Screenwriting glossary, in plain language

An open, plain-text markup for screenplays. Light conventions — scene headings, character cues, dialogue — keep the file readable in any text editor while still carrying structure. In Plot you write normally; Inkwell understands the structure as you type.

A scene heading, or slugline, is the line in capitals that opens each scene in a screenplay. It says whether the scene is interior or exterior, where it takes place and the time of day, for example INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. Production breakdowns and schedules are built from it.

The descriptive prose of a screenplay — what the audience sees and hears, written in present tense. Also called description.

The speaker’s name above a dialogue block, conventionally in uppercase — the label that tells the reader who is talking.

The words characters speak in a story, play or film. In a screenplay each speech sits under the speaker's name in a narrow centered column; in Plot, a dialogue pass proposes tighter lines you accept or reject one at a time.

A short note in parentheses under a character's name, above the line it changes, such as (quietly) or (to Maria). It says how a line is delivered, who it is aimed at, or a small action during it. In grammar, a parenthetical is an aside set off from the rest of a sentence.

An editing instruction between scenes — CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:, SMASH CUT TO:. Modern specs use them rarely; most cuts are assumed.

Two characters speaking at once, set in side-by-side columns so the overlap is clear on the page.

A sequence of short shots edited together to compress time, show change or build an idea, such as a training montage. In film theory, montage also means editing itself. In a script it sits between MONTAGE and END MONTAGE, one short line per shot.

The opening scene of a TV episode or film that plays before the titles or opening credits, to hook the audience at once. In TV scripts it is labeled COLD OPEN or TEASER and comes before ACT ONE.

A short closing scene after an episode's final act — often one last joke in a comedy, or a quiet beat or hook in a drama — labeled TAG in act-broken TV scripts.

Sound from the next scene — a line of dialogue, an effect, or music — that begins before the picture cuts to it, written just above the new scene heading.

Dialogue heard but not spoken aloud in the scene's space at that moment — narration, a remembered voice, a character's thoughts, the far end of a phone call. Marked as (V.O.) on the character cue.

A character who belongs in the scene’s space but is not visible in the shot — calling from another room, speaking just out of frame. Marked as (O.S.) on the cue.

A formatting pattern for cutting back and forth between locations that are playing at the same time — classic phone calls, chases, or parallel climaxes.

CONT'D means continued dialogue from the same character, after an action break or across a page break. MORE marks a speech that carries onto the next page.

A scene number identifies a scene in a shooting script. Once numbers are locked, Scene 42 keeps its number so schedules, sides, and crew notes agree.

A time-of-day marker on a scene heading meaning the action picks up immediately from the prior scene, with no time jump. Often abbreviated CONT. in production drafts.

A scene or sequence set in earlier story time. Scripts mark the shift with FLASHBACK (or similar) and return with BACK TO SCENE or a clear present-day slugline.

SUPER, short for superimpose, is text laid over the picture: a place, a date, a caption. In a script you write SUPER: on an action line, then the words.

An insert (insert shot) is a close shot of a detail the audience must see, such as a letter, a phone screen or a clue. In a script it is written as INSERT followed by what we see, with BACK TO SCENE when the return to the scene could be unclear.

On the page, POV usually marks a shot through a character's eyes (or a device standing in for them). In craft talk, point of view also means whose experience the scene privileges.

Classic bookend transitions: FADE IN: opens a script (or sequence); FADE OUT. or FADE TO BLACK ends it. They mark soft boundaries rather than hard cuts.

A film transition in which one shot fades out as the next fades in, so the two images briefly overlap. It usually signals time passing, a memory or a link between scenes. In a script it is written DISSOLVE TO: at the right margin.

The first time a speaking (or important) character appears on the page: name in caps, plus a short visual or behavioral hook that makes them legible before they talk.

Time-of-day alternatives on a scene heading that signal a jump (LATER, MOMENTS LATER, THAT NIGHT) or sameness (SAME) without inventing a clock time.

A chain of scenes (or shots) that pursue one dramatic movement — a heist approach, a reunion night, a chase — larger than a single scene and smaller than an act.

Text that scrolls over the picture (or a field of stars) to deliver prologue information — famously the Star Wars opening crawl. On the page: CRAWL or TITLE CRAWL with the copy.

A long, uninterrupted speech by one character, spoken to other characters who listen. In a screenplay a monologue is written as one extended block of dialogue and is used sparingly, for moments when a character finally says what the story has been building toward.

