http://writeabetternovel.net/leaving-it-out-when-good-writing-is-not-writing/ Practical wisdom for novelists and other storytellers Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://writeabetternovel.net/leaving-it-out-when-good-writing-is-not-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Lisa Kenney Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:46:06 +0000 http://truevoice-blog.com/?p=52#comment-42 <p>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?</p> 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?

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