Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
[...]So yes, prospective is everything.
So remember, your reader is rarely if ever going to see what you see.
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I do understand that everyone brings their own background/baggage to a story and that can shape how the story comes across. A writer hopes that a certain amount of common/shared background will let the reader understand things without the writer having to state them explicitly, but it cuts both ways, because the unshared background may change the reader's response.
And if the reader's response is other than that intended by the writer the result can only be serendipitous (or the opposite). And if you did not intend it then you can you legitimately claim credit for it? ... The answer is, I think, only maybe.
Writers of astrology columns do good when they create such ambiguous statements that many people will find many different meanings in them. This is what they want.
But this isn't what a story writer wants (or not this one). I want to share a story. If the reader did not share my story but enjoyed some variation of it anyway then that's good, but it's not what I consider success (doing good) as a writer.
In summary: I do actually agree with you, readers rarely see exactly what the writer sees, but I'm just perverse enough to want more.