Diegetic means part of the story's world. Diegetic sound is sound the characters hear, like dialogue or a car radio. The score is non-diegetic: only we hear it.

The invisible wall between the story and the audience. A character breaks it by speaking or looking straight at the audience, which on the page is written as a look to CAMERA in the action or (to camera) in a parenthetical.

An abrupt cut from one scene to another at a moment the audience expects the first to continue, so the contrast hits as hard as possible. Written as the transition SMASH CUT TO:, flush right, and best kept for the few cuts whose timing is the point.

A line that tells the reader what the camera shows or how it moves, such as ANGLE ON, CLOSE ON or BACK TO SCENE. Spec scripts use them rarely, keeping them for the moments the story depends on the audience seeing one specific thing.

A cut between two shots of the same subject from nearly the same position, so the subject seems to jump forward in time. Usually an editing choice; written as JUMP CUT TO: only when the skipped time is part of the story.

A cut that links two shots through a shared shape, movement, composition or sound, so one image seems to become the next. Written as the transition MATCH CUT TO: when the connection between the two moments is part of the story.

An opening section set apart from the main story, often in another time or place, that introduces background, a mystery or a threat before the story proper begins.

A speech in which a character alone, or unheard by others, speaks their thoughts aloud, letting the audience hear what they would never tell anyone. Hamlet's speech weighing life against death is the best-known example.

A closing section after the main story has ended, often set later, that shows what became of the characters or the world. In a screenplay it often opens with a time super such as one year later.

Final Draft’s native XML format — still the file many coordinators, studios, and production tools expect. Inkwell imports and exports FDX so a Plot draft can enter and leave a Final Draft workflow without rewriting by hand.

A shooting draft whose page and scene numbers are frozen so every department shares one numbering scheme. After lock, changes become marked revisions instead of silently reshuffling the whole script.

The industry color sequence (white, blue, pink, yellow, and onward) used to mark each revision pass on a locked shooting script so the set knows which pages are current.

Inserted pages on a locked script that avoid renumbering everything after them — material between 27 and 28 becomes 27A, 27B, and so on.

The first locked generation of a shooting script — white paper (or the unmarked digital baseline) before colored revision rounds begin.

Professional screenplay layout that conforms to WGA and industry submission conventions — familiar margins, element spacing, pagination, and production behavior that let readers focus on the story.

A shooting script is the version of a screenplay used to make the film or episode. Its scenes are numbered, and once it is issued, changes go out on colored revision pages so that every department works from the same pages.

A screenplay written on speculation — no deal yet — meant to sell the story or showcase craft. Specs usually skip production numbering and camera direction.

The number of story pages a reader sees in a laid-out screenplay PDF. It is an early estimate of runtime and writer discipline — a pacing signal, not a stopwatch and not a quality score.

A pilot is the first episode of a TV series, written and often filmed to sell the show. It introduces the characters, the world and the kind of story the series can tell week after week.

A screenplay title page is the first page of a script: the title, a credit line such as Written by, the writer's name and contact details in the lower corner. It carries no story, art or synopsis, and it is not counted as page one.

A professional reader’s report on a script — logline, synopsis, comments, and a verdict such as Pass / Consider / Recommend. Inkwell’s Script Coverage skill produces a structured self-review in that industry shape.

Excerpt pages of a script prepared for a specific day, audition, or work session — usually only the scenes and lines the actors or crew need, not the full book.

OMITTED marks a scene removed from a locked shooting script. Its number stays in place so later scenes keep the numbers used by schedules and sides.

A script breakdown is the process of going through a screenplay scene by scene and tagging everything production needs, such as cast, extras, props, wardrobe, locations, vehicles and effects, so the shoot can be scheduled and budgeted.

The production schedule laid out as strips — one per scene, carrying its number, set, day or night, length in eighths, and cast — ordered by shoot day rather than by story order.

A production report that shows, for each cast member, which shoot days they start, work, hold, and finish — so a production can see how many days each actor is booked and paid.

A call sheet is the plan for one shoot day. It tells cast and crew when and where to report, which scenes are being filmed, and the notes they need: weather, parking, safety and the nearest hospital.

The script supervisor's copy of the shooting script, marked with vertical lines showing which camera setups covered which lines of each scene — the editor's map of what was shot.

A contract that gives a producer or company exclusive rights to develop and shop a script (or IP) for a set period, usually for a fee, without yet buying the full rights.

