So, as a writer, it’s no surprise that I like these explorations. If you’ve been trying to track which characters are moving forward and which are moving backward, plus wondering where I’m headed with any of this, you’re in good company. I’m right there with you. Even though, as a reader, I enjoy the satisfaction of reaching the perfectly formulated solution of a well-crafted plot puzzle, as a writer, I trend in a different direction.
Consider what it would be like if you already knew the end of your life. Or, let’s not be so dramatic. Let’s say you know exactly how some big puzzle in your life will work out. Then what? Do you just plod along until it happens? Are you inspired to try to change the outcome? Do you live your life differently with this knowledge in mind? Do you live your live at all?
Free will, you know. I’m into that. I like it for myself and I like it for my characters. As a result, I’m not always sure where they’re going. Even as I catch glimpses, based on the foreshadowing they’ve somehow managed to toss back to me, I really try to keep them a bit in the dark. It’s only fair. If we were on stage and I told you that by the end of the next forty pages, you’d need to be seven more steps toward stage right, what would you do? I think I’d leave. Just try to tell me what to do!
I want to see every possibility! What happens if I run away? What happens if I dance? (Honestly, I hope you do, because I’m surely not about to.) What about all the parallel universes in which I make different choices? What if?
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