19th April 2005, 6:32 PM
I'm not merely saying that a story can still be "good enough" without a full explanation. I'm disputing the claim that a story is ALWAYS better with a full explanation. Sometimes it is, sometimes it is BETTER to leave things in the dark, and not just because it might get tedious reading about it. What I am attempting to explain is that sometimes a sense of wonder and mystery is absolutely vital to the proper mood the story is trying to get across, and explanation of all facets of that world would kill that, yes, even if the explanations are added in some sort of index in the back it would do harm in those cases.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)