postquel

I heard that Lucas will shoot all three of the prequels at the same time (like the last two Back To The Future movies were filmed together). The first prequel is shooting for '97 or '98 release. As to when the 'postquels' will be written, shot and released is anybody's guess. I just hope that George sticks with us long enuf for us to complete this amazing storyline.

1995 December 9, Michael Wolf, “Re: Sequel too???”, in rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc (Usenet):

In musicals, when they are not unabashedly revivals, the assumption seems to be all we need do is find appropriate chunks of recent, or not-so-recent, history and cleverly reformulate them. Remakes, re-dos, sequels, prequels, and postquels are all the rage in films, TV, and on the stage.

2001, Charles Marowitz, Stage Dust: A Critic's Cultural Scrapbook from the 1990s, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 23:

I'm not saying we should see "The Return of Goldfinger" or "Bond has more fun with Honey Ryder", but it would be a fun and interesting way toi use a Bond that was the same age and time as Fleming's character, without having to resort to prequels, postquels, or parallel universes.

2004 April 14, Peredur Davies, “Re: New James Bond novels - what do you want to see?”, in alt.fan.james-bond (Usenet):

(narratology) A work of fiction which is set after the events of an earlier installment in a series but is not an immediate sequel.


Miss Rona

2020 March 3, Holly G, “Take bezos miss Rona!”, in Twitter, retrieved 2022-03-05:

2020 March 19, @nessarayn01, “I’m up in the midlands where miss Rona can’t touch me […]”, in Twitter; quoted in Antonio Lillo, “COVID-19, the Beer Flu; or, The Disease of Many Names”, Lebende Sprachen, volume 65, issue 2, 2020, DOI:10.1515/les-2020-0021, →ISSN, page 418.

2020 October 17, “Need to Renew (Foreign) Passport at a Consulate in NYC – Questions About Miss Rona?”, in Reddit; quoted in Daisy Massey, Chenxi Huang, Yuan Lu, Alina Cohen, Yahel Oren, Tali Moed, Pini Matzner, et al., “Engagement with COVID-19 Public Health Measures in the United States: A Cross-sectional Social Media Analysis from June to November 2020”, in Journal of Internet Medical Research, volume 23, issue 6, article e26655, June 2021, DOI:10.2196/26655, →ISSN, appendix 1.

In the United States, the development of a “new reality” since Miss Rona’s coming of age and its social, cultural, economic, and political legacies of trauma were accelerated (and problematized) during former president Donald Trump’s regime (2016–2020; Howard and Utton 2020).

2021 October, Bharat Mehra, “Libraries Reclaiming ‘Social Justice Warriors’ During ‘Miss Rona’s’ Global Pandemic Crises”, in The Library Quarterly, volume 91, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, page 386:

(slang) Personification of COVID-19, sometimes as a villain.


love story

→ German: Lovestory

→ Italian: love story


syuzhet

From Russian сюже́т (sjužét), from French sujet, from Latin subiectum.

(narratology) The way in which the story is told throughout a book or film; an employment of narrative.


BLAM

big-lipped alligator moment
big-lipped alligator moment#English

Initialism of big-lipped alligator moment.


big-lipped alligator moment

en-noun

big-lipped alligator moment (plural big-lipped alligator moments)

Coined in a 2009 Nostalgia Critic review of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, referring to a scene in the 1989 film All Dogs Go to Heaven, in which an alligator breaks into an Esther Williams-style musical number.

This may be the first case where the *entire* movie is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment . . .

(fandom slang) A notably unusual, tangential scene in a movie or similar work of fiction, which occurs without setup and does not affect the story afterward.

All Dogs Go to Heaven
Esther Williams
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Nostalgia Critic


bury your gays

(fandom slang) A fiction trope where gay characters tend to die or generally meet some bad end.


gamecraft

It is true that now and again, but very seldom, what I should call honest gamecraft like “bowling with the head” may be pursued dangerously near to downright cheating.

1936, The National Review - Volume 107, page 776:

Most of his work involves gamecraft – dealing with through balls, distribution and organising the defence.