The formal decision that a project may move from development into production financing and scheduling. A green light is progress — not a guarantee nothing can still collapse.

The phase between a promising idea or draft and a production-ready script — notes, rewrites, attachments, and packaging. Being "in development" is not the same as being made.

A script doctor is a screenwriter hired to rewrite parts of an existing script, such as a weak third act, flat dialogue or a role a star wants changed, often late in development or during production and often without screen credit.

The person responsible for getting a film or series made: they find or option the material, develop the script with the writer, attach a director and cast, secure the money, and oversee production through delivery. For a screenwriter, usually the first buyer.

A senior producer credit. In film it usually rewards money, rights or a key relationship rather than day-to-day producing; in television it is the top producing title, held by the showrunner and the other people who run the series.

The written form of a film or television episode: scenes told through scene headings, action and dialogue, laid out in a standard format in which one page runs about a minute on screen. A feature screenplay is usually 90 to 120 pages.

A writer of screenplays for film or television. Screenwriters write original scripts or adapt existing stories, then rewrite them through development; in television most work in a writers' room under a showrunner.

The craft of capturing a film's images: camera, lens, framing, movement, light and color. It is led by the cinematographer, also called the director of photography or DP.

A sequence of drawings in panels that shows how each shot of a scene will look before filming, made in preproduction by the director and a storyboard artist.

A full-length movie, defined by the Academy, the AFI and the BFI as running more than 40 minutes; most run 90 to 120 minutes, from screenplays of about 90 to 120 pages.

A filmmaker, usually a director, whose films share such a consistent personal style and set of concerns that they read as the work of one author, an idea from French criticism of the 1950s.

Payments owed under the WGA agreement to a credited writer when covered work is reused after its first run — broadcast repeats, licensing to another market, home video, and streaming. They are separate from the fee paid to write the script.

The labor union representing film, television, radio, and new-media writers in the United States — two affiliated bodies, the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East, split by geography.

A paid WGAW Registry service that creates a dated record of submitted literary material. It can document when a draft existed, but it is not federal copyright registration and does not prevent copying.

Registering a screenplay with the U.S. Copyright Office: file online, choose the Single or Standard Application, select a work of the performing arts, pay the fee and upload a complete copy. It is separate from WGA registration.

The current Minimum Basic Agreement between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, effective May 2, 2026, with minimums and working protections for covered writing.

A company that has agreed to be bound by the WGA collective-bargaining agreement for covered writing employment, including applicable minimums, credits, residuals, and pension and health contributions.

A defined category of writer-created material under the WGA MBA that can include screenplays, teleplays, stories, treatments, and other covered writing. It is a contract term, not merely a synonym for prose.

Requested writing performed without an agreed paid step. A producer pass commonly means an extra rewrite requested before material is delivered onward, creating pressure to work beyond the compensated deal.

A second paid writing step guaranteed in qualifying WGA-covered theatrical deals. Under the 2026 MBA, the protection expands to writers hired for a first-draft screenplay at up to 225% of the applicable minimum.

Text or other material produced by a generative-AI system. Under current WGA MBA rules, GAI is not a writer and its written output is not literary material; separate conditions govern assigned material, source material, and separated rights.

Rights in original material that the WGA Basic Agreement separates from the copyright a company acquires and conveys to the writer — for a feature, publication and dramatic stage rights; for television, a wider set of reserved rights.

A short outline of a story’s key moments — the beats — used to plan structure before or during drafting without writing every scene yet.

A beat board lays a story out as cards, one beat or scene per card, so you can see the whole shape at once and move cards to test a different order.

A film treatment is a prose telling of a movie's story, written in present tense before the script exists. It usually runs a few pages to a few dozen and is used to pitch, sell and develop the story.

One or two sentences that capture protagonist, conflict, and stakes — the shortest honest pitch of the story.

A short prose summary of a whole story, ending included, written so an agent, producer or contest reader can judge the plot without reading the full script or manuscript.

A single-page pitch document: logline, short overview, and why the project matters now — used to open doors before anyone reads ninety pages.

The turn that ends an act — a cliffhanger or reversal in TV, a major structural shift in features — that re-aims the story’s pressure.

The event that breaks the protagonist’s ordinary world and forces the main story to start — early, concrete, and hard to ignore.

The midpoint is the major turn halfway through a story. A false victory, a defeat or a revelation changes what the protagonist wants or how they pursue it, so the second half of the story cannot repeat the first.

