I have only recently come across this idea of Ernest Hemingway’s that one should just give clues to the reader of what the characters are thinking and doing, leaving most of it unsaid and so for the reader to work out for themselves. I do believe that readers find it most satisfying to unravel the sub-text for themselves and have their own picture of the thoughts and motivation of the protagonists.
Hemingway himself made the point that the writer must have a clear idea of these before he writes, otherwise the iceberg is likely to melt away.
I am not at all sure that this is a way of producing ‘popular’ fiction, but I do think it produces fiction that I would want to read and that is a large part of my motivation for writing.
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