2014, Alex Welsh, The Soccer Goalkeeping Handbook 3rd Edition, page 117:

Nineteenth-century children showed no such ability to cross gamecraft barriers.

1959, Brian Sutton-Smith, The Games of New Zealand Children, page 164:

regular competitive games against better teams of higher quality (so long as the gulf in quality is not too big) sharpens sides, teaches them how to organise themselves, gives them gamecraft.

2013 March, Jonathan Wilson, “Eat Them Like Bread”, in The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly, volume 8, page 115:

The captain merely smiled and said, “It is a bit of gamecraft, Doctor. This Bancroft is our man, and has been for some time.”

2016, Michael J. Martinez, The Daedalus Incident Revised:

Skill in the strategy and tactics of playing a game or games, as opposed to the physical skills of strength, dexterity, accuracy, etc.

Using Gadamer's game terminology, the kind of artistry that Sayers describes is a form of gamecraft, wherein the artist is able to draw us into the “play” of the poem, film, novel, or play.

2012, Philip Tallon, The Poetics of Evil: Toward an Aesthetic Theodicy, page 60:

Most virtual-world gamecraft portrays underground rivers as static features to be negotiated, much the same as magic mountains or pits to doom.

2021, Richard J. Heggen, Underground Rivers, page 395:

Artistry in the organization and elements used to design a game or storyline.

While the woodcock and wilson's snipe are fated to disappear as civilization robs them of their restricted feeding-grounds, Bob White, if protected by the enforcement of judicious game laws, will thrive in the midst of cultivated lands, and will continue to test the gamecraft and marksmanship of future generations.

1883, Alfred Marshall Mayer, Sport with Gun and Rod in American Woods and Waters, page 669:

[…] men and women of fine physique, considerable intelligence and with a wonderful skill in gamecraft and all that pertains to obtaining the essentials of their existence — food and water.

1930, Sir Ewen MacLean, A B.M.A. Odyssey, page 40:

“Here are those trappers, lady, well trained and stout of heart, In woodcraft wise, in gamecraft wise, their lives at my behest.”

2013, Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids, Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jataka, page 171:

Skill and knowledge about hunting and managing game.

There are three primary means of establishing dominance: the facedown, the gamecraft and the duel.

1994, Mark Rein-Hagen, Robert Hatch, Bill Bridges, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, page 36:

In gamecraft, the Garou compete in a contest of skill or wits: a riddle contest, a chess match or the like. Gamecraft is usually considered a valid means of establishing dominance when facing mental conundrums.

Do you think these scars I wear are badges of gamecraft?

2001, Gherbod Fleming, Werewolf, page 266:

(fantasy) A type of dominance competition practiced by werewolves that focuses on cleverness, wit, and cunning.


Corporal Forbes

(military, slang, archaic) gastroenteritis


point of divergence

point of divergence (plural points of divergence)

In alternate history, the point where events diverge from real history.


love polygon

/ˈlʌv ˈpɒlɪɡən/

This entangled love polygon (for it is far larger than a triangle) would seem to be at the heart of the conflict among the characters.6 Clearly, unrequited love, love triangles, intense fascinations, the absurdities of love,[…]

2020 November 17, Dianne Rothleder, Fraught Decisions in Plato and Shakespeare, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 43:

A situation in which at least two people vie for the love of another individual.


alien space bats

Coined in the Usenet newsgroup soc.history.what-if.

(fandom slang) An implausible point of divergence from reality, used as a plot device in alternate history.


sequelize

en-verb

sequelize (third-person singular simple present sequelizes, present participle sequelizing, simple past and past participle sequelized)

sequelizes (present singular third-person)
sequelizing (participle present)
sequelized (participle past)
sequelized (past)

Coordinate term: prequelize

I know that nearly all books can be sequelized.

1994 December 13, Matt Rindfleisch, “What did Anne Rice intend?”, in alt.books.anne-rice (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

The films that are sequelized were never great art. They were made for money, pure and simple....cynical as it that seems it's true I'm afraid.....Sequels are only made because the demand *is* there.

1998 March 26, Justin Kerswell, “I kinda like Horror sequels..........so crucify me!”, in alt.horror (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Anyway truly great films are difficult to sequelise (new word??) as they generally wrap up pretty well.

