubby Apartment Story
5. PLOTS
5a. Card Tricks in the Dark
5b. The Jar of Tang
5c. Abbess Phone Home
5d. God-in-the-Box
5e. Plot Coupons
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1. INTRODUCTION
This manual is intended to focus on the special needs of the science
fiction workshop. Having an accurate and descriptive critical term for
a common SF problem makes it easier to recognize and discuss. This guide
is intended to save workshop participants from having to "Re-Invent the
Wheel" (see 4e.) at every session. The terms here were generally developed
over a period of many years in many workshops. Those identified with a
particular writer are acknowledged in parentheses at the end of the entry.
Particular help for this project was provided by Bruce Sterling and the
other regulars of the Turkey City Workshop in Austin, Texas.
1a. Origin
I was given the Turkey City Lexicon as part of class materials
for a small writing class I took at Texas A&M University sometime
around 1992. The very first page says NOT COPYRIGHTED so I took
it upon myself to freely distribute it to anyone who needs it,
including via my World Wide Web page. The address is at the top
of this document.
I don't know how widely it is used, but it has been very helpful
to me. It is intended for science fiction writers primarily, but
I've found it useful for all genres of writing.
There are cases, however, when I have disagreed with its guide-
lines. In those cases, I always take my own instinct over the
Lexicon's advice. It has been my (granted, limited) experience
that science fiction is a very rigid field. My pieces tend to be
a bit more abstract. Sometimes it is good to break the rules, or
at least bend them a little. As with all how-to-write literature,
it should be taken as reference material only and not as a stead-
fast set of rules. Write what and how you feel is correct, at
least that's my rule of thumb.
Michael Caver
rat...@atheist.tamu.edu
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2. WORDS
2a. Said Booksims
Artificial literary verb used to avoid the perfectly good word
"said." "Said" is one of the few invisible words in the language;
it is almost impossible to overuse. Infinately less distracting
than "he retorted," "she inquired," or the all-time favorite,
"he ejaculated."
2b. Tom Swiftly
Similar compulsion to follow the word "said" (or Said Bookism
#2a) with an adverb. As in:
"We'd better hurry," said Tom swiftly.
Remeber that the adverb is a leech sucking the strength from
a verb. 99% of the time it is clear from context how something
was said.
2c. Burly Detective Syndrome
Fear of proper names. Found in most of the same pulp magazines
that abound with Said Bookisms (#2a) and Tom Swifties (#2b).
This is where you can't call Mike Shayne "Shayne" but substitute
"the burly detective" or "the red-headed sleuth". Like the Said
Bookism (#2a) it comes from the entirely wrong-headed conviction
that you can't use the same word twice in the same sentence,
paragraph, or even page. This is only true of particularly strong
and highly visible words, like, say, "vertiginous". It's always
better to re-use an ordinary, simple noun or verb rather than
contrive a cumbersome method of avoiding it.
2d. Eyeball Kick
That perfect, telling detail that creates an instant visual image.
The ideal of certain postmodern schools of SF is to achieve a
crammed prose full of eyeball kicks. (Rudy Rucker)
2e. Pushbutton Words
Words used to evoke an emotional response without engaging in
intellect or critical faculties. Words like "song" or "poet" or
"tears" or "dreams." These are supposed to make us misty-eyed
without quite knowing why. Most often found in story titles.
2f. Bathos
Sudden change in level of diction.
"The massive hound barked in a stentorian voice then made wee-wee
on the carpet."
2g. Brand Name Fever
Use of a brand name alone, without accompanying visual detail, to
create a false verisimilitude. You can stock a future with Hondas
and Sonys and IBMs and still have no idea what it looks like.
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3. SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS
3a. Countersinking
Expositional redundancy. Making the actions implied in the
conversation explicit, e.g.:
"Let's get out of here," he said, urging her to leave.
3b. Telling, Not Showing
Violates the cardinal rule of good writing. The reader should
be allowed to react, not instructed how to react. Carefully
observed details render authorial value judgements unneccesary.
For instance, instead of telling us "she had a bad childhood, an
unhappy childhood," specific incidents--involving, say, a locked
closet and two jars of honey--should be shown.
3c. Laughtrack
Characters give clues to the reader as to how to react. They
laugh at their own jokes, cry at their own pain, and (uninten-
tionally) feel everything so the reader doesn't have to.
3d. Squid in the Mouth
Inappropriate humor in front of strangers. Basically the failure
of an author to realize certain assumptions or jokes are not shared
by the world at large. In fact, the world at large will look upon
such a writer as if they had squid in their mouths. (Jim Blaylock)
3e. Hand Waving
Distracting the reader with dazzling prose or other fireworks to
keep them from noticing a severe logical flaw. (Stuart Brand)
3f. Fuzz
Element of motivation the author was too lazy to supply. The word
"somehow" is an automatic tipoff to fuzzy areas of a story.
"Somehow she forgot to bring her gun."
3g. Dischism
Intrusion of author's physical surroundings (or mental state) into
the narrative. Like the character who always lights a cigarette
when the author does, or is thinking about how they wished they
hadn't quit smoking. In more subtle forms the characters complain
that they're confused and don't know what to do--when this is
actually the author's condition. (Tom Disch)
3h. Bogus Alternatives
List of alternative choices a character could have taken, but didn't.
