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<p>Many times, I heard an opinion that a story should be written in a way that a reader could make a "conjecture" on its plot line.  “Don’t tell them what happens. Let them come to their own conclusion.&quot; In other words, this conjecture is equated with the idea that a plot line could and sometimes needs to be unfinished, as though we present a reader to cavities in a plot to make a filament of their own.</p>


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<p>Rather I would like to clarify what, from my point of view, qualifies as conjecture and what’s not.</p>

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Many times, I’ve met an obviously unfinished work with the holes in a plot, which the author explained as giving a reader the opportunity to fill them out.  One story comes to mind where a protagonist gets in trouble in many life avenues at the same time, his nervous system not holding up, he throws a major tantrum where he is not supposed to and his hopes and life goals fall like the house of cards.  The subsequent part of the story starts when the protagonist is already on the elevated part of his career, recalls about all his past difficulties with a thin smile on his lips.

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<p>This development reminded me the old joke about a  pilot that learned aerial acrobatics from a learn-it-yourself magazine and got  as far as an &quot;air  spin.&quot;  Then the magazine said &quot;…and to exit from spin routine we will publish in the next issue of the  magazine.&quot;</p>

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<p>In my opinion, such ambiguities are nothing than author’s shortcomings.  In that case, what is the true conjecture?  I’ll offer a couple of examples from the known masters of the short stories…</p>
<p>One of my favorite O  Henry's stories is called <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1303/">The Last Leaf</a>  It's about a very frail girl sick with  pneumonia, who sat by the window of her room noticing, how the leaves were  falling from the tree across from her window under the Autumn rain, and have  gotten the dangerous idea into your head.   This idea was that once the last leaf will fall off the tree she will die.  </p>
<p>As the autumn advanced,  more and more leaves fell off the tree until only the last one remained.  But that stubborn leaf kept on staying and  staying despite the wind, rain, and snow.   That kept the girl alive through the winter and when finally, the sprint  came, she got well.  Finally came the  time when she opened the window only to find out that the leaf was painted on  the window. </p>
<p>It turned out that an old  painter living on the lower floor painted the leaf on her window in the day  when the last leaf on the tree has fallen.</p>
<p>As you can see the plot  line of the story was very clearly defined at the last detail.  And yet, because the story is so touching,  you (at least, I was and still) continue conjecturing long after I'm done  reading.  I am thinking about life and  death, about sacrifice, about the power of belief that sometimes defy medicine.  And I am trying not to think of this story in  a presence of someone, just in case, they might notice tears in my eyes.</p>
<p>The next story I'd like to  discuss is called <a href="http://www.standardsinstitutes.org/sites/default/files/material/winter16_ela_9-12_day_2_session_1-macomber.pdf">The  Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber</a> by Ernest Hemingway  <br>
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This is the story about  becoming a phenomenon of becoming an adult once a person overcomes his  fear.  In the story, Francis Macomber  feels a paralyzing fear of a lion and in a stressful situation during the lion  hunt, he shamefully runs away from the animal in the eyes of his wife, a  professional hunter of the safari and the locals.  Later in camp on all these people feel a  complete contempt for him including his wife, who cheats on his at night with  the hunter.</p>
<p>Next day though Francis is  no filled with shame that he has no fear when he hunts buffalos.  In that moment of truth, he turns from the  old boy he was all his life into a man.  <br>
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  The story ends  tragically.  In that moment of spiritual  euphoria, Francis's wife shoots and kills him.   She realizes that now when he became a man he won't allow her anymore to  treat him like a boy and will come true on his promises to divorce her on the  grounds of her multiple infidelities.   Something that he never had the nerve to do before.  Thus, she would have lost much money; not  only the money, her dominating position in the relationship.  </p>
<p>So again, from the point of  view of the plot development, everything in this narrative is complete, shown  in details, to what's called "stingy fullness.&quot; Yet after the story is read you  continue thinking about the whole situation, about the roles of man and a  woman, about coming to adulthood and about the irony separating life and death. </p>
<p>What conclusion can I draw  from all of this?  When a writer is  possessed by some situation or a character, he or she writes the way they see  it and feel.  If what inspired the writer  also hits the nerve with the reader, it causes an emotional response.  The story stays with the reader and continues  to affect his mind and soul, as these two stories continue to live inside me.  This type of writing is my ultimate goal.</p>
<p>It seems that a writer can  and should worry about his work being understood.  However, I don't think one should worry about  tailoring the story in such a way that a reader would have an alternate  explanation of theme or a plot.<br>
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  Whether you like the story  or not is a different matter. Here everything depends on the emotional  perception.  Yet I don't think there is  need to develop theories of offering a reader a deliberate possibility to  conjecture.</p>
<p>At least, this is my  opinion.</p>