A B-story is a secondary storyline that runs alongside the main plot, the A-story. It often carries the theme through a relationship, and in TV it is the second plot in an episode, after the A-plot.

How a character changes — or meaningfully refuses to change — across the story, measured in choices under rising pressure.

A late-pass rewrite focused on line quality, clarity, and rhythm — not a page-one reconception of the story.

A ground-up rewrite that rebuilds the script from a new structural plan while keeping what still serves the story — not a line edit.

A table read is a reading of a script aloud by actors seated around a table, before or during production. Writers and producers use it to hear the dialogue, check pacing and find what confuses or loses the room before the script is shot.

A writers' room is the group of writers who break the stories and write the episodes of a TV series together, led by the showrunner. The room plans each season's arcs, outlines episodes and rewrites scripts as a team.

A series bible, or show bible, is the document that defines a TV series: its premise, characters, world, tone and where the story goes over a season and beyond. Writers use it to pitch the show and to keep episodes consistent once it is made.

A beat is the smallest unit of change in a story: a moment when something shifts in a scene, such as a new piece of information, a decision or a change of tactic. In a script, (beat) also marks a short pause in dialogue.

The background information an audience needs to follow a story: who the characters are, what happened before and how the world works. Strong writing dramatizes it inside scenes; weak writing stops the story to explain.

A writing principle: let readers or viewers discover feelings and meaning through action, detail and dialogue instead of stating them outright. "Her hands shook as she signed" shows; "She was nervous" tells. Telling still has a place in summary.

Pacing is how fast a story feels to the people reading or watching it. In a screenplay it comes from how long scenes run, how often they change, how much is action rather than dialogue and how much is asked of the reader at once, not from page count alone.

A common story shape: setup (Act One), confrontation (Act Two), and resolution (Act Three), with major turns at the act breaks that re-aim the protagonist's goal and cost.

The writer-producer who runs a series creatively and operationally — final say on story, scripts, and often tone across the writers' room, production, and post.

A setup early in the story (the plant) that returns later with new meaning or consequence (the payoff). The audience feels clever — and the turn feels earned — when both halves connect.

Feedback on a draft — from a room, producer, manager, or peers — meant to improve story, clarity, or market fit. Giving and receiving notes is a core development skill.

A concise selling of a project — spoken or written — that names the hook, characters, conflict, and why this story now, without requiring the listener to read the whole script first.

Want and need describe two goals a character has. The want is what they consciously chase, such as a promotion or a trophy. The need is what they must learn or change to be whole, and the story often turns on the gap between the two.

What a moment means beneath the spoken words — the real negotiation happening while characters talk about dinner, the case, or the weather.

A set piece is a large, designed sequence built around one situation, such as a chase, a heist, a battle or a musical number. It is a showcase for the genre and works best when it also turns the story.

The point of highest tension in a story, where the central conflict comes to a head and the protagonist's final choice decides the outcome. It comes near the end, after the rising action and before the resolution.

The character whose pursuit organizes the story — the person whose want, decisions, and costs we track most closely, even if they are not morally "heroic."

How a character becomes specific on the page — the traits, tactics, and contradictions that show up in choices, not a résumé of adjectives parked in an action paragraph.

A recurring image, object, sound, phrase or situation that gathers meaning each time it returns and helps carry a story's theme, like the oranges in The Godfather or the spirals in Vertigo.

The force that opposes the protagonist's pursuit — a person, institution, environment, or internal pattern that applies intelligent pressure and forces harder choices.

A TV episode deliberately constrained in locations and cast — often to save budget — that turns limitation into pressure: one room, one night, nowhere to escape the conflict.

A scene-by-scene (or beat-by-beat) outline that lists what happens in order — more granular than a beat sheet, leaner than a treatment's prose narrative.

A category of stories that share conventions and promise the same kind of experience: horror promises fear, comedy laughter, mystery a puzzle solved. Genre shapes tone, structure and what counts as a fair surprise.

An object, goal or secret that characters chase and the plot is built around, while what it actually is matters little to the audience. Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term; the glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction is a famous example.

The principle that a detail the story makes prominent has to pay off: if a loaded gun hangs on the wall in act one, it should go off before the end. Named for Anton Chekhov, who gave the advice in letters to other writers.

A clue or detail planted to point the audience toward a wrong conclusion, so the real answer lands as a surprise that still plays fair. In an argument it is a distraction from the real issue; in a mystery it is misdirection on purpose.