2000 January 11, kre...@usq.edu.au, “Announce: Sid Meier's Animal Farm”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Now THERE was an episode screaming to be sequelized in TNG... or, better yet, DS9.

2003 January 11, Scott Lowther, “Morality of war (was Re: [Humor] Defenders of the US)”, in alt.tv.star-trek.tos (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

If you could choose 5 games from the Playstation^([sic])/Saturn/N64 generation and earlier, consoles only, to be remade (not sequelized) for the current generation of consoles, which games would they be?

2007 October 24, The alMIGHTY N, “Which PS/Saturn/N64 games would you like remade for the current generation?”, in alt.games.video.xbox (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

(transitive, informal) To release a sequel to (a work).


sequelization

From sequelize + -ation or sequel + -ization.

Coordinate term: prequelization

Lucas DID NOT invent rampant sequelisation (?)

1994 April 26, 9348...@vax1.dcu.ie, “sequals^([sic])”, in alt.cult-movies (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

That's because mass marketing and sequelization KILLED good horror.

1998 June 26, Rev. Evil Ed, “No more Star Wars for you!”, in alt.horror (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Sequelization or sequelization potential!

1998 August 27, Amanda Van Rhyn, “MiSTing: Holodeck Series - part 2”, in alt.tv.mst3k.mstings (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Spiderman^([sic]) 1 was a pretty decent film. Spiderman 2 was ok, but I was already beginning to tire of the sequelization of it. Spiderman 3 I avoided, being officially weary of the sequelization of it. And that's what my Spidey sense tells me.

2007 June 26, W/Q, “AFI's Top 100 Movies”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

(informal) The creation of a sequel to a work.


prequelize

prequelize (third-person singular simple present prequelizes, present participle prequelizing, simple past and past participle prequelized)

prequelizes (present singular third-person)
prequelizing (participle present)
prequelized (participle past)
prequelized (past)

Coordinate term: sequelize

Psycho has been sequelized, cable-TV prequelized, made into a short-lived TV series, and now it's been remade. Someone in Hollywood keeps trying to franchize^([sic]) this movie with some pretty bad results.

1998 December 5, Phineas Narco, “'PSYCHO' SUCKS!!!”, in rec.arts.movies.current-films (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

FWIW, another of my favorite movies inspired a novel not too long ago. Casablanca was prequelized/sequelized in the novel As Time Goes By, by Michael Walsh.

1999 August 5, Steve Roby, “Jeter Novels; BR2 & BR3”, in alt.fan.blade-runner (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

When Feist started grafting onto the end of the Riftwar saga (which had got rather dull by the third book anyway), I started to get irritated. Then McCaffrey started sequelising and prequelising as though she had a fifth mortgage to pay off, and the whole damn mess seems to have gone to hell in a handbasket.

1999 December 2, Meg Thornton, “The business”, in alt.sysadmin.recovery (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Also, there's plenty of room in there for Alien 5 to prequelize Alien 4 and sequel Alien 3 and explain that something *did* happen there if indeed it wasn't destroyed.

2002 April 21, David Thomas, “LV 426 - the aftrermath. AR is pointless”, in alt.cult-movies.alien (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

In 2011, the Swedish director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. tried to “prequelize” Carpenter’s movie, but even though his “Thing” was set in the days before the 1982 version, it was more or less a straight remake — or, in the spirit of the material, an inhabitation, fetishistically mimicking the textures of its source material in an attempt to replicate it.

2022 August 4, Adam Nayman, “Five Sci-Fi Classics, One Summer: How 1982 Shaped Our Present”, in The New York Times:

(transitive, informal) To release a prequel to a work.


main character syndrome

Furthermore,
Goku is still the main character of the series, and thus by the rules
of the main character syndrome, no one on the same side of the main
character shall surpass the main character, and the main character will
always (eventually) save the day.

1996 June 5, Dr. Briefs, “[DBGT] Pans potental.”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(fiction) The phenomenon of the protagonist of a show or movie receiving unrealistic special treatment from the worldbuilders.

