CHEAT SHEET

Notes to Novel™
Glossary of Terms
—A—
Agency - Agency describes a character’s ability to take action, or make meaningful decisions that
affect their lives or the story’s plot.

Antagonist - Your story’s antagonist is the obstacle between your protagonist and their goal. And
they don’t have to be bad or evil. They are just an opponent to your protagonist. In fact, the
antagonist need not even be a person—it all depends on the type of story you’re telling.

—B—
Beta Reader - A beta reader is someone who reads your draft and provides feedback. They are not
typically “professional” editors, but they tend to offer developmental feedback like a developmental
editor would. You can find both free and paid beta readers, depending on your needs.

Book Coach - A book coach is someone who can guide you through writing, editing, or publishing
your book. They offer guidance, feedback, and support on your story as you write it.

—C—
Character Arc - A character arc describes how a character changes from the beginning of the story
to the end. They can have a positive change arc, a negative change arc, or a neutral one.

Character Goal - The specific thing your character is pursuing from the beginning of your story until
the end—or the specific thing your character wants to do, learn, accomplish in any given scene.

Character Hooks - Character hooks are things like personality traits, physical features, or
associations that define a character and distinguish them from everyone else.

Climax - The climax is a moment where your character acts on their choice. So, did they choose X or
did they choose Y? In most cases, your POV character should be taking this action.

Commercial Genre - Commercial genres are sales or marketing categories that dictate where a
book is placed, or how it’s sold, in a bookstore or online. Ex: Young Adult Fantasy.

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Content Genre - Content genres describe the type of content within a story. And each content
genre is a "blueprint" that writers can use to inform their drafts, and to craft a story that works. Ex:
Action.

Crisis - A crisis is a moment where your character faces a decision about how to move forward. Will
they do X or Y? Each crisis moment must include something at stake.

Conventions - Genre conventions are the types of characters, settings, and micro-events that
readers expect to find in a particular kind of story.

—D—

Deep-Level Why - The reason you want to write a book; the core message you want to share with
readers. It can help inform your theme and keep you motivated when times get tough.

Details TK - A placeholder that means “details to come.”

Developmental Editor - A developmental editor is someone who provides big picture feedback on
your draft. They focus on things like genre, plot, character, theme, point of view, and more.

—E—

Exposition - Exposition refers to the art of providing essential background information about the
main characters and the world of your story.

External Genres - External, plot-driven content genres are made up of stories in which the main
conflict is driven by an external antagonist or antagonistic force like a serial killer in a thriller novel.
There are external forces of conflict that the protagonist has to overcome.

External Obstacle - The person or circumstance standing in the way of your protagonist
accomplishing their story goal. (See also: Antagonist)

—F—

Fast Drafting - Fast drafting refers to writing your draft as quickly as possible with the intention of
discovering what your story is really about.

First Person POV - In first person point of view, the protagonist is the narrator of the story. They are
telling their story, from their perspective, in their voice. And they’re filtering the events of the story
through their unique worldview and biases. This is a popular choice for modern fiction.

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Five Commandments - The 5 Commandments help you build structure into your scenes. The
commandments are: the inciting incident, progressive complications that build to a turning point, a
crisis, the climax, and the resolution.

—G—

—H—

—I—

Inciting Incident - The inciting incident is the first bit of unexpected conflict that gets in the way of
your character accomplishing their scene goal. It can give rise to a new goal (but it doesn't have to).

Info-Dumping - Info-dumping happens when a writer dumps paragraphs and paragraphs of

information on the reader at one time. This slows down the pacing of your story and causes readers
to lose interest in what’s happening.

Inner Obstacle - Your character’s internal obstacle is the outdated worldview, misbelief, fear, or lie
getting in the way of them accomplishing their goal (and/or of being happy or fulfilled).

Interiority - Interiority is on-the-page access to a protagonist’s psyche as they process information

in an interesting way. It means readers get direct access to the protagonist's conscious and
unconscious mind as they process information.

Internal Genres - Internal, character-driven content genres are made up of stories in which the
main conflict primarily comes from an inner obstacle that holds the protagonist back. There are
internal sources of conflict that the protagonist has to overcome.

Internal Logic - Internal logic means that every plot or character element within the story grows
logically and naturally out of what has been revealed before. It means that for every cause, there is
an effect, and for every action, there is a reaction.

—J—

—K—

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Key Scenes - These are the major events, decisions, and discoveries that will move your protagonist
along their journey from A-Z. They’re the important plot points and key movements of the story that
challenge your protagonist and help us evoke specific emotions in readers. (See also: Plot Points)

—L—

Logline - A logline is a short summary that gives the gist of your book in 1-2 sentences. It tells the
reader who the story is about, what the main conflict is, and what’s at stake.

—M—

Magical Revisions - Magical revisions are changes you make to your draft without going backwards
to edit previously written scenes. Track these on your outline or revision tracker.