A hint early in a story of something that will happen later: an image, a line, a rule or a mood that prepares the audience, so the event feels inevitable when it comes rather than convenient.

When the audience knows something a character does not. Every line the character speaks takes on a second meaning, and the tension comes from waiting for them to find out.

The struggle between what a character wants and whatever stands in the way. External conflict pits a character against another person, society, nature or technology; internal conflict is a struggle inside the character. Conflict is what forces characters to make choices, and choices are what move a story.

Recurring roles that characters play in stories across cultures, such as the hero, the mentor, the trickster and the shadow. An archetype describes what a character does for the story, not who they are, so the same role can be filled by very different people.

A story pattern in which a hero leaves the ordinary world, faces trials in an unfamiliar one, wins something and comes home changed. Joseph Campbell described it in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Christopher Vogler adapted it into twelve stages for screenwriters.

A protagonist who lacks the usual heroic qualities, such as courage, decency or idealism, yet still carries the story and earns the audience's interest. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Walter White in Breaking Bad and Deadpool are anti-heroes.

A protagonist whose downfall comes from their own error or flaw, so that the audience feels pity for them and fear at how easily it could happen to anyone. Aristotle described the type in the Poetics; Oedipus, Macbeth and Michael Corleone are tragic heroes.

Both the work a writer does to build a believable character, from history and desires to voice and contradictions, and the way that character changes over the course of a story. Good character development makes a character's choices feel inevitable and surprising at once.

The idea about life that a story explores and, by its ending, argues for. A topic is what a story is about, such as grief or ambition; a theme is what the story says about it, such as that grief shared becomes bearable.

What a character stands to gain or lose depending on whether they reach their goal. Stakes give the audience a reason to care about the outcome: without a cost to failure, even a dangerous plot feels weightless.

Everything that happened to a character before the story begins: their history, relationships and old wounds. Backstory explains why a character wants what they want and fears what they fear, and is usually revealed in fragments rather than told all at once.

An ending that stops a scene, episode or story at a moment of unresolved danger or revelation, so the audience has to come back to find out what happens. Cliffhangers are a staple of television act breaks and season finales.

The final part of a story, after the climax, where the remaining questions are answered and the audience sees the characters' new normal. The word is French for untying: the knot the plot tied is finally undone.

A three-question check on a film or script: does it have at least two women, do they talk to each other, and do they talk about something other than a man? It measures whether those conversations exist, not how well a story treats women.

An ending or rescue that arrives from outside the story instead of growing out of it: a sudden power, a lucky arrival, a coincidence that solves the problem the characters could not. Latin for "god from the machine", after the crane that lowered gods onto the stage in Greek theatre.

Opening a story in the middle of the action and filling in how we got there later. Latin for "into the middle of things". On screen it often looks like a cold open in a crisis, followed by a title such as TWO DAYS EARLIER.

A retcon, short for retroactive continuity, is a later story changing what an earlier one established, like a death undone or a backstory rewritten.

A narrator whose account the audience cannot fully trust, because they lie, misremember, misunderstand or hide something. On screen that usually means a voice-over or a flashback that shows the story the way one character tells it.

The audience's willingness to accept a story's impossible premise for the length of the story. They will grant you dragons or time travel; what loses them is the story breaking its own rules.

Designing the world a story happens in: its rules, history, powers, institutions and what each of them costs. In a script, the world shows through what characters can do, what stops them and what it costs them, not through explanation.

A sudden shock in a horror film or game, usually an abrupt image and a loud sound, timed to make you flinch. It works best as the release of real dread.

An unexpected turn that changes what the audience thought the story was about, usually by revealing that something they believed was false. A good twist is fair: the clues were on screen, so the earlier scenes read differently once the truth is known.

The beat near the end of the second act when the hero, after their lowest point, faces the loss and changes in response. It is usually quiet and short, and it is what makes the final act the hero's choice rather than luck.

A character whose contrast with another, usually the protagonist, makes that character's qualities easier to see. A foil often shares the hero's situation and answers it differently, so each choice the hero makes reads against the one the foil makes.

The shape of a story's events: how it sets up a problem, raises the stakes, turns, and resolves. Three-act structure is the most common model in film; Freytag's pyramid, the hero's journey and the eight-sequence approach are others.

A figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another, without "like" or "as": "time is a thief." The comparison carries a feeling or an idea the literal words could not, and a reader understands it in an instant.

Words used beyond their literal meaning to create an image, a feeling or an idea: metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, irony and the other figures of speech. "It's raining cats and dogs" is figurative; "it's raining hard" is literal.

