Lars Eighner's Homepage Writers' Workshop Glossary: R

R

`rec·to /'rEktoU/ noun

The side of a leaf in a book that is seen to the reader's right in the open book. In the finished book, recto pages, when numbered, bear odd numbers. The other side of the leaf is verso. The verso of one leaf faces the recto of another.

`ro·man /'roUm@n/

1 : (often capitalized)(printing) A proportion, serif type style similar to Times Roman.
2 : (not capitalized) The normal body type, that is: not italicized. Even if the normal body type is very different from Times Roman or other Roman faces, it may be referred to as "roman" to distinguish it from the style being used for italics. When there is some chance of confusion, the notation "rom." or "roman" is circled in the left margin of the MS to indicate that the material should not be set in the normal body type. When for some reason passages are set in an italic face, the relationship of italics and roman (that is, the normal body type) is reversed, and roman is used for emphasis, citations, and so forth.
3 : /roU'mA~/ (literature) a medieval tale of adventure in metered verse
4 : (literature) a novel (in several European languages; occurs in borrowed terms such as roman à clef, bildungsroman, and so forth).

ro,man à `clef /roU,mAnAKleI/ noun

(genre) A novel that is supposed to be essentially true with characters who are supposed to be real people, thinly disguised. Readers may detect the true identities of the characters and thus have a key (clef) to the novel. Valley of the Dolls was supposed to be a roman à clef, as was the novel Truman Capote was supposedly working on at the time of his death, published chapters of which caused an uproar in café society.

ro`mance /roU'm&ns/ noun

1 : (genre) a novel or story about a sexual love affair.
2 : (literature) a fictional work about adventures often of heroic proportions usually set in distant, exotic places and having highly imaginative, legendary, or fantastic elements.

`roy·al·ty /'rOil-ti/ noun

(publishing)

1 : the rate at which payments are owed the author based on sales of the work, usually a percentage of the cover price. In a sense, any payment an author receives for the use of his work may be a royalty, but in practice, payments for the use of a short work in a magazine or an anthology are called "permission fees" and are hardly ever based on retail sales.
2 : (usually in the plural) payment to an author based on sales of a work. The amount of the advance, if any, is deducted from royalties and the author receives the excess.