“I don’t want to have to think while I’m reading”

[FrancesScott]

Soldier's Widow was a special story and I felt lucky to see it take shape

That’s very sweet of you to say, thank you!

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

I got a comment along these lines. I found it very depressing. I know most readers are in one hand mode, but isn’t the point of writing to make you think and feel?

Don't know about "the point", but certainly "a point". I like reading stories which make me think - and wank. And I like writing stories which make other people think - and wank. And I am especially pleased when I have written a story which appears to have achieved both objectives.

 

[PollyGons]

One of my favorite comments recently was from @Eosphorus saying "I always finish your stories feeling smarter and uplifted. I also always learn something new."

On the same story I got another comment from Anon saying "Good story easy to follow..."

So I just don't even know anymore

We can't control how people receive the stories we write, every creative work shared with another mind inevitably becomes a new thing, a co-created meaning synthesizing the artist's intention and the audience's interpretation. That can be scary and surprising and sometimes frustrating, but it's also a kind of magic

This is very wise.

 

[SimonDoom]

Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "control"?

*Pauline Reage has entered the chat.

Ha.

It's not a perfect term, and the pebble analogy isn't perfect, either. I'd reformulate it this way. The publication of a story is like starting a conversation with multiple strangers. You would like them to understand what you have to say, to get the point you want to make, and perhaps to agree with you on some point you are trying to express. You hope that you've perfected your craft well enough, for example, that if you throw in a joke you're going to get a laugh. In some fiction, such as in Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984, the author wants to win readers over to a particular point of view. But I think most fiction isn't like that. My fiction, so far, hasn't been like that. I want to get a reaction, and I hope that certain things I do in my story are appreciated, but if the reader appreciates something I've done in a way I don't anticipate at all, I get pleasure from knowing that as well. I think it's helpful to think of one's readers as equal partners rather than as students in a class. Their purposes in entering the partnership are just as legitimate as yours as an author. Expect the partnership to produce something unexpected. Enjoy the unexpected.

 

[DeMont]

I got a comment along these lines. I found it very depressing. I know most readers are in one hand mode, but isn’t the point of writing to make you think and feel?

@FrancesScott,
Good evening my dear colleague.
At the risk of being "off the mark" I relate here what I have been told, in RL, by lecturers, English Literature teachers and Writing Group Leads...
"If you spoon feed your readers they will become bored with your writing, if you leave a little something to the imagination they will become more invested in what they are reading".

Case in point; my first story published here received exactly two reaction comments; one read quite elegantly, picked up on the major, and minor concepts in the tale and, overall, complimented my treatment of the story and the material presentation.

The second comment, Anonymous, simply read, "WTF?"

The first reader I appreciate, I take on board the comments and even if there were some alternative suggestion for the story made in a logical and supported way I would still be grateful for the input.

The second comment - my answer, had I bothered, would have been "And W(ho) T(he) F(***) are you again?

There is, unfortunately, no way of guiding a particular subset of readers to your stories so just tell YOUR story, full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes!

Perhaps if we introduced a category for "Intelligent Readers Only" we might have a chance of separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, however I think that to be an impossibility.
Deepest respects, always,
D.