Giving human qualities, actions or feelings to something that is not human: an animal, an object, a place or an idea. "The wind howled" and "the city never sleeps" make the nonhuman feel alive and give it a mood.

Placing two contrasting things side by side so each sharpens the other: characters, images, scenes or ideas. Joy beside grief or luxury beside poverty makes the difference impossible to miss, and the audience draws the conclusion themselves.

Humor that exposes and criticizes foolishness, vice or abuse of power, usually through exaggeration, irony or ridicule. Its target is real people, institutions or customs, and its aim is to make the audience see them clearly.

Aristotle's three ways to persuade. Ethos appeals to the speaker's credibility and character, pathos to the audience's emotions, and logos to logic and evidence. Strong arguments, speeches and pitches use all three.

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using "like" or "as": "brave as a lion," "a smile like a switched-on light." The comparison is stated openly, which is what separates a simile from a metaphor.

A familiar pattern that audiences recognize across many stories: a type of character, situation or plot turn, such as the chosen one, enemies to lovers or one last job. Writers play tropes straight, subvert them or comment on them.

The qualities of personality, values and behavior that define a character, such as honest, reckless, loyal or vain. Traits tell the audience what to expect, and a story tests them under pressure.

The writer's or narrator's attitude toward the subject and the audience, shown through word choice, detail and rhythm: wry, somber, playful, bitter, warm. The same events told in a different tone become a different story.

The feeling a story creates in its audience: dread, longing, calm, unease, delight. Writers build mood from setting, sound, light, pacing and word choice rather than by naming it.

A word that imitates the sound it names: buzz, hiss, crash, sizzle, meow. Writers use it to put a sound straight into the reader's ear, and screenwriters use it in action lines to cue the sounds a scene depends on.

The repetition of the same starting sound in words close together: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers," "busy as a bee." It makes names, titles, slogans and lines of dialogue stick.

The repetition of a vowel sound in words close together, whatever the consonants around it: "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." It shapes a line's mood and makes near rhymes.

The repetition of a consonant sound in words close together, usually inside or at the end of the words: "pitter-patter," "odds and ends," "struts and frets." It gives a line texture and rhythm.

A comparison that explains or argues something by showing it works like something more familiar: the heart as a pump, electricity as water in pipes. Where a simile describes a likeness, an analogy carries a whole structure across.

A figure of speech that puts two contradictory words together, such as "deafening silence," "jumbo shrimp" or "sweet sorrow." The clash makes the reader stop, and the pair says something neither word could say alone.

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses, so the reader sees, hears, smells, tastes or feels a scene instead of being told about it. "Rain ticking on a tin roof" is imagery; "it was raining" is not.

A contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between what is expected and what happens. Its three main types are verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic irony.

The perspective a story is told from: who narrates and how much they know. First person says "I," second person says "you," and third person says "she" or "they," either limited to one character or omniscient.

The series of events between the inciting incident and the climax, where obstacles and complications build tension and raise the stakes. It is usually the longest part of a story.

Deliberate exaggeration that no one is meant to take literally: "I've told you a million times," "this bag weighs a ton." Writers use it for emphasis and comedy, and to show how strongly a character feels.

A brief, indirect reference to a person, place, story or event the reader is expected to recognize, such as calling an underdog fight "David and Goliath" or a romantic "a Romeo." The reference brings its meaning along without being explained.

A story whose characters, places and events stand for something beyond themselves, so the whole work carries a second meaning, usually moral or political. Animal Farm retells the Russian Revolution as a revolt on a farm.

The ways writers and teachers classify characters: round or flat by how complex they are, dynamic or static by whether they change, stock characters by familiar type, and protagonist, antagonist or foil by their role in the story.

A coming-of-age story that follows a young protagonist's moral and psychological growth into adulthood. The German word means "novel of formation"; Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Moonlight and Lady Bird all follow its shape.

The part of a story after the climax and before the resolution, where the consequences of the climax play out, loose threads are tied and the tension eases toward the ending.

The voice that tells a story: a character speaking as "I," or a voice outside the story. The narrator is not the author, and who narrates, and how much they know, shapes everything the reader learns.

The release of strong emotion, especially pity and fear, that a story builds up and lets go, leaving the audience relieved or renewed. Aristotle named it as the effect of tragedy.

A serious story in which the main character falls to ruin, often death, through their own choices or flaws. From Oedipus and Hamlet to The Godfather Part II, it aims to make the audience feel pity and fear.

