On Sunday, we ate dinner with my husband’s father and his step-mom. It was enjoyable and his step-mom worked hard to provide us with the perfect meal; spinach lasagna, pear salad, garlic bread and a special dessert of homemade strawberry shortcake. She made the biscuits from scratch!
However, there was a minor mishap that upset her. While baking the biscuits, the grandkids were asking her questions, her wheelchair-bound brother needed something, and she was trying to make homemade whip cream. (This was one heck of a dessert!) With all of these things going on, she forgot the biscuits. By the time she remembered them, they were cooked a little longer than she wanted. It upset her because she had worked so hard to make all of us a nice meal.
I understood her frustration, but in a different way. It seems that there are so many things happening in my book that I will be writing or thinking about my manuscript and I’ll realize that I’ve forgotten to tie up a loose end. The other day, I realized that I’d left out an important clue that helps the reader solve the mystery. Um, duh. This has happened several times. However, I’m not worried, like my mother-in-law, I know I will eventually remember it.
What about you?
I worry about hand-holding the reader.
My betas asked me several questions, and I knew the answers, but I was like “why do you feel the need for that information?” Is it because you are curious? Or did you need to know it? For example, I have someone invite someone else to a party “off screen” a reader was like “When did he invite him?” Now to be fair, I did specify the person showed up because they were invited. I just didn’t think it needed to be shown.
I too thought several things were self explanatory and then one of my readers was confused. I don’t want to weight the story down with unnecessary info.