I hesitate to tell you this. I don't want you to think I've lost my mind. Nevertheless, here goes.
Yesterday at lunch, as I sat typing furiously to finish another Aphter post for my cogito writing blog, Detective Al Hall, a main character from the story, stopped acting out the scene in my mind and turned to face me. It was like a television actor breaking character and approaching the camera to speak to the audience. It was very disconcerting.
"Excuse me, sir?" he said.
"Y-yes?" I stuttered.
"Could I give you some advice?"
"Uh... sure, officer."
"It's detective, actually, but don't worry about it."
"Oh...sorry." I felt silly for making that mistake. I knew that already.
"No problem. Here's the deal, Scott - May I call you Scott?"
"Yes."
"Great. You can call me Al. Here's the..."
"In that case you can call me Betty," I interrupted. I can never contain a joke.
"What?" He looked at me with a puzzled look.
"It's a joke," I said, blushing. "Never mind. Go ahead." I despise explaining jokes.
He shook off his puzzlement and continued. "Here, as I was saying, is the deal: Resist the urge to explain everything. If you explain everything, you kill the wonder of this world."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I was just listening to your thoughts on how to develop this story. They're interesting, but they wrap everything up with a nice little bow, don't they?"
"I guess."
"Don't do that. Don't explain everything. Hint at some reasons and explanations, but don't spell it all out. That's no fun for those of us that have to live in this world you create."
"No fun?"
"Right. I mean, how would you like it if someone explained every mystery of the universe to you, but then you had to go on living your life day-to-day?"
"I don't know. That might be okay."
He just stared at me.
"What?" I asked, blushing some more.
"Just think about it," he said, walking back to his place in the scene.
"Okay. I'll think about it," I answered. "Thanks, Al." But he was already back in character.
So, I thought about it, and I think he's right. I also think the genre called Mystery should not be called Mystery, because it's all about killing mystery, not celebrating it. The stories we call mysteries always explain everything before they're done. They should be called explanations, not mysteries.
Hello, friends. How are you today?
Later. Love.
P. S. - Aphter: Twenty. It's a little short today. Sorry. Thanks for stopping by.
