We give back to the past its own possibilities, its own ambiguities, its own incapacity to see the consequences of its action. It is only then that we represent what actually happened. I am using the word entertaining in its etymological sense of holding between , enter tenere in the Latin. We have to find ways to entertain our readers in the same way. I suspect that if we watch novelists, playwrights, film directors entertaining their audiences we will find that they have more courage to be direct than we usually do.
Readers can cope with a lot more directness and silence.
Be Performative . There is no such thing as perfect conditions for a performance. No use saying I could do it perfectly if it were four years rather than three, if it were 20,000 words not 10,000. Performance is always heralded by a risk taking. That is why it is different from practice.