—N—

Narrative Drive - Narrative drive is what gives a story its forward momentum. It’s what hooks the
reader on page one and pulls them through the rest of the story.

Narrative Tense - Narrative tense shows the reader when the story is happening. There are three
main choices when it comes to narrative tense: past, present, future.

—O—

—P—

Past Tense - Past tense tells the story as if it’s already happened, using past tense verbs.

Plot Points - These are the major events, decisions, and discoveries that will move your protagonist
along their journey from A-Z. They’re the important plot points and key movements of the story that
challenge your protagonist and help us evoke specific emotions in readers. (See also: Key Scenes)

Point of View - Point of view (or POV) is the “lens” through which your story is told. It’s whose eyes
the reader will experience your story through, and it directly affects how readers experience your
story.

Present Tense - Present tense tells the story as if it’s occurring in real time, using present tense
verbs.

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Protagonist - A protagonist is a character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader, and
who is opposed by the antagonist. They are the person who makes key decisions and experiences
the consequences of those decisions, whether good or bad.

—Q—

—R—

Resolution - The resolution is a moment when we get a glimpse into how your character’s decision
worked out. How do they feel now that they’ve acted on their choice?

Revision Tracker - A revision tracker is a tool used to capture your magical revisions. It can be cards
in Trello or Scrivener, a Google Doc, in-line comments on your manuscript, or whatever you want,
really!

—S—

Scene - A scene is a unit of story that takes place in more or less continuous space and time,
features a specific cast of characters, is told from one point of view, and contains a mini-arc of
change from beginning to end.

Scene Context - The key elements readers need to know to get their bearings and 'sink into' each
new scene. These elements include: where and when the scene takes place, your POV character’s
emotional state coming into the scene, and your POV character’s scene goal.

Setting - Setting is the WHERE and the WHEN of your story. It’s the physical space in which your
story takes place and the period in time in which your story takes place, too.

Short Synopsis - A short synopsis is a longer summary of your story—around 250 words or 2-3
paragraphs—that does not give away the ending of the story but does cover the main conflict and
stakes. It’s the summary that sometimes appears on the back cover of a book.

Show, Don’t Tell - The common advice to “show, don’t tell,” means that a writer should relate
information to readers through sensory details and actions rather than exposition.

Stakes - Stakes refer to what the protagonist stands to lose or gain (in a scene or in the global story).

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Story (Definition) - A story is about how what happens externally affects someone who’s in pursuit
of a difficult goal and how he or she changes as a result.

Subplots - Subplots are smaller storylines that support your global story. They help you express
different parts of your theme and can help your protagonist grow and change. Subplots often unfold
on the same page, and in the same sentence, as the main storyline.

Summary - Summaries happen over a condensed period of time (not in real-time). They convey
ideas, concepts, and information rather than create a specific experience that a character (and by
extension, the reader) are “living through” in real-time.

Supporting Characters - Supporting characters are any characters who are not your protagonist or
your antagonist. They can range from parents, children, best friends, co-workers, and bosses to
villains or romantic rivals who create a sense of threat or opposition. They make your story world
feel real by adding layers of color and complexity to your novel.

—T—

Target Word Count - The total number of words you’re aiming for in any given draft.

Theme - Theme is the overall message you want readers to take away from your story. It’s your core
message (deep-level why) expressed via your story.

Third Person POV - A story told in third person point of view is presented from a narrative distance
that makes the reader an outside viewer of the story. There are two options: omniscient and limited.

Third Person Limited POV - Third person limited POV is similar to first person POV because the
story is narrated from the close perspective of just one character. However, the reader is not
“trapped” inside that character’s head (like in first person). This is a popular choice for modern
fiction.

Third Person Omniscient POV - The third person omniscient narrator has a “god’s eye view” of the
story. They see and know everything in the story, and their knowledge is not limited to what any one
character knows or sees. The narrator does not exist inside the story, but tells it from the outside,
sometimes intruding with their own perspective.

Tropes - Tropes are a specific way of delivering genre conventions in your story. They are subjective
interpretations of genre conventions (characters, settings, micro-events).

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Turning Point - A turning point is a moment where the conflict reaches its peak and the character
can no longer go after their scene goal in the way they had originally planned.

—U—

—V—

—W—

Writer’s Block - Writer’s block refers to the feeling of not being able to write or move forward with
your current work-in-progress. In many cases, this feeling boils down to expecting your draft to be
perfect—and worrying about what will happen if it’s not perfect.

World Building - World building means constructing a fictional world for your story. Your world can
be 100% true to life, completely fictional, or based on our own world with some changes here and
there.

—X—

—Y—

—Z—

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Psst… Is there a term we should add to this cheat sheet? Let us know! Email us at
hello@savannahgilbo.com to let us know what you’d like to see added. Thank you!

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