What I suffered from is this idea I call the Main Character Syndrome. I know the name is ridiculous, but it sounds like what it is. Main Character types see themselves as a Hero-Savior and everybody else as a secondary prop. The Main Character feels more real than everyone else. It's the same way that infants don't have object permanence: if I don't see it, it doesn't exist. In the case of adults, I count and you don't. I matter more than you.

2020 May 5, J. S. Park, The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One, True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise, Moody Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC:

[…], than try to do something actually useful for humanity with that hypercapitalism exploitation money, like save the climate or solve world hunger or erase extreme poverty Or fucking help trafficked children, lmao. But that wouldn't stroke their massive egos enough, I guess. Main Character Syndrome much? I'd rather have hundreds of multi-millionaires than one billionaire lmao. Greedy, narcissistic, sociopathic fucks. Cuz that's not even 'being rich,' that's fucking Smaug-levels of money-hoarding.

2022 April 30, Carlos Avitia-Velazquez, Javier Avitia-Velazquez, Curb Children, Seven Proxy Press, →ISBN:

(by extension, derogatory) The phenomenon of thinking of oneself as the protagonist in the "movie" of one's life (and, thus, usually as unrealistically important or distinguished).


Sabbath Queen

A character, usually portrayed as a beautiful woman, who represents the shechinah and the Jewish Sabbath.


fridge horror

Coined by TV Tropes in 2009, by analogy with fridge logic.

> How would you like to live forever, cut into little pieces? Seem like if we were immortal that or something equivalent would be the common fate. There is the Greek myth of someone who was granted the boon of immortality and just kept getting older and older.
>
Different types of immortality have different potential drawbacks, true. You described the Oz immortality which was always a source of Fridge Horror.

2011 October 21, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor), “Arithmetic”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

It's possible that his expedition, unknowingly, was traversing the southernmost portion of the globe Oz and its surrounding lands and seas occupy... now THERE'S a crossover fanfic of body horror AND fridge horror (pun intended, don't look at me like that, you'd do it too) waiting to be written.

2015 June 5, David DeLaney, “HPL upside down in antarctica in At the Mts of Madness?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

One, we canonically know that that portal doesn't go to Fastrack/SH's Earth, but to the Earth of GPF (which also raises an issue of fridge horror, in that THAT Earth has been in stasis for months).

2021 February 13, Chrysi Cat, “Safe Havens 2-6”, in rec.arts.comics.strips (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

(fandom slang, neologism) A seemingly innocuous detail in a story, which, upon further contemplation, carries disturbing undertones.


fridge logic

Coined by TV Tropes in 2007. Based on the earlier icebox scene, a term coined by director Alfred Hitchcock for an illogical scene which, in his words, "hits you after you've gone home and start pulling cold chicken out of the icebox".

Obviously the CIA wouldn't put their NOC lists on a system that could be remotely accessed that way no matter what kind of encryption they were using for them. So that's fridge logic for ya.

2010 October 7, David Johnston, “What Did You Watch? 2010-10-06 (Wednesday)”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

> These are pretty big plot points that are brushed aside.
They were things I didn't think about too hard while watching, but occurred to me while on the road today. I think the term for this is, quite appropriately, fridge logic :-)

2010 December 26, The Face of Po, “Baaaa... Humbug!”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

I've been reading Endtown since it was strictly a webcomic. It's a must-read for me. Though some might get thrown by the fridge logic (the aforementioned street lamps and such) and the deep archive (where most of the backstory is).

2011 July 16, Freezer, “For the Official RACS Gocomics.com Page: E”, in rec.arts.comics.strips (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

Fridge Logic can be defined* as the bit in a plot that you except when you watch it, but later (and thus named) when you go to the fridge and then think "What the... that's impossible"

2012 March 9, Reader in Invisible Writings, “If you know "Fridge Logic" welcome to "Brandy Logic" Courtesy of Sherlock and Holmes”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

I just reread the story, and Fridge Logic () struck. At the end, the protagonist is thinking about the future of the rescued passengers/crew:
> When you get there, sixty to seventy percent will die in the first three years. You will die in childbirth, be eaten by animals, bury two out of three of your babies, starve slowly when the rains don't come. If you live, it will be to break your back behind a plow, sunup to dusk. New Earth is Heaven, folks!
Now wait just a minute. They have the technology to travel through time, and spacecraft that are, if not superluminal, at least capable of a significant fraction of c. They can't export the technology the colonists would need to build a new world? They can't even prevent death in childbirth?

