I don’t know how I’ve missed this all these years. I know a lot of the terms–I’ve used them in workshops and more recently in all the work I’ve done with young writers–but I’ve never seen them all brought together in one place, even though this Workshop Lexicon, compiled by Bruce Sterling, has been around for years now.
Although my favorite part of this isn’t the lexicon itself, but this description of the workshop process:
The general course of action in the modern SF workshop (known as the “Milford system”) goes as follows. Attendees bring short manuscripts, with enough copies for everyone present. No one can attend or comment who does not bring a story. The contributors read and annotate all the stories. When that’s done, everyone forms a circle, a story is picked at random, and the person to the writer’s right begins the critique. (Large groups may require deliberate scheduling.)
Following the circle in order, with a minimum of cross-talk or interruptions, each person emits his/her considered opinions of the story’s merits and/or demerits. The author is strictly required, by rigid law and custom, to make no outcries, no matter how he or she may squirm. When the circle is done and the last reader has vented his or her opinion, the silently suffering author is allowed an extended reply, which, it is hoped, will not exceed half an hour or so, and will avoid gratuitously personal ripostes. This harrowing process continues, with possible breaks for food, until all the stories are done, whereupon everyone tries to repair ruptured relationships in an orgy of drink and gossip.
Yep, that sounds about right.
(Via Paperback Writer.)
