The Unwritten Contract Between Novelists and Readers
The novelist should establish the rules of the narrative world in the opening. In fantasy and scifi, that world can be radically different from the everyday world, but the rules should be clear enough for readers to extrapolate and anticipate consequences. In historical novels, the author should make the values and mores of that time clear, as well as the historical context. And authors of contemporary novels who wish their work to be enjoyed in the future should make explicit the values and mores of the present time so future readers will be able to engage.
Once the world is established, the novelist should not introduce changes in the rules that do not derive from the actions of the characters. Events should flow naturally from previous events and should have predictable consequences. Above all, the climax, as well as preceding minor climaxes, should not feel arbitrary. It should be the natural result of what came before. As a corollary to that, details should be significant, not random. They should affect the story and help attentive readers to accurately anticipate. The author can employ misdirection and sleight of hand, can make the reader work to discern the direction of the story and who did what and why. But at the end, the careful reader should recognize how the pieces fit together, leading inevitably to the conclusion.
In return, the reader promises to read closely, paying attention to the rules and to the details, imagining what it would feel like to live in such a world and to find oneself in such a situation. And if, given that investment of effort, the reader finds the story satisfying, the reader has an obligation to spread the word.