2014 March 23, D.F. Manno, “Fridge logic on "Air Raid"/"Millennium"”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

(fandom slang) An initially overlooked detail in a story, which, upon further contemplation, is more nonsensical or unrealistic than originally assumed, often to the point of creating a plot hole.


conreligion

From con- (“constructed”) + religion; compare conlang, conworld.

An imaginary religion, especially one associated with a conworld or conlang.


consociety

From con- (“constructed”) + society; compare conlang, conworld.

An imaginary society, especially one associated with a conworld or conlang.


queerbaity

en-adj

queerbaity (comparative queerbaitier, superlative queerbaitiest)

queerbaitier (comparative)
queerbaitiest (superlative)

From queerbait (“to create homoerotic tension in a narrative without intention of realizing it”) + -y.

suffix

sherlock holmes and john watson except theyre lesbians and its not queerbaity

2016 January 28, @hereticglory, Twitter:

wangxian‘s true love and cql’s lack of queerbaiting set the bar so high I’ll never be satisfied with settling for subpar queerbaity content from shows like sherlock, spn, teen wolf, (etc) anymore.

2019 December 24, @wangxianling, Twitter:

Oh wow I had totally forgotten how extreeeeeemely queerbaity Sherlock was from the very first episode.

2020 July 4, Yllogique (@Yllogique), Twitter:

(LGBT, fandom slang) Exhibiting or characterized by queerbaiting.


title role

The part of a movie, play, or television show, from which the work's title is taken.


impossible story

en-noun

impossible story (plural impossible stories)

(science fiction fandom slang, dated) Any story featuring elements of science fiction or fantasy (as opposed to typical stories which are set in the real world).


different story

different story (plural different stories)


Truck-kun

(humorous) In the isekai genre, a truck that sets off the plot by striking the main character, transporting them into the fantastical setting.


Norman no mates

Norman no mates (plural Norman no mates)

(British, slang) Synonym of Billy no mates (“a person with few or no friends”)


prequelization

From prequelize + -ation or prequel + -ization.

Coordinate term: sequelization

If one then turns to the logic of remaking and sequelization/prequelization, it is hardly disputable that it tends to be dictated by marketing ploys, commercial opportunism or production pressures.

2012, Philippe Met, “The Iceman Cometh (To A Theater Near You): Michael Haneke's Glaciation Trilogy”, in Claire Perkins, Constantine Verevis, editors, Film Trilogies: New Critical Approaches, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 164:

(informal) The creation of a prequel to a work.


omniscient narrator

omniscient narrator (plural omniscient narrators)

Coordinate term: unreliable narrator

(literary theory, narratology) A narrator with an overarching perspective, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling.


fantasy world

If she thinks she can become President, she's living in a fantasy world!

A person's unrealistic individual notions of the real world.


geofiction

From geo- + fiction. Ostensibly coined by future members of the Dutch Geofiction Association (founded 1984).

It may, however, be regarded as typical that this is often the type of story in which undue attention is paid to the description of the 'ficticious' ^([sic]) geographical environment (a striking example being the geofiction of The Lord of the Rings).

2011, Stijn Reijnders, Places of the Imagination: Media, Tourism, Culture, Ashgate, →ISBN, page 111:

The conception and creation of a fictional cartographic design that is the setting of a work of fiction or of one's imagination; worldbuilding.


conworlding

[responding to "Aren't you the God and Creator of the Kigdatsi?"] Not a god, but I thought them up, though I was trying to keep that quiet. Did you search the web for "Kigdatsi"? Also, I am *not* a sci-fi author, just a person who likes conworlding.

2007 August 18, Simon Richard Clarkstone, “Question about Dragon Code usage”, in alt.fan.dragons (Usenet):

For those who are not familiar with the term, conworlding is the art of world building. It is the concept of creating an imaginary world.

