“A story is not about what’s in it but what’s left out.” Hemingway
Have you ever struggled with a key element in your story–the ending, say–and thought it would be cool to just leave it out?
Hemingway’s dictum would seem to support that, only he doesn’t stop there. Less quoted is his punchline: “You have to know everything so you’ll know what to leave out.” Not hearing that part, student fiction writers sometimes get tired of the ceaseless toil involved in building a story and try dropping the troublesome element altogether "I thought I’d let the reader decide," they explain.
But it’s not the reader’s job to decide….
The reader has bought her ticket, and you are driving the bus. What
would you think of a bus driver who, with 50 miles to go, stopped the
bus and announced, "Folks, I really don’t know where we’re going or
why. I thought I’d let you decide."
You have to know everything.
Ultimately, Hemingway was very clear on this matter “The writer who omits things
because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."
And in case you missed that: “If you leave out or
skip something because you do not know it, the story will be worthless.”
Ouch. Get busy developing your stuff.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve been making a discovery with regard to what does and doesn’t happen on the page and I think perhaps it relates to this somewhat. I’m finding that I tend to overwrite a lot of back story, only to discover that much of it is information the reader doesn’t need, but that I needed to learn. Then I cut it, and I know I have much more of that to cut. Perhaps this also ties to the adage, “trust the reader”. I’ve been surprised at how often I’ve communicated something that I felt bordered on telling too much, only to have mixed reader reactions where some readers were still confused and unclear about what was going on. I’m coming to believe that if some of them “get it”, then I have to concede some won’t, and that’s ok. Unresolved endings are interesting because sometimes they’re satisfying enough and sometimes they are not. I agree that the author ought to know how the story ends, but I’m not sure he always has to wrap it up neatly for the reader. Do you think it’s acceptable for the author to know the ending, and yet still be ambiguous about how he writes it?