If you would like a really complete, and good book on writers definitions, check out "Definitions For Writers," by Suzette Flemming, now available at Roberts Publishing

*This is not technically a real library, therefore, our definitions are not alphabetized! While there are few defintions now, there will be more in the near future. Thank you for your patience.

Query Letter: A letter to an editor, artistic director, producer etc...to introduce your work, and drum up interest so that they will want to read the entire manuscipt. Query letters are instrumental in providing information to an editor in a concise way. If you know how to write a good query letter, your chances of selling your work will be much better.

Unsolicited Manuscript: This means you didn't send a query letter, and they do not who you are, or why they are recieving your work cold. Many theaters, production companies, magazines, etc...will not accept unsolicted manuscripts, and it is always a good idea to check ahead of time, so you don't waste your time mailing it out, or theirs sending it back, unread.

ByLine: It is the name of the author appearing with the work when it is published.

Cover Letter: A Brief letter, usually accompanying a manuscript that an editor has requested to see. The Cover Letter is NOT a query letter.

Anthology A collection of works by either one author, or several. This can be poetry, short stories, plays, etc...

Book Packager You'll also hear them called Book Developers or Book Producers. They are involved form the beginning of coming up with the concept and the writing of the work all the way up to the marketing plan. They then sell this to a Book Publisher who actually prints the book.

Chapbook Usually referring to a paperback book for poetry. There are several publishers of Chapbooks, including Universities and smaller presses. You'll find they most often publish Poetry Chapbooks and hold contests for these. Chapbooks also include short stories, and sometimes ballads.

B&W Short for Black and White, most commonly in reference to photographs.

Kill Fee: Sounds bad doesn't it? It's not code for rubbing someone out! It means that is you were to sell an article to a magazine, and receive $100 upon publishment of the work, and the kill fee was $25, then, if they later decided not to publish the article, you would recive $25.

Advance: This is a good thing! An advance is a sum of money that a publisher pays a writer/author, before the book is published. Now, the money isn't just bonus money, it is uusually an advance on royalties that will be made on the book, and it is usually paid in installments.

Clips: Ever getting ready to submit something you've written and they ask for clips? This refers to any newspaper clippings your work may have appeared in, magazine clippings, etc...

Lead Time: You sell a manuscript...(beginning of lead time) you edit...they edit...you edit again...you wait...it actually gets published (end of Lead Time) Lead time is the time between the manuscript being bought and it being published.

Ghostwriter: When an article, book, etc... is written by you based on someone else's characters, knowledge, etc...

Submission Guidelines: These are usually required when submitting almost anything to anyone, and you should always write or call ahead of time to find out if they have them. SubmissionGuidelines are exactly what they sound like...a list of guidelines someone must adhere to when submitting a manuscript, poem, article, etc..This can include how to bind it, what information about the work or the writer to include, and numerous other things.

Pseudonym: Also known as a pen name, is an assumed name that you may subit your work under. When it comes time to sign a contract, you sign your REAL name. Some places like to know if you are writing under a pen name ahead of time, and there is no problem in telling them.

Letter Quality Submission Type it up on the computer, this has to be professional.

LORT This is short for League Of Resident Theatres. After a LORT listing there will be a letter, A-D. This is the size of the theatre as determined by LORT.

Erotica Fiction that is sexually oriented.

Hard Copy Nope, not the television show, this Hard Copy means the printed copy of your work from the computer. Instead of sending a diskette for example, you may be asked to send the Hard Copy of your script.

Page Rate Say you sell an article or a short story to a magazine. They can pay you at a page rate...that is they pay you a certain amount for each page that they print.

Simultaneous Submissions This means that you are sending your work (meaning the same piece of work) out to more than one place at a given time. Check with each place before doing this to make sure they accept simultaneous submissions.

Multiple Submissions This is sending more than one piece of work to the same place at the same time. Such as greeting cards, poetry etc...

Slush Pile This is the pile the publishers throw unsolicited scripts...unwanted scripts...low priorites, mis- directed scripts, etc. A goal in writing is to avoid the slush pile if at all possible.

Plagiarism This is something to be very wary of in all writing. Sometimes it is done completely by accident because you saw a movie two years ago and barely remember a snipit of part of it's good plot, forgetting you saw it, you write a story just like it. Other times, it is done intentionally with the hopes of passing off someone elses hard work as your own. This is another reason to register your work with the Writer's Guild and Copyright Office.

Thrust Stage A stage in which the audience is able to sit on 3 sides of it.

Arena Stage A stage that sits in the center of the seating...the audience is able to sit on all 4 sides of the stage.

Proscenium Stage What you would consider your traditional looking stage. The audience is seated in front of the stage, and it is custom for the stage to look "framed", with a border around it. This stage is commonly closed off by curtains between acts, etc...