2010 August 13, Ken, “Welcome!”, in conworlding (Usenet):

Otherwise known as 'subcreation' or 'conworlding' (constructed worlds), the success of these fabrications relies on their consistent upholding of self-instigated internal rules and logic systems.

2021 June 5, Mark Morris, Mike Aling, Worldmodelling: Architectural Models in the 21st Century, Wiley, →ISBN, page 8:

(informal, uncommon) Engaging in the creation of a conworld; worldbuilding.


poetical justice

/pəʊˌɛtɪkl̩ ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/

From poetical + justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.

coinage

For though historical Juſtice might reſt there; yet poetical Juſtice could not be ſo content. It vvould require that the ſatisfaction be compleat and full, e're the Malefactor goes off the Stage, and nothing left to God Almighty, and another VVorld.

1678, Thomas Rymer, “The Tragedy of Rollo Duke of Normandy”, in The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin‘d […], London: […] Richard Tonson […], →OCLC, page 26:

(narratology) The idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished.


little Timmy

Suburbanites were uniformly young in the late fifties. Everybody was married; everybody had children. Like birds of a feather, we were eager to join up with the flock. Magazines and television had been promoting the image for almost ten years: Saturday-night backyard barbecues with friends; neighbors sharing freshly baked coffee cakes; a wide sidewalk for little Timmy to ride his tricycle. The perfect life, and most of us wanted it.

1978, Paula McDonald, Guilt-free, →OCLC:

If you want little Timmy to be considered attractive and intelligent by your friends (and who doesn't?), he must learn to greet people pleasantly.

1984, Emily Post, Emily Post's Etiquette, →OCLC:

It didn't take me much time to discover that the remnants of what I'm sure was once a thriving and helpful staff - the kind of staff that was never too busy to get a cat out of a tree or walk little Timmy to school but now consists of about 20 people due to the financial genius of Michael Dukakis.

1991 September 9, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, →OCLC:

The card's also handy for tuckered parents who don’t have the energy to upload images of little Timmy to a web page for grandma to see.

1998 September 1, Maximum PC The Nearly Complete Collection:

I can’t stand it when middle class suburbanites buy Hummers. They are not going to enter a Twisted Metal competition in which they will duel to the death in their vehicle, nor will they explore the trackless reaches of the Arctic. You are going to drive to the mall and bring little Timmy to soccer practice.

Parents — when trying to get little Timmy to let go of his friend's truck or come when you call, please don't count to three before expecting him to act. Or five. Or ten. All it does is give your child license to do whatever they want for two more seconds. Or four. Or nine. There is value to immediate obedience.

2012, Diana and Holly Parks, I Didn't See Me Do It: A Double Take on the First Twenty Years:

"Why did we bring all this firepower if we're not going to use it?" Brett protested.
"To have options. Right now, the fewer of us that are tossing lead around, the better," I insisted. "I don't want little Timmy two lanes over catching a stray bullet while he's asleep in his race car bed."

2014, Elliott James, Daring : Pax Arcana, Book 2, →OCLC:

(informal) Placeholder name for a young child in an example scenario.


antenarratology

(narratology) The study of antenarratives and their interplay with narratives and stories.


antenarrative

(narratology) The process by which a retrospective narrative is linked to a living story.


character arc

The transformation of William Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet from a young scholarly prince full of promise into a melancholic brooder after his father's death is an example of a character arc.

The transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story.


tomato surprise

en-noun

tomato surprise (plural tomato surprises)

[…] stories are written in the "tomato surprise" format: that is, the author saves the stunning surprise until the very last line of the story. It wasn't even a good technique when Verdi used it in Il Trovatore.

1974, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 93, page 6:

There are several classic tomato surprises which editors see over and over: the one about the evil, horrid aliens that turn out in the last paragraph to be humans from earth; […]

2020, Danielle Spencer, Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity, page 189:

A plot twist in which the reader or viewer is suddenly made aware of an important fundamental detail that changes the whole perspective of the story.


Florida Man

A personification of the outrageous crimes and occurrences of Florida.