Wizard in the Wardrobe

Neil Gaiman had a really sensible response to that Salon article, in which he pointed out that authors =always= know a lot more about their characters that they can get on the page.

Certainly I do. I know a great deal about my characters, including aspects of their sexuality that might surprise readers. But I don’t include the information directly, either because it’s not relevant to the story I’m telling, or because I’m saving it for later.

Heinlein was also very good at that. He’s on record as saying that Rico, the narrator of Starship Troopers, was killed along with his unit and his father on the drop following the conclusion of his narrative. And he’s also mentioned that the narrator of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was basically the patsy of Mike the Computer, who stage-managed the whole lunar revolution as a means of guaranteeing its own independence, and who stopped talking to the narrator not because it was damaged but because the war was won and there was no longer any point.

What you can certainly say about Heinlein is that he knew when to end his stories.

Unfortunately I’ve forgotten where I learned those tidbits about Heinlein.

Sorry.