My ideal reading is to engage the reader for three or four
hours by sucking them into a world they believe in (which
doesn't mean it has to be realistic; I don't think mine
is)that's populated with characters they engage with (which
doesn't mean the reader has to like them; most of the time,
there's little chance of that). I don't have an intended
meaning so I can't hope that the reader's understanding will
be close to it. Unless you mean at a very basic line-by-line
level. I write from character-specific points of view, so
whilst I have to admit that it's impossible for me, the
author, to escape the bars of my own ideological prison cell,
I strive to keep 'me' out of it and endeavour to create the
convincing lie (which is all it can be) that each character
telling the story is doing so from their own private cell.
Any meaning derived from the ensuing narrative is up to the
reader. I know the characters I write about, but I don't
judge them. They judge each other plenty, of c
ourse. I'm sure they would hope that their intended
meaning came across. If they were self-aware.
Al
----- Original Message -----
From:
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Name Your
Poison
Al wrote:
"The 'hooligans' don't use baseball bats, though.
They're more into
blades. And Samurai swords."
Samurai swords? Wow, that's the kind of detail
that would make me
skeptical of a book's world being real, unless
the author was going for
over the top (in other words, I'd believe it in
Bruen's Brant series).
Truth is stranger than fiction.
"Yes, naturally I've received impressions of
American culture from
reading American fiction. I'm not suggesting that
that doesn't happen.
Readers interpret, like I said. Reality is
subjective. Surely fiction
must be too."
True, but I have trouble believing that an author
believes his books to
be totally up to the reader. Do you really not
have an ideal reading in
mind? Do you really not hope that a reader's
understanding will be at
least close to your intended meaning?
Mark
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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