We inherited a recipe notebook from my husband’s grandparents. Both were wonderful cooks, and they wrote down their favorite recipes in a stenographer’s pad. The problem is, they knew exactly what they were doing, so they neglected to write down some details future generations might find useful. The recipe below, for instance, has the ingredients but no order of mixing or baking instructions. We’re still working on that last bit. We’ve managed to produce a tasty cake, but it’s always a little more fudge-y than cake-y.
That brings to mind a problem for all writers – what we thought was on the page isn’t always there. We may neglect to include a crucial piece of information about our characters or setting simply because we know them so well. We think of course our readers know what we’re talking about. They can read our minds, yes?
Well, no.
The next time you gnash your teeth because your critique group just doesn’t get it, consider that you never put IT on the page. Or you put it on the page in a shorthand known only to you. Or you put it in, but then it got tossed out in the last revision. Do anything but blame your reader until you are absolutely, positively certain that what you think is down in black and white actually is on the page.
First published on Lani Longshore’s Blog on 11/2/2020.