WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?

Sometimes when I solicit feedback I get something like, "I wasn't sure who Sandra was referring to in the cafe," or "what was the relevance of the cheese on the radiator." Even worse sometimes I say something like, "what did you think of the silver shark being a key," and the answer I get is "oh, I didn't really get that." It's very annoying when things I think are very obvious and that are really important and fun in my mind fail to transcend to my readers. The reason that this kind of thing happens is because I don't have to explain anything to myself, I'm already aware of what's going on so when I write a sentence I don't need to worry about the meaning getting lost or the scenario in which it occurs not being set up aptly. Obviously that's not the case with someone who is not privvy to my minds warped ways.

All the way through your work you have to have painted a picture so clearly that a reader knows EXACTLYwhere they are, what's going on and that the characters have been developed (or are developing) so clearly that they're acting in a way that the reader can accept. Imagine if F.Scott Fitzgerald hadn't made it clear who the Great Gatsby was or if one didn't know Captain Correlli was an Italian. The deck of cards would come tumbling down.

When you solicit feedback try to get people to recall the story to you. YOU know what the important parts are in your work, if people fail to mention them then you need to go back and refine those passages and really make the important details stick out.

If you want to try to do this yourself then make an ordered list of the main parts of your work. Think about what the important aspects of each part is and how they link with the others. You need to be sure that you have addressed all of these links succinctly so that a reader doesn't skip something important that could throw off their interest level. Remember if the reader can't follow it they'll just reject it out of hand. When you're as reknowned as John Le Carre then maybe someone will work through your mishaps, but without a loyal readership you can't afford such slips.

Be aware I'm not talking about mystery or suspense here, I'm talking about downright confusion. Being sparse with details to create intrigue is a good technique, but even in this instance the intrigue needs to be clear. Your reader needs to KNOW that they're not being given info and that somethings amiss or it simply reads like a narrative full of holes...ad who wants to read that.