Romance Writing Acronyms / Abbreviations
Technically, these aren’t abbreviations. The official word is acronym. An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of the words in a phrase or multi-word name. Examples: NATO, laser, and radar are all acronyms. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
An abbreviation is usually the first few letters of one word. For example, St. is an abbreviation for street. But calling this page “Acronyms” confused too many people, and this site is designed to help you.
Here are the acronyms you’ll need for Romance Writing. They are listed in alphabetical order:
HEA - Happily Ever After. Hopefully, how the romance novel you are writing will end. An HEA ending is required in the romance genre, or at least an ending that is HFN, or Happy For Now, depending on what is required by your publisher where you are submitting your manuscript. An HEA ending implies that your romance heroes and/or heroines will stay happily together for the rest of their lives.
HFN, or Happy For Now, is the alternative to writing an HEA, or Happily Ever After, ending. If your romance novel doesn’t end with the main characters vowing life-long, undying love to each other (that they will be HEA), then you need to at least make it clear that your main characters are bonded to each other and are probably going to be together for a long time.
MS - Manuscript. That huge pile of pages that has sucked your life The group of pages you write and submit for publication. This is an official term used by agents, editors, and other people in the publishing world.
(Your manuscript might sometimes be called a WIP, or Work In Progress, but the acronym WIP is often used by writers to talk about an ongoing writing project, while an MS is often the final product that you submit.)
TSTL - Too Stupid to Live. This is a character (usually, but not always, the heroine) who makes so many stupid decisions that the reader starts quietly hoping the character will face the consequences of his or her being a numskull.
WIP - Work In Progress. What you’re currently writing.
(The acronym WIP is often used by writers to talk about an ongoing writing project, while an MS is the final product that you submit.)