The dark American crime films of the 1940s and 1950s, with compromised heroes, femmes fatales, betrayals and shadowy, high-contrast photography. Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon are classics; Chinatown is neo-noir.

A South Korean television series, usually a miniseries that tells one complete story in hour-long episodes, traditionally 16 and now often 12 or fewer, and then ends. Most are written by a single screenwriter.

A Korean drama with outrageous, extreme melodramatic plots: birth secrets, affairs, revenge, amnesia and impossible coincidences. The word means the dead end of a mine shaft. Temptation of Wife and The Penthouse are famous examples.

A Korean historical drama, usually set in the Joseon dynasty or earlier, full of palace intrigue, rank and ritual. Fusion sageuk such as Kingdom mix the period with romance, fantasy or horror.

An idealized character who is effortlessly skilled, admired by everyone and never seriously tested, so the story loses its tension. The name comes from a 1973 Star Trek fan fiction parody.

Excessive pride or self-confidence that leads a character to defy limits, warnings or the gods, and that usually brings about their downfall. In Greek tragedy it is the classic flaw of the tragic hero.

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses, used to build rhythm and emphasis in speeches, poems and dialogue.

A mild or indirect word or phrase used in place of one that seems too harsh, blunt or embarrassing. In dialogue, what a character softens often reveals what they are avoiding.

The second most important character in a story, after the protagonist, with goals and often an arc of their own. In Greek theater the word meant the second actor.

Ernest Hemingway's principle of writing by omission: leave the most important material unstated, know it fully yourself, and let the visible details carry it so the reader feels what lies beneath.

A rhetorical device that sets contrasting ideas against each other, often in parallel phrases or clauses. The balanced wording makes the opposition easy to hear: ‘We protect the building; we abandon the people.’

A question asked to make a point or create an effect rather than obtain an answer. In dialogue, it can challenge, persuade or reveal what a character assumes everyone already knows.

A writer's choice of words, and the attitude those words carry. "Passed away" and "croaked" report the same death; the diction tells you who is speaking and how they feel.

A phrase, image, character or plot turn used so often that it has lost its force, such as "cold as ice" or the bomb defused with one second left. The cure is usually a specific detail, not deletion.

Something placed in a time where it does not belong: a clock striking in ancient Rome, modern slang in a period drama. It is a research mistake when accidental and a device when deliberate.

The anxious uncertainty an audience feels about what will happen next to a character it cares about. It grows when the audience knows the danger and must wait, as with Hitchcock's bomb under the table.

A gap or contradiction in a story's logic: an event that cannot happen given what came before, or a character acting against what they know. "Why didn't they just call for help?" is the classic one.

A story built to amuse, in which characters struggle with problems that end in happiness, often a wedding or reunion. It includes romantic comedy, slapstick, satire and dark comedy.

A story that heightens emotion and plot to move its audience, with clear heroes and villains, secrets, reversals and rescues. It runs from nineteenth-century theater to soap operas and K-drama makjang.

The basic idea a story is built on: a character, a situation and the conflict it creates, often put as a "what if." What if a weatherman had to live the same day over and over?

Using a concrete thing, such as an object, color or place, to stand for an idea larger than itself. The green light in The Great Gatsby is a real light that also stands for everything Gatsby longs for and cannot reach.

A figure of speech that names something by a thing closely associated with it: "the White House" for the president, "Hollywood" for the film industry, "the suits" for executives. Its close relative, synecdoche, uses a part for the whole.

Deliberately presenting something as smaller or milder than it is, like calling a lost arm "just a scratch". The gap between the words and the truth creates humor, irony or restraint. Litotes ("not bad" for good) is one kind.

A short, memorable statement of a general truth, such as "Knowledge is power" or "Life is short, art is long." In fiction, a character's favorite aphorism compresses their worldview, and the story often tests it.

A technique that puts a character's thoughts on the page as they flow, jumping by association between sensations, memories and worries, often without ordinary punctuation. Joyce's Ulysses and Woolf's Mrs Dalloway are classic examples.

Fiction in which magical events happen in a realistic world and nobody treats them as strange. Unlike fantasy, it keeps real places and history and never explains its magic, as in García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

A story that contains another: an outer narrative in which a character tells, reads or remembers the main tale. The Princess Bride's grandfather reading to his grandson, and old Rose recalling the voyage in Titanic, are frames.

