In an article on Writer’s Digest, Balli Kaur Jaswal says writers should use subtext and context to encourage readers to use their imaginations to tell part of the story. “To me, the beauty of fiction is in the agency the author gives to the reader,” she says. “It is also in the discoveries that the reader makes for themselves, and the spaces between their experiences and their imaginations.”
“World-building is about inviting the reader into unfamiliar territory with the assurance that they will be given enough tools to navigate their way around,” Jaswal writes. “Readers start off as visitors and as the story progresses, they become residents.”
