Those acronyms for writers. WTH do they mean?

Think about it. Acronyms are nothing more than ways to get you to remember stuff.

I see them everywhere in the writing world. At conferences. meet ups,  and workshops. It’s a new lingo to pick up on. The world of acronyms writer’s need to know. I’m still learning. Here are some I’ve gathered that may help you out. Some are just useful any time, and ones you made need as a writer acquiring a thick skin.

BIC. Butt in chair. What you should be doing as a writer!

BS
Backstory. It is B.S. to start your novel with it.

CRIT
Critique.

ARC
Advanced Reader Copy or Advanced Review Copy. What the author sends out for reviews before it goes to print.

FF
Flash fiction. Some ask what’s the difference between this and a short story? Not much. Flash fiction is generally under 1,000 words.

GLBTQ
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning. Or some spell it LBGTQ.

GMC
Goals, Motivation, Conflict. Definitely something you need in your story.

HEA
Happily Ever After (for romance writers but not for me).

IMHO
In my humble opinion. You may get this a lot when others read your work.

ISBN
International Standard Book Number. You’ll need one when you get published.

ITW
International Thriller Writers.

LMAO
What you really hope readers don’t do when reading your work unless you’re Dave Barry.

LOL
What you try to do to yourself when your writing isn’t going well. This is before anyone else reads it.

MC
Main Character. Try to have only one of these. Good to know who it is too.

MG
Middle Grade fiction for 8 to 12 year-olds.

NaNoWriMo
National November Writing Month. Where writers with hair on fire set out to write a novel in 1 month of 50K words. (I did this last year. Crazy fun!)

NA. New Adult fiction for 18 to 30 year-olds.

POA
Pay on Acceptance. For us short story writers or freelance writers.

POD
No, it’s not what Donald Sutherland was trying to escape from in Invasion of The Body Snatchers. It’s Print On Demand. Everyone’s doing it these days. Non-traditional printing. Books are only produced to fulfill an order.

POP
Pay on Publication. Again, For us short story writers or freelance writers.

POOP
No, that’s not one to use here but wasn’t it fun to slip in? Only if you’re Sponge Bob would you need this. (People Order Our Patties).  If you’re a real geek here are 58 definitions for the acronym POOP.

ROTFL
Rolling On The Floor Laughing. What you really hope no one does after reading your work, unless it’s a comedy. Also seen as ROFL.

RUE. Resist the urge to explain in your story! You shall rue the day if you do 🙂 .

RWA
Romance Writers of America.

SF
Science Fiction.

SF/F
Science Fiction / Fantasy.

TBR
To be read or to be released.

TSTL
Too Stupid To Live. Can be your characters if you’re not careful or that annoying person at work who clips his nails in the office.

WIP
Work in progress. A manuscript, not a finished book.

YA
Young Adult. Younger YA –  for 12-15 year olds. Older YA – for 15 -17 year olds.

YA/YA
Young adults writing for young adults. Generally authors are ages 12-19.

And if you want to take it further, check out some of the proper ways to include acronyms in your writing.

When you are totally stuck on how to use acronyms and so much more, check out Dr. Grammar for help.

Need an acronym finder? Go here.

Feeling Oo la la? Mess people up with French acronyms.

And that’s all I have to say about that. Let’s not even get started with the Twitter acronyms.

And some quick stats when it comes to writing acronyms in your writing:

1. An acronym is often written in uppercase. For example: ROTFL
2. Some exceptions are if an acronym has four or more letters and can be pronounced. For example: Aids
3. Some acronyms are part of global understanding that we don’t need to spell the full acronym out. For example: Unicef
4. Did you know that many acronyms have become standard words? For example: scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
5. Write ‘an’ in place of ‘a’ when the acronym begins with a vowel sound. For example: ‘a Unicef problem’ (it’s pronounced ‘yoo’). The sound is what matters.

Can you come up with any new fun acronyms like these?

TTFN…