The audience actually wants to work for their meal. They just don’t want to know that they’re doing that. That’s your job as a storyteller is to hide the fact that you’re making them work for their meal. We’re born problem solvers. We’re compelled to deduce and to deduct because that’s what we do in real life. It’s this well-organized absence of information that draws us in.
Pixar filmmaker Andrew Stanton in an altogether fantastic episode of NPR’s TED Radio Hour exploring what makes a great story.
Complement with more secrets of storytelling from Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut and Neil Gaiman, then see the neurochemistry of storytelling and the dramatic art.
(via explore-blog)
Well-organized absence of information