"Naturally, the reader has access only to the events I show and the way I show them, but as has been said, there's generally a good deal of ambiguity in that presentation"
About this Quote
Ford is politely reminding you that narration is a rigged game. The reader doesn’t meet “the story” in some pure, objective state; the reader meets a curated sequence of moments, filtered through choices about emphasis, pacing, tone, and omission. “Naturally” lands like a small shrug, as if to say: of course you only get what I give you. The sharper edge comes right after, when he points to “ambiguity” not as an accident but as a structural feature of the delivery system.
The intent is double: it’s craft advice and a preemptive defense. By foregrounding the limits of reader access, Ford disarms the complaint that ambiguity is a flaw or a cheat. He frames it as honest disclosure: you are always navigating an interface, not reality. That’s a quietly radical stance for genre fiction, where audiences are often trained to expect clean rules, clean reveals, and clean payoffs. Ford’s work (across science fiction and fantasy) frequently prizes implication over explanation, trusting readers to assemble meaning from negative space.
The subtext is about power and complicity. The author controls the camera; the reader supplies the inference engine. Ambiguity becomes a handshake between them: a promise that what’s unsaid is part of the experience, and that interpretation isn’t a bug but the point. It also nods to the broader postmodern suspicion of “authoritative” narratives: every account is a viewpoint with blind spots, and the most truthful stories may be the ones that admit their own partiality.
The intent is double: it’s craft advice and a preemptive defense. By foregrounding the limits of reader access, Ford disarms the complaint that ambiguity is a flaw or a cheat. He frames it as honest disclosure: you are always navigating an interface, not reality. That’s a quietly radical stance for genre fiction, where audiences are often trained to expect clean rules, clean reveals, and clean payoffs. Ford’s work (across science fiction and fantasy) frequently prizes implication over explanation, trusting readers to assemble meaning from negative space.
The subtext is about power and complicity. The author controls the camera; the reader supplies the inference engine. Ambiguity becomes a handshake between them: a promise that what’s unsaid is part of the experience, and that interpretation isn’t a bug but the point. It also nods to the broader postmodern suspicion of “authoritative” narratives: every account is a viewpoint with blind spots, and the most truthful stories may be the ones that admit their own partiality.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|
More Quotes by John
Add to List
