And an amazing guest post by the fabulous Michaelene!

Can Authors and Readers Live With Not Knowing

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Michaelene

“I can live with doubt, and uncertainty, and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing, than to have answers which might be wrong. There are many things I don’t know anything about. But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things.” – Nobel Laureate and Physicist Richard Feynman.
I’ve been pondering Richard Feynman’s quote; my musings carried by the wind through my woods, coming back around to rest at my cerebral doorstep. I don’t know about you, but I took comfort in his words, and felt a certain freedom set in immediately following the period (.). I mean, if a Nobel Laureate physicist doesn’t have the answer to everything, and feels no need to — Why should I? Better yet, how could I?
I took Feynman’s quote out of the cosmic, abstract realm and wrapped it around the art of writing. I believe the acceptance of not knowing opens the door to possibility when applied to writing, and, for that matter, reading –unless, of course, you’re studying a medical journal. I’ll be honest, if someone is about to remove one of my internal organs, I’d much rather there not be a comfort zone when it comes to living with doubt and uncertainty. But as a writer and reader of fiction, especially the stretchy, elastic reality variety, I’m entranced by the vastness not knowing and uncertainty offer me. In one sense, if I don’t know an answer, I’m not limited by the boundaries of certainty, be it accurate or not (always a possibility). I’m allowed to leave the door open, lift the shuttered windows and let the breeze of questions unanswered simply move through the space; my characters free to roam the hallowed halls of unknowing.
Fine, I hear you say, as long as at the end of the writing process you throw out Feynman’s comfort in not knowing and come to some sort of conclusion, right or wrong. So I ask: Writers, would you ever finish a novel without knowing the ultimate outcome of your protagonist’s life, or for that matter, any of your characters at the end of your story? Or do you feel it’s the author’s responsibility to leave no stone unturned, all uncertainty laid to rest?
To readers: Are you verklempt after reading the last paragraph of a novel where there is no big bow wrapping all the pieces in a pretty box; THE END, like a ferocious dangling participle, staring you in the face without seeming forethought to your afterthought?
Finally: What book have you read that left questions unanswered and how did it make you feel?




Question Mark Photo by Marco Bellucci
Photos 2, 3 and 4, www.wipwapweb