There’s an old riddle: A man robs a bank then jumps into his getaway car. The car starts but the radio is silent. Immediately the man knows that he will be caught.
Riddles require you to make up the context of the scene and find what fits. Stories build that piece by piece.
The answer to this riddle is that the bank robber was the radio DJ. The silence meant the songs he’d lined up as his alibi had stopped, and the dead air had given him up.
There’s no cathartic emotional revelation in having the context given like this. There’s no story. There’s no value placed on this information. There’s no tension other than trying to solve the riddle. Stories require that the information we need – hopefully – comes right when we need it in order to make sense of what has happened. This is threaded through the other important element of story – the change the character goes through. These threads bring together tension and empathy for the character. When the answer is just told to us, or delivered through bad exposition, we don’t know if we should be disappointed for the bank robber or happy for justice.
This is also true in memoir and non-fiction. Maintaining the tension is essential. Parts of the story are developed and information woven through the pages. It really happened is not a reason for someone to keep reading. They need more.
If it’s a memoir, then this information is about the author’s journey. The tension keeps the reader turning. The information shows us how the central character changes and how they’re affected. Even in a business book this tension is fundamental, but this time it’s about the reader’s own journey. The skilful balancing act keeps them reading for their own growth.
Like the character in the riddle, the dead air will give you away. Without the right tension the reader isn’t intrigued enough in the character’s change to keep reading. The story isn’t engaging. It hasn’t grabbed the reader on an emotional level. This is why books are put down and not picked up again. It’s interesting but the reader isn’t hooked.