Muse & the Marketplace 2019

What is the difference between crafting surprise and forcing it? When we talk about sustaining uncertainty in fiction, we often mean maintaining suspense for the reader, or posing questions to keep the audience engaged. But sustaining uncertainty about what *characters will ultimately risk or lose* gets to deeper questions about what's at stake in the story.

In a time of unprecedented political upheaval, uncertainty both in life and fiction are ever-present contemporary questions. But it can be tricky to figure out when withholding information is and isn't working. To provide some examples of magnificently sustained uncertainty, we'll look at excerpts from Hernan Diaz's In the Distance, Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream, and R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries. Novey may also read from Those Who Knew, and discuss trying to sustain her own uncertainty about several key aspects of the plot.