Hello, writers. Last week there was a little discussion about the Turkey City Lexicon in the comments. I think it had been a few years since we'd talked about the TCL here.
Although the TCL was developed as a shorthand for critique group discussions, it also provides a useful tool for thinking about some of one's own writing habits. Most of the items on the list are things that all writers tend to do, sometimes even after years of practice.
There are different versions of the list online. There's the SFWA version, and the Critters version, for example. While the list is designed for science fiction, most of it is helpful to any writer.
Not all of the Lexicon items are negative. “Eyeball Kick”, for example, is good. But most of it is stuff we should avoid doing. When I look at my own work, these are the things I'm usually guilty of in early drafts:
Info-Dump In the first draft, I feel like I have to get everything the reader needs to know into the first chapter. Most of it, in fact, is stuff the reader doesn't need to know. If the reader does need to know it, it should be disguised with some clever device. (Eg “Am I the only person who's ever read Hogwarts: A History?” or “A handy electronic reference book, its chief selling points are the words 'Don't Panic' written in large friendly letters on the cover...”)
I've Suffered for My Art This is really hard to get rid of in historical fiction. With my historicals, I have to keep reminding myself that if the reader wanted to know all the fascinating facts I've found out about railroad car construction, the use of French in English law, or pro-Union factions in the Confederacy, s/he would hie off to an academic library and find the same books I found.
Reinventing the Wheel In early versions of Jinx, Jinx spent a lot of time marveling over the luxury of life in Simon's house, compared to his humble and previously-incinerated hut. Since bathrooms and stoves weren't likely to seem luxurious to the reader, I had to cut all that.
Signal from Fred I actually mutter this a lot when I'm writing. “Message from Fred there.” A lot of the time my Fred is just tired.
A couple terms that are not on the list but that I've heard used in critique groups:
Character Soup This is the tendency to include more characters than are needed, especially in the opening scene. The first page of a book can usually accommodate one or two characters. Three is pushing it, and four is pushing it right off a cliff.
Heinlein Maneuver This is a positive one! The example usually given with it is “The door irised.” It's a means of replacing excessive description with as few words as possible, while at the same time integrating the thing you're describing into the characters' everyday world. Nice work if you can get it.
Two things I've found somewhat pervasive in work that I've looked at (not yours, don't worry) are
Calling a Rabbit a Smeerp Particularly manuscripts that start out “It was a sunny day on Flurpy, and the strewmuts were borging through the tall wurgmut as L'f'reya'n?g reined in her trusty morstub, W'an?gtugluk, and...” ...I'm out of here.
Squid in the Mouth Probably the most common squid you'll see in mouths is misogyny. Of course, I have a liberal squid in my own mouth. I started out thinking this was okay because all book people are liberals. I now know this isn't true. (One sticks to one's philosophical guns, of course, but it doesn't do to fire them directly at the reader. Not if one wants the reader to come back for more.)
How about you? What items from the Lexicon do you find you tend to do? Which do other writers do just to annoy you?
Can you think of anything you'd add to the Lexicon?
Tonight's challenge:
Choose any item from the Turkey City Lexicon.
Write an example of it. (As I did above with "Calling a Rabbit a Smeerp".)
If possible, try to use the word “doughty”. It's a good word that doesn't get used enough.
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