Web novel, fiction & screenplay glossary
One-line definitions of the words Korean writers and platforms actually use, with why each one matters and a short example of how it shows up in a manuscript.
한국어로 읽기16 terms
Web novel
- Cliffhanger cut
Jeoldan singong (cliffhanger cut) is ending an episode at its most suspenseful line so readers pay for the next; readers use it as both complaint and praise.
절단 · 절단마공 · 회차 끊기 · cliffhanger
- Possession
Possession is a web novel premise where the protagonist's mind enters another body, usually waking up as a character in a novel they had been reading.
빙의물 · 책빙의 · transmigration · 빙의 소설
- Regression
Regression is a web novel premise where the protagonist, after death or ruin, returns to an earlier point in their own life with memories intact.
회귀물 · 회귀 소설 · regressor · time regression
- Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the premise where a protagonist dies and is born again, in another world or era, with memories of the past life intact.
환생물 · 전생 · isekai reincarnation · 환생 소설
Craft
- Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is planting a hint of a later event in advance, so that when the payoff arrives the reader thinks, 'that is why that scene was there.'
복선 깔기 · 복선 회수 · setup · planting
- Planted hook (tteokbap)
Tteokbap, literally fishing bait, is an unresolved clue thrown out on purpose to hook the reader's curiosity; every hook thrown must eventually be reeled in.
떡밥 회수 · 떡밥 투척 · bait · mystery hook
- Plot
Plot is the arrangement of events linked by cause and effect, the skeleton of a story: not what happened, but why the next thing happened because of it.
구성 · 줄거리 구조 · story structure · 플롯 짜기
Screenplay
- Action lines
Action lines are everything in a script that is not dialogue: what characters do and what the camera sees, written briefly in the present tense.
지시문 · 행동 지문 · action · description lines
- Dialogue
Dialogue is what characters say aloud, written in scripts as 'NAME: line'; good dialogue hides or reveals what a character wants rather than delivering facts.
대사 쓰기 · 대사 작법 · lines · 서브텍스트
- S# (scene number)
S# is the scene-number heading in Korean scripts, e.g. 'S#12. Living room (N)': number, place and time on one line, the name the crew calls a scene by.
씬 넘버 · 씬 번호 · S#1 · scene heading
Publishing
- Paywall conversion
Paywall conversion is when a free web novel serial switches to per-episode billing after platform review, usually after 15 to 25 free episodes.
유료화 · 유료 전환 · 유료 연재 · going paid
- Per-episode billing
Per-episode billing is buying a web novel one episode at a time (about 100 won in coins) instead of by volume or subscription; it makes each episode a product.
회차 결제 · 편당 과금 · 100원 결제 · pay per episode
- Wait-or-pay (gidamu)
Gidamu ('wait and it's free') is KakaoPage's billing model: one episode unlocks free every 12 to 24 hours, and readers who will not wait pay instead.
기다무 · 기다리면 무료 · 기무 · wait for free
AI writing
- Context window
The context window is the maximum text (in tokens) a model can read per request; bible, previous chapters and prompt must all fit, or the excess is unseen.
컨텍스트 · 문맥 창 · 컨텍스트 길이 · context length
- Prompt
A prompt is the full instruction sent to an AI model: scene request, style directions, story-bible excerpts and sample prose. Its quality sets the output's.
프롬프트 작성 · 소설 프롬프트 · 지시문 · prompting
- Token
A token is the smallest unit an AI model processes, roughly a word or word fragment; Korean spends about twice the tokens of English for the same meaning.
토큰 수 · tokens · 토큰 계산 · 토크나이저