John Kessel)
Fuzz. An element of motivation the author was too lazy to supply.
The word "somehow" is a useful tip-off to fuzzy areas of a story.
"Somehow she had forgotten to bring her gun."
Dischism. The unwitting intrusion of the author's physical
surroundings, or the author's own mental state, into the text of
the story. Authors who smoke or drink while writing often drown
or choke their characters with an endless supply of booze and
cigs. In subtler forms of the Dischism, the characters complain
of their confusion and indecision -- when this is actually the
author's condition at the moment of writing, not theirs within the
story. "Dischism" is named after the critic who diagnosed this
syndrome. (Attr. Thomas M. Disch)
Signal from Fred. A comic form of the Dischism in which the
author's subconscious, alarmed by the poor quality of the work,
makes unwitting critical comments: "This doesn't make sense."
"This is really boring." "This sounds like a bad movie." (Attr.
Damon Knight)
False Interiorization. A cheap labor-saving technique in which
the author, too lazy to describe the surroundings, afflicts the
viewpoint-character with a blindfold, an attack of space-sickness,
the urge to play marathon whist-games in the smoking-room, etc.
False Humanity. An ailment endemic to genre writing, in which
soap-opera elements of purported human interest are stuffed into
the story willy-nilly, whether or not they advance the plot or
contribute to the point of the story. The actions of such
characters convey an itchy sense of irrelevance, for the author
has invented their problems out of whole cloth, so as to have
something to emote about.
Wiring Diagram Fiction. A genre ailment related to "False
Humanity," "Wiring Diagram Fiction" involves "characters" who show
no convincing emotional reactions at all, since they are
overwhelmed by the author's fascination with gadgetry or didactic
lectures.
White Room Syndrome. A clear and common sign of the failure of
the author's imagination, most often seen at the beginning of a
story, before the setting, background, or characters have gelled.
"She awoke in a white room." The 'white room'is a featureless set
for which details have yet to be invented -- a failure of
invention by the author. The character 'wakes' in order to begin
a fresh train of thought -- again, just like the author. This
'white room' opening is generally followed by much earnest
pondering of circumstances and useless exposition; all of which
