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Writer's Glossary - R
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Raven Award,
The
A special writing award
given by the Mystery Writers of America
for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative
writing.
rejection
A response from an editor indicating he does
not wish to purchase publication rights to a
piece. Many larger publications send form
rejections; personal critiques of stories are more often found in smaller
publications.
reserve against return
A clause in a
contract indicating that the
publisher does not have to pay the author royalties on
copies of books that were unsold.
It is interesting to note that the book publishing
industry is completely unlike any other retail merchandising. In normal
retail, if a store buys 10,000 units of a product, they're generally stuck with
it. Certainly, they have X number they may return due to damaged items,
but otherwise they have to sell all they bought—even if it means marking the
price down to the price they paid for it, or even lower, to get rid of the
stock.
In book publishing, if a book store buys 10,000
copies of something and doesn't sell them all within a specified period, they
are entitled to a 100% refund on 100% of those copies! They are required to tear
the covers off the returns first, and then ship the covers back to the publisher—who
then disposes of them. For this reason, you may often find a notice in
small print at the front of the book (usually on the copyright page) stating "If this book was purchased missing its
cover, neither the publisher nor the author received payment for its sale," or
words to that effect. Unfortunately, this happens quite often—sometimes
the cover is not torn off but a big hole is punched through it. The sale
of such damaged books is likely due to a publisher not requiring the physical
return of books that didn't sell, but rather relying on the word of the book
seller (in which case the book seller is a thief). It may also be the
result of the covers being defaced and then the publisher refuses to take the
books for some reason. It is also possible that the books were not sold
but donated under an agreement between the bookstore and/or the publisher and/or
the writer.
As such, a reserve against return clause protects the
publisher from paying out royalties to an author for copies he may not sell. This is partially why there is a delay between the release of a book and the
payment of royalties to the author.
resolution
The resolution is the final ending of the plot of a story, wherein the plot is resolved. The protagonist (or protagonists) should
participate in the resolution of the plot, and not be bystanders watching it
happen. The protagonist(s) should also undergo some level of change associated with the resolution.
The plot must be resolved at the story's end. If not, the story is
incomplete. It's not uncommon for the main plot of a series to go
unresolved, but the imminent plot of that installment must be resolved. An
story with an unresolved plot that is not continuing on in a further
installment is an almost-story that isn't quite complete.
rights
Legal permissions given to another to publish or film a writer's or
artist's
work.
RITA Award
Writing award for writers of romance fiction, given by the Romance Writers of America.
Robert L. Fish Memorial Award
Writing award, administered by the Mystery Writers of America and
sponsored by the Robert L. Fish estate. Each year the Edgar short-story
committee selects the best first short story by an American author. The author
receives a plaque and a monetary award.
romance
Genre of fiction detailing love stories. According to the Romance Writers of America, there are two
basic elements common to all romances (quoted from the RWA Web site):
A central love story—In a romance, the main plot concerns two people falling in love and struggling to make the
relationship work. The conflict in the book centers on the love story. The climax in the book resolves the love story. A writer is welcome to
as many subplots as she likes as long as the relationship conflict is the main
story.An emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending—Romance novels end in a way that makes the reader feel good. Romance
novels are based on the idea of an innate emotional justice—the notion that
good people in the world are rewarded and evil people are punished. In a
romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their
relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.
According to the RWA, there are several sub-genres of
romance fiction (our commentary in parentheses):
contemporary
romance—set after the World Wars. ("Modern romances.") historical romance—set before the World Wars. (Usually set in a time period of note,
against a background busy with some event popular in that era.) inspirational romance—containing spiritual themes. paranormal romance—containing "other-worldly" elements such as magic, mystic characters or fantasy and science fiction elements. regency romance—set
in England in the early 1800s. (A very popular time period and location
for historical romances.) romantic suspense—romances containing mystery and intrigue. (Mystery, spy, or thriller
stories with a love story as the focal point.) time-travel romance—romances set in two different time periods, with characters "time-traveling"
between both. (Another science fiction/fantasy idea.)
There is probably no genre of fiction that is more
formulaic than romance fiction, but don't let that fool you into thinking nobody
cares to read them. Check the commentary under Romance Writers of America.
Romance Writers of America
Organization dedicated to the genre of romance fiction.
As of this writing, the RWA has 8,400 members, 1,200
of which have published book-length works—which means there a lot of romance
writers out there. Think the market's too crowded? Maybe, but the RWA claims that its members make up 55% of all popular paperback fiction that
generate more then $1 billion in sales in the United States are romances.
For some commentary on those who complain that memberships
to such groups is unfair, check out writers
associations.
royalties
Money paid to an author for sales of his printed work,
or syndication of television episodes for which he has
written. In extreme cases, a writer may have secured royalties, through
his contract, to receive portions of licensing fees for
merchandising based on TV or movie adaptations of his work.
Commonly, a writer's royalties will be a percentage of the
sales of a book he has written. The contract will
stipulate what the percentage is. Short stories generally do not receive
royalties (publication rights are purchased outright for an agreed-upon sum),
except in the case of anthologies or in work adapted to film or television. Anthologies may purchase rights or
offer royalty payments.
run
See print run.
run-on sentence
What is a run-on sentence?
It is a sentence that, while generally obeying all other
rules of grammar and syntax and even having all the words spelled correctly,
not to mention all the punctuation in the proper place and observing the
proper rules of usage, rambles on and on incessantly for a very long time,
which in itself is very bad form as reading the sentence to one's self tends
to make one's brain very tired in the process; the best way to tell if a
sentence is a run-on is to read it aloud and if you find that you have to stop
one or more times to draw in a breath, then likely the sentence needs to be
broken up into smaller sentences—otherwise, you run the risk of editors and
readers seeing what a complete dunce you are... but sometimes run-on sentences
can be used properly, as in examples where the writer is trying to convey what
a run-on sentence is and he uses more commas in that one sentence than you can
shake a stick at—anyway, it's also okay to use run-on sentences to a
limited degree if you're trying to build up suspense during a fast-moving
action scene and you want the reader to feel the sense of urgency in the
scene, but be sure you use it very sparingly and in the right places so as not
to appear like a run-on sentence idiot.
In case anyone didn't for some reason catch that, the above paragraph was a
great, big, rambling run-on sentence. In fact, it's actually a run-on
paragraph! It should be broken up:
It is a sentence that, while generally obeying all other
rules of grammar and syntax and even having all the words spelled correctly,
not to mention all the punctuation in the proper place and observing the
proper rules of usage, rambles on and on incessantly for a very long time. In itself, this is very bad form, as reading the sentence to one's self tends
to make one's brain very tired in the process.
The best way to tell if a sentence is a run-on is to read it
aloud and if you find that you have to stop one or more times to draw in a
breath, then likely the sentence needs to be broken up into smaller sentences—otherwise, you run the risk of editors and readers seeing what a complete
dunce you are.
Sometimes, run-on sentences can be used properly, as in
examples where the writer is trying to convey what a run-on sentence is and he
uses more commas in that one sentence than you can shake a stick at. It's also okay to use run-on sentences to a limited degree if you're trying to
build up suspense during a fast-moving action scene and you want the reader to
feel the sense of urgency in the scene. Be sure you use it very
sparingly and in the right places so as not to appear like a run-on sentence
idiot.
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