"As You Know, Bob." A pernicious form of info-dump through
dialogue, in which characters tell each other things they already
know, for the sake of getting the reader up-to-speed. This very
common technique is also known as "Rod and Don dialogue" (attr.
Damon Knight) or "maid and butler dialogue" (attr Algis Budrys).
I've Suffered For My Art (and now it's your turn). A form of
info-dump in which the author inflicts upon the reader hard-won,
but irrelevant bits of data acquired while researching the story.
As Algis Budrys once pointed out, homework exists to make the
difficult look easy.
Used Furniture. The use of a cliched genre background right out
of Central Casting. We can, for instance, use the Star Trek
universe, only we'll file the serial numbers off it and call it
the Imperium instead of the Federation.
Eyeball Kicks. Vivid, telling details that create a kaleidoscopic
effect of swarming visual imagery against a baroquely elaborate SF
background. One ideal of cyberpunk SF was to create a "crammed
prose" full of "eyeball kicks." (Attr. Rudy Rucker)
Ontological riff. Passage in an SF story which suggests that our
deepest and most basic convictions about the nature of reality,
space-time, or consciousness have been violated, technologically
transformed, or at least rendered thoroughly dubious. The works
of H. P. Lovecraft, Barrington Bayley, and Philip K Dick abound in
"ontological riffs."
PART SIX: CHARACTER AND VIEWPOINT
Viewpoint glitch. The author loses track of point-of-view,
switches point-of-view for no good reason, or relates something
that the viewpoint character could not possibly know.
Submyth. Classic character-types in SF which aspire to the
condition of archetype but don't quite make it, such as the mad
scientist, the crazed supercomputer, the emotionless super-
rational alien, the vindictive mutant child, etc. (Attr. Ursula
K. Le Guin)
Funny-hat characterization. A character distinguished by a single
identifying tag, such as odd headgear, a limp, a lisp, a parrot on
his shoulder, etc.
Mrs. Brown. The small, downtrodden, eminently common, everyday
little person who nevertheless encapsulates something vital and
important about the human condition. "Mrs. Brown" is a rare
personage in the SF genre, being generally overshadowed by
swaggering submyth types made of the finest gold-plated cardboard.