A quirky, free-spirited female character who exists mainly to teach a gloomy male hero to enjoy life, with no goals or inner life of her own. Critic Nathan Rabin coined the term in 2007, reviewing Elizabethtown.

A short scene or sketch that captures one moment, mood, character or place without a full plot. It shows what something is like rather than what happens next. The House on Mango Street is built from vignettes.

A film or series that dramatizes the life of a real person, from cradle-to-grave epics like Gandhi to tightly framed stories like The Social Network. It invents scenes and dialogue to give a real life the shape of a story.

The quality of seeming true or real. A story has verisimilitude when its world, characters and events feel believable on their own terms, through specific detail, consistent rules and motives readers recognize.

A comedy series about a fixed group of characters in a recurring situation, such as a family, a workplace or a group of friends, with a new predicament each episode. It is shot multi-camera before an audience or single-camera like a film.

The last survivor of a horror film, usually a watchful young woman who confronts the killer in the climax and lives, like Laurie Strode in Halloween. Film scholar Carol J. Clover coined the term in 1987.

Where and when a story takes place: its location, time period and social world, along with the mood they create. In a screenplay, every scene heading states a setting.

An account of connected events, true or invented, told from a point of view. The word also names the telling itself: the order, voice and perspective through which a story reaches its audience.

The building blocks most stories share: character, setting, plot, conflict and theme, often with point of view and tone added. Together they answer who, where and when, what happens, what stands in the way and what it means.

Prose fiction longer than a short story and shorter than a novel, usually 17,500 to 40,000 words. It typically follows one main character through one line of action. Of Mice and Men and The Old Man and the Sea are novellas.

A recurring tune, phrase or image tied to one character, place or idea, so that it calls that thing to mind each time it returns. The shark's two notes in Jaws and Darth Vader's Imperial March are famous examples.

Repeating a conjunction between every item in a series ("and this and this and this") to slow the rhythm and give each item weight. Its opposite, asyndeton, drops the conjunctions: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

A named, unchanging snapshot of your draft at a moment you choose — “Table read,” “Before studio notes.” Unlike autosave, it never quietly overwrites itself, so you can always return to exactly that version.

A parallel version of the same document — explore an alternate ending or rebuild an act without overwriting the draft you may still need, then land the winning line when you decide.

A system that records distinct versions of a document you can compare and return to — in Inkwell, through save points, draft lines, and readable structural changes.

Differences between two versions shown at story structure level — this dialogue line rewritten, that scene moved — instead of a noisy character-by-character redline.

Land a winning draft line onto the line you keep. Today the whole document moves. For one scene, use a take, or Agent Mode for a scene or an act; incorporate selected scenes is how the land is planned to get finer.

A structured AI pass that reads your document and proposes edits or findings in place — dialogue polish, continuity flags, coverage — as reviewable markup you accept or reject.

A skill that proposes line-level dialogue improvements — tightening, rhythm, voice consistency — as inline markup you accept or reject one line at a time.

A skill that maps tonal shifts scene by scene — flagging accidental breaks while respecting intentional gear changes — so the draft’s emotional through-line stays coherent.

A skill that proposes cuts and compressions — saving pages by tightening what is already on the page, not by inventing new story.

Bring Your Own Key — connect your AI provider API key so chat, ghost-text completion, and skill passes run on your account, with usage you can see in that provider’s dashboard.

Shared writing on one structured draft — presence, comments, and named save points — so a room can work together without losing who changed what.

Inline completion suggestions that appear ahead of your cursor as you pause — accept with Right Arrow, dismiss with Escape. A drafting aid, not an automatic rewrite of finished pages.

In-editor dictionary and thesaurus — press ⌘' (or use the command palette) to look up the word under your cursor without leaving the draft.

A parallel version of a scene you can try without touching the main draft — another joke, another button, same script. Keep it when it wins; drop it when it does not.

A skill that reads your scenes and flags continuity problems — vanishing props, unexplained costume changes, location contradictions — as findings you accept or dismiss.

A document model built from typed blocks — paragraphs, headings, lists, embeds — instead of one undifferentiated page. Canvas uses blocks so outlines, history, and skills can target real sections.

Export and import between Canvas documents and Markdown so headings, lists, and code blocks survive without flattening your structure into plain paste.

A navigable view of headings and sections in a long Canvas document — the long-form cousin of a screenplay scene list.

A Canvas block that embeds a Plot screenplay scene inside a broader document — so research or notes can point at real script pages.