It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts.
Annie ProulxRead
I think it's important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Encouraging readers to engage personally with a story enhances their experience and understanding.
Annie Proulx emphasizes the importance of allowing readers to interpret and connect with a narrative through their own experiences. By leaving gaps in the story, the author invites individual perspectives, making the reading experience more personal and impactful, as each reader can project their own thoughts and feelings onto the story.
Themes
StorytellingReader EngagementInterpretationExperienceNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, this quote can inspire authors to consider the emotional involvement of their audience.
More from Annie Proulx
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You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.
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If a piece of knotted string can unleash the wind, and if a drowned man can awaken, then I believe a broken man can heal.
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But the only rhyme he could summon for 'out' was 'sauerkraut,' which lacked poetic glory. He let it go. The right line would come in time. That was the thing about poetry. It crept up through the draws and coulees of the brain.
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It takes a year, nephew... a full turn of the calendar, to get over losing someone.
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