by J. R. Wagner
We are delighted to welcome screenwriter and novelist J. R. Wagner to Omnimystery News.
J. R.'s new thriller is Exiled (Live Oak Book Company, April 2012 trade paperback), the first book in the young adult series, The Never Chronicles.
Today J. R. asks an interesting question: When it comes to mysteries, are authors obligated to explain all the questions by the end of the book?
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In life, does one learn and understand all the mysteries we encounter. Absolutely not. So why should an author feel compelled to explain EVERYTHING and why do some readers feel the need to know EVERYTHING? Simply because they can?
Photo provided courtesy of
J. R. Wagner
Is it better to leave the reader warm and fuzzy and ready to move on because everything was wrapped up in a neat little package OR is it better to leave the reader wondering, why did those islands float through the air? How did the humans discover the mineral on that planet anyway? Are the political undertones in this story really political undertones, or does the reader see what she wants to see?
I daresay this is one of the reasons why I have a fanatical disdain for the Star Wars prequels. Some things are best left unsaid — especially if, by the time you go about saying them, you've lost sight of your original vision. I — strike that, humanity — would have been better off not knowing Darth Vader was an annoying little brat who couldn't act his way out of a cardboard box.
Personally, I don't want the reader to put my book down and not think about it again. I believe good writing is what makes a reader question, wonder and revisit points in a story long after they've closed the book for the first time. There are "ah ha" moments hours, days, weeks after when something finally clicks.
When they do put down the book, I want the story to have crept into the reader's subconscious and poke away until they're forced to pick it up again.
Where else can you find a form of entertainment like that? Movies? Few exist that aren't so wrapped up in pushing the story along at a blistering pace that they don't take the time to drop hints, foreshadowing or obscure references that aren't really obscure and actually tie into the story. Video games? Perhaps, on some level the very nature of many video games is to unravel mysteries while making progress through the video world BUT the thing the video game lacks that the novel does not: well developed characters. People you actually care about.
The characters themselves can have unexplained pasts, strange behaviors or abilities that make them all the more intriguing. While you may not agree with how a character behaves and therefore ‘not like' that character. The very fact that you don't like them makes them compelling.
I go to painstaking efforts to leave hints, references, breadcrumbs, foreshadowing, flashbacks, and symbolism strewn throughout the pages of my book. I've never met a reader whose come close to picking out a good percentage of my subtle hints. My own wife oftentimes misses the majority of the clues.
A reviewer once said, with absolute certainty, that she knew who murdered Akil, the character whose mysterious death is central to the progression of my novel, Exiled. She was absolutely certain she knew and she was positive that I'd spelled it out in the first chapter of the book — clear for all to see. Boy was she off track. I don't write to confuse or trick the reader. I write to stimulate the reader's mind.
There isn't a story written that doesn't contain a mystery. Not one. While the mystery may not be as obvious as who killed Professor Peach with the spatula in the washroom, the mystery remains. Who? What? When? Where? Why? Are these questions always answered abut every aspect of most stories? Of course not because the forward progress of the story would come to a screeching halt. If, however, the answers to some of those questions are intriguing enough, I'm more than willing to take a divergent path –especially when the information relates back to the main story (whether immediately or in the future).
So to those who share the belief that all must be wrapped up in a neat little package by the finale, I ask: Is it better to be left full or is it better to be left salivating for more?
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A competitive cyclist, triathlete, mountain biker and adventure racer, J. R. once received a medal for saving a woman's life during the kayaking section of an adventure race. And the adventure is hard to miss in his debut novel Exiled. He's got a day job to keep him "grounded"; J. R. helps run his late father's Downingtown, Pennsylvania floor-covering business.
Learn more about the author and his new series at TheNeverChronicles.com or his blog WhatIsTheNever. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Exiled
J. R. Wagner
Book One of The Never Chronicles
Publisher: Live Oak Book Company
Stripped of his powers and banished to The Never, James must save himself before he can save his fellow sorcerers from imminent demise. Prophesied by the greatest of all seers to be the sorcerer who would bring an end to the Epoch Terminus — the destruction of his kind — James grew up developing his powers under the watchful eye of his mentor, Akil Karanis.
James's insular world is shattered when he is found guilty of murdering Akil and exiled to The Never, a mysterious and dangerous place reserved for the worst of the worst, a land from which no one returns.
Powerless and alone, James quickly learns that the land itself poses a greater threat than its inhabitants. If he is to have any chance of returning to his family, any chance of proving his innocence, any chance of saving his kind, he must survive the dangers and temptations meant to ensnare both body and mind in order to discover what no one else has been able to discover — a way home.
