"Huh?" Reader's Anticipated Reaction to Passages in Your Prose.

... are you sometimes unsure about whether readers will get implied action in a story you've written?

Huxley's, "Brave New World" -- SPOILER ALERT!

There's implied action at the conclusion of Orwell's "1984," for instance. Make that "Brave New World." The protagonist hangs himself at the end of the novel. It isn't spelled out, as I recall. All that is described is how his feet turn around and face different directions. I read the book in a high school class, back when, and most of the class didn't get what happened until the teacher explained things.

Sometimes I put implied action in my own scribblings. Then I start calculating percentages. I know that 60% of readers will get it and another 10-20% on a second read if they grant me that. There will still be 20% or more who will go, "Huh?" though, making me have doubts.

Anybody else? It'd be interesting to know, too, about experiences you've had in reading novels by others and how you've reacted when encountering passages that leave you a bit mystified. That happens to me plenty. Usually I just shrug and read on.

... thanks for the feedback. I can see the value of having betas with an issue like this. I'll consider that option in the future. Haven't in the past.

G'luck with the scene, Alisha.
Too late for that, Paul ;-)
Sorry JSDR :-(
Rainsmom, "Betas in your targeted audience."

Becky Black said:

Are you sure you mean 1984? That's not how it ends, either explicit or implied, that I can see.

Click to expand...

... err, made an error
Sorry about that. The book I meant is Huxley's, "Brave New World."
I got the two confused.
Here's the concluding passage (SPOILER ALERT), itself:

"Savage!” called the first arrivals, as they alighted from their machine. “Mr.
Savage!”
There was no answer.The door of the lighthouse was ajar. They pushed it open and walked into a
shuttered twilight. Through an archway on the further side of the room they
could see the bottom of the staircase that led up to the higher floors. Just under
the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet.
“Mr. Savage!”
Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned
towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south- west;
then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the
left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east.."

Thanks for the feedback AnWulf, Nchahine, Becky, Gothic, and Backsslash

Good point about the year the novel was written being a possible reason for the indirect description of the suicide. (Squeamishness about the topic, in general.) It never occurred to me that that might be a explanation for Huxley's choice. Definitely something to think about.

I read Hardy's "Tess," but don't recall the rape scene in specific. (It's been awhile.) I did read a short story by Paul Bowles recently and that handled a rape scene very indirectly, too, in keeping with the times. It was from the forties. In fact if the rape wasn't mentioned in the preface I wouldn't have even known it had occurred. All that happened in the scene was that the protagonist brought a woman to a deserted lot and laid a blanket on the ground. That was about it!

I changed the passage in my own work this morning and provided an additional clue about what's going on in the scene. Now 80% of readers should get the action, which is enough.

Thanks again, everyone. I don't think I'd have made the alteration, so quickly at least, if it wasn't for discussing stuff here.