Calling on you writers!

Ethan on Fiction Workhouse has thrown up some intersting questions for writers to consider. See what you think.

1) As a reader, how long can you stand to be lost (not engrossed--I mean LOST) in a fiction? A paragraph? A page? A chapter? Half a novel? An entire story? Try to think of specific examples of when you got off the bus and why, or when you persevered and why.

2) As a writer, how fearful are you of losing the reader with a difficult passage? Do you have the tolerance to risk your readers being a little (or plenty) disoriented for a paragraph, a page, a chapter, half a novel? An entire story? When do you pull the trigger and opt for clarity, linearity, and/or clear signals as to where you're going and what you mean? Try to think of specific examples in your own work, if possible.

3) Philosophically, what's your tolerance for complexity? If a story lays out a set of implications, but doesn't close with a single, clear resolution, does it drive you up the wall? Or are you a sucker for open-endedness? Any examples stick in your memory for either? Would you say your reading preference in this regard drives your own writing in any way? Any specific examples?

4) What about simply being in over your head? If you can't suss out the meaning of a fiction the first time round, or the second time round, do you think black, black thoughts about the author, or do you dive back in again either for the pleasure or neurosis of finding out more? If it depends, what makes the difference for you? Any specific examples here would be really, really interesting...

5) What about when you've written something, and you have strong feelings about it, but after you've finished a pretty good draft, you still have no idea what it means...do you simply set it free and let everyone else worry about All That Deep Stuff? Do you lose sleep over what you're saying before you loose it on the world? Can you live with a strange beast emerging from your lair, or must you tame it first? Any specific examples?