Behind the Curtain - Writing Advice
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I just completed a conversation with a couple of acquaintances, one new, one not so new, and it refreshed my memory on a key concept that bears repeating again and again.
All of the great stories I've ever read used unanswered questions to pull me along through the narrative. Even authors that weren't very critically acclaimed have done this to me, either by design or accident.
I'm going to use Twilight as an example. There were almost more questions than I can list. What was Edward? Why didn't he like her? How was he different than popular vampires? Before that, why was Bella leaving Arizona?
I'll stop there, but I think it's a key concept to remember. I've heard some very well-known authors, and nearly half the high-brow writers of my acquaintance criticize Stephenie Meyer for a ridiculous variety of weaknesses, real or imagined, but I think this is one of the things that she got unarguably right.
Whether it's the plot, how a given world works, background information about your characters, or how your protagonist is going to respond to a given situation, it's those unanswered hints, those driving questions that lead us through the story.
I wonder if that is why the ending to so many series ends up being unsatisfying to so many readers. We've been anxiously awaiting the answer to the questions, and during the course of that journey, they become built up so much that not conceivable answer could really live up to our hopes.
That's probably a 'question' for another time, but my parting caution is that this is one case where you don't always want to listen to your readers. More often than not they'll tell you to answer the very questions that are making them want to read the story in the first place.
Unless something is vitally important for the reader not to lose their place in your world, leave the answers for a later time or you'll end up throwing too much at the reader too quickly and killing what otherwise could have been a riveting story.
Cheers,
Dean