When telling stories, there’s always the story as it appears from the outside as told explicitly through the text, but what about under the surface? Stories rely on unspoken knowledge and truths, and this blogpost defines and demonstrates subtext in fiction so that you can see how exactly to use it to your best advantage. Unless you’re writing for a young audience where it’s expected you spell everything out, you want to leave things unspoken while leaving enough there so the reader can infer your meaning. This is subtext, and it can make or break your story. Explain too much, and it feels like you’re spoon-feeding the story to your audience, but explain too little, and your audience will be completely lost. I hope you learn to balance and embrace subtext with this blogpost!
