"The theater of the mind is impossible to compete with, and I like the idea that with a few suggestions, each reader forms in his or her own mind what a character or a place looks like"
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Jenkins is making a sly power play on behalf of the written word: fiction wins not by outspending Hollywood, but by outsourcing production to the reader. "Impossible to compete with" sounds like a concession to film and television’s spectacle, yet it’s really a declaration of dominance. The mind’s theater has an unlimited budget, perfect casting, and a special-effects department tuned precisely to a person’s private desires and fears. No screen can match that because no screen knows you that well.
The key phrase is "a few suggestions". Jenkins is describing a craft ethic: restraint as authority. Instead of over-describing, the novelist drops cues - a gesture, a texture, one telling detail - then lets the reader’s memory and imagination do the heavy lifting. That’s not just economical; it’s participatory. The reader becomes co-creator, which creates intimacy and buy-in. You don’t merely observe the story; you help build it, and people defend what they help make.
There’s also a quiet argument about why adaptations frustrate fans. When you’ve constructed a character’s face in your head for 300 pages, a casting choice can feel like an invasion, not an interpretation. Jenkins, a high-output popular novelist, is defending the old magic of prose in a crowded media ecosystem: minimal inputs, maximal personalization, and a kind of narrative privacy that no algorithmic feed can replicate.
The key phrase is "a few suggestions". Jenkins is describing a craft ethic: restraint as authority. Instead of over-describing, the novelist drops cues - a gesture, a texture, one telling detail - then lets the reader’s memory and imagination do the heavy lifting. That’s not just economical; it’s participatory. The reader becomes co-creator, which creates intimacy and buy-in. You don’t merely observe the story; you help build it, and people defend what they help make.
There’s also a quiet argument about why adaptations frustrate fans. When you’ve constructed a character’s face in your head for 300 pages, a casting choice can feel like an invasion, not an interpretation. Jenkins, a high-output popular novelist, is defending the old magic of prose in a crowded media ecosystem: minimal inputs, maximal personalization, and a kind of narrative privacy that no algorithmic feed can replicate.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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