Frequently includes the reasons why. A type of Dischism (#3g) in
which the author works 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 spen the night in jail. I
suppose I could have just run instead of stealing the car, but..."
Best dispensed with entirely.
3i. False Interioroization
Another Dischism (#3g), in which the author, too lazy to describe the
surroundings, inflicts the viewpoint character with space sickness, a
blindfold, etc.
3j. White Room Syndrome
Author's imagination fails to provide details. Most common in the
beginning of a story.
"She awoke in a white room."
The white room is obviously the white piece of paper confronting
the author. The character has just woken up in order to be starting
fresh, like the author. Often in order to ponder her circumstances
and provide an excuse for Info Dump (#4a).
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4. BACKGROUND
4a. Info Dump
Large chunk of indigestible expository matter intended to explain
the background situation. This can be overt, as in fake newspaper
articles or Encyclopedia Galactica articles inserted in the text,
or covert, in which all action stops as the author assumes center
stage and lectures.
4b. Stapledon
Name assigned to the voice which takes center stage and lectures.
Actually, a common noun, as:
You have a stapledon come on to answer this problem instead of
showing the characters resolve it.
4c. As You Know, Bob
The most pernicious form of Info Dump (#4a). In which the characters
tell each other things they already know, for the sake of getting the
reader up to speed.
4d. Ive Suffered For My Art (And Now It's Your Turn)
Research dump. A form of Info Dump (#4a) in which the author
inflicts upon the reader irrelevant, but hard-won, bits of data
acquired while researching the story.
4e. Re-Inventing the Wheel
In which the novice author goes to enormous lengths to create a
situation already familiar to an experienced reader. You most often
see this when a highly regarded mainstream writer tried to write as
SF novel without actually reading any of the existing stuff first
(because it's all obviously crap anyway). Thus you get endless
explanations of, say, how an atmoic war might get started, but we've
all read that already. Also you get tedious explanations by physicists
of how their interstellar drive works. Unless it impacts the plot,
we don't care.
4f. Used Furniture
Use of a background out of Central Casting. Rather than invent a
background and having to explain it, or risk Re-Inventing The Wheel
(#4e), 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.
4g. Space Western
The most pernicious suite of Used Furniture (#4f). 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.
4h. The Edges of Ideas
The solution to the Info Dump (#4a) problem (how to fill in the
background). The theory is that, as above, the mechanics of an
interstellar drive (the center of the idea) is not important; all
that matters is the impact on your characters: they can get to
other planets in a few months, and, oh yeah, it gives them
hallucinations about past lives. Or, more radically: the physics
of TV transmission is the center of the idea; on the edges of it
we find people turning into couch potatoes because they no longer
have to leave home for entertainment. Or, more bluntly: we don't
need Info Dump (#4a) at all. We just need a clear picture of how
people's lives have been affected by their background. This is
also known as Carrying Extrapolation into the Fabric of Everyday
Life.
4i. The Grubby Apartment Story
Writing too much about what you know. The kind of story where the
starving writer living in a grubby apartment writes a story about
a starving writer living in a grubby apartment. Stars all his
friends.
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5. PLOTS
5a. Card Tricks in the Dark
Authorial tricks to no visible purpose. The author has contrived
an elaborate plot to arrive at A) the punchline of a joke no one
else will get B) some bit of historical trivia. In other words,
if the point of your story is that this kid is going to grow up
to be Joseph or Arimathea, there should be sufficient internal
evidence for us to figure this out.
5b. The Jar of Tang
"For you see, we are all living in a jar of Tang!" or
"For you see, I am a dog!"
Mainstay of the old Twilight Zone TV show. An entire pointless
story contrived so the author can cry "fooled you!" 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?" is an example of the latter. Good
SF requires ideas, not conceits.
5c. Abbess Phone Home
Takes its name from a mainstream story about a medival cloister
which was sold as SF because of the serendipitous arrival of
a UFO at the end. By extension, any mainstream story with a
gratuitous SF or fantasy element tacked on so it could be sold.
5d. God-in-the-Box
Miraculous solution to an otherwise insoluable problem. Look,
the Martians all caught cold and died!
5e. Plot Coupons
The true structure of the quest-type fantasy novel. The hero
collects sufficient plot coupons (magic sword, magic book,
magic cat) to send off to the author for the ending. Note that
the author can be substituted for the Gods in such a work:
"The Gods decreed he would persue this quest."
Right, mate. The author decreed he would pursue this quest until
sufficient pages were filled to procure an advance. (Dave Langford)
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Latest version at http://atheist.tamu.edu/~ratboy/Turkey/lexicon.html
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Paul & Anita
> THE TURKEY CITY LEXICON
> A Primer for SF Workshops
> Edited by Lewis Shiner
> (NOT COPYRIGHTED)
> Brought to The Net by Michael Caver
> rat...@atheist.tamu.edu
> Available via WWW at
> http://atheist.tamu.edu/~ratboy/Turkey/lexicon.html
<huge snip of terrific info)
Not only educational but entertaining. Thanks, Mike!
Aloha (now I have to go all teh way back to chapter 1 and search out my own
examples of these "turkeys" <g>) Anita