In any work of fiction, there are certain elements that are leading inputs for an engaging plot. Among them are emotions, romance, conflict, striving for advantage or survival, the interplay of good and evil, tantalizing uncertainty of outcome (suspense), and a coherent and plausible storyline that unfolds in a manner that most commands the interest of readers. In the hands of a skilled writer, those elements are massaged to the level of art by use of unforgettable word images, credible character development, dialogs and internal musings of the characters. and provocative play on moral values that are deliberately left at least somewhat ambiguous.
Life is filled with choices that must be made, often with inadequate information. The inadequacy to a significant extent results from the cloudiness of the future, with all of its uncertainties and variable possible influences. Even with good information, there is a human tendency to discount it, either misjudging its importance, feeling it does not apply, or not caring, because of a determination not to let anything hold us back from a course we want to pursue regardless of the consequences. While endowed with a capacity for rational thinking, we often proceed headlong against it, determined not to be governed entirely by rationality. Good fiction recognizes weaknesses and character flaws as well as strength of character with which they compete.
Aside from an absence of complete information for making good choices, we have a genius for recharacterizing what is bad and baptizing it as good. If we want something badly enough, we convince ourselves that it is good, or at least that a “good” end justifies whatever means are used. We tend to obscure the truth that the ends can almost never be separated from the means.
So, good fiction sees the comedies and tragedies of human existence, the good and the bad, the prudence and the recklessness that we sense about ourselves as well as others. All of this leaves us pondering about the great issues of life that form its rich and often impoverished tapestry.
Readers of fiction often do not want to be led down predictable paths, because such paths are boring and because they do not generally exist in real life. Life is full of ambiguities – the great “what ifs” and “what could have beens.” Readers want to make their own evaluations of the choices and the actions of the characters in novels. They want to ponder outcomes and relate to outcomes in light of the dilemmas faced by the characters as they imagine themselves similarly challenged. The ambiguities relate to both life and death, the temporal and the ultimate. Good fiction entertains and engages us, and, moreover, leaves us thinking about things that matter in light of our experiences in living our lives.