Instead of “I liked it”
Name the craft: voice, image, structure, scene, pacing, or tension.
Glossary
A shared vocabulary for the table.
Writers get better feedback when everyone has words for what the page is doing: genre, style, form, voice, claim, scene, revision, and more.
Use the Words
Better vocabulary makes better feedback.
Instead of “I was confused”
Name the level: purpose, timeline, point of view, paragraph order, evidence, or sentence clarity.
Instead of “Make it stronger”
Name the next test: add pressure, sharpen the claim, slow the scene, clarify the reader, or revise the ending.
Instead of “This is good”
Name what is working so the writer knows what to protect in revision.
Term Clusters
Choose the words for the moment you are in.
Before drafting
Audience, Purpose, Genre, Form, Claim, Theme
While drafting
Scene, Voice, Point of View, Concrete Detail, Beat, Motif
During feedback
Reader Contract, Stakes, Subtext, Register, Structure, Development
During revision
Revision, Line Edit, Diction, Style, Submission Guidelines
Terms
Definitions for craft and conversation.
Abstract Language
Language that names ideas, qualities, or categories rather than tangible things. Useful when earned by examples.
Audience
The real or imagined readers whose needs, knowledge, values, and expectations shape the piece.
Beat
A small unit of action, exchange, thought, or shift inside a scene.
Claim
The debatable point a piece asks readers to consider or accept.
Concrete Detail
Specific sensory or factual material that lets readers see, hear, test, or believe the writing.
Diction
Word choice, including formality, precision, sound, connotation, and register.
Form
The container or shape of a piece: sonnet, list, scene, profile, essay, letter, chapter, report.
Genre
A type of writing with recognizable reader expectations, conventions, pleasures, and limits.
Lede
The opening of a news story or article that gives readers the most important reason to keep reading.
Line Edit
Revision focused on sentence clarity, rhythm, word choice, transitions, and emphasis.
Motif
A repeated image, phrase, object, or idea that gathers meaning across a piece.
Persona
The version of the speaker or narrator created on the page.
Point of View
The angle of perception through which readers receive the material.
Register
The level of formality or social tone: conversational, scholarly, plain, ceremonial, technical, intimate.
Revision
Re-seeing the draft at the level of purpose, meaning, structure, development, and language.
Style
The guide, convention, register, or voice system controlling how the prose behaves.
Submission Guidelines
The rules an outlet, contest, grantmaker, or group gives for length, format, eligibility, rights, and deadlines.
Theme
The larger human question or pressure a piece keeps returning to.
Thesis
The central arguable idea of an academic or analytical piece.
Voice
The recognizable sound of a mind on the page: rhythm, stance, distance, humor, precision, heat, restraint.