Authors Intentions

I have been reading along with quite a bit of interest. As a playwright I have been criticised for being too 'vague' and for giving too much stage direction. Believe it or not these two go hand in hand. I'm a very visual and kinesthetic person, if I want to say something I don't always use words. So maybe I use an audio or visual cue to emphasise a metaphor or a point. Dramaturgy or ajudication has often asked me to just come out and say it. Instead of having:

 Mike: You Suck (He sighs as the Rain begins to Pour) 

I have quite literally been asked to change it to:

Mike: You Suck, and this makes me feel depressed. (Okay maybe not that bad)

Now as someone who has directed my own work, but also handed my scripts onto someone else to direct, I can see the point of being more obtuse. I know what the metaphors mean, I know the subtext, but how does the director? The actor? The audience? Then again, as the author maybe that was my intention all along...to leave it open to interpretation. Maybe what I originally intended for Mike, isn't as interesting, or as meaningful as the final interpretation.

(Because this paragraph is quite vague, my husband reading over my shoulder has told me to say what I actually mean)

I think that whenever someone views art, reads a novel, attends a play they get something different out of it from what the creator originally intended. Tolkien has often said that there is no underlying analagy, or allegory in his work, and that TLOR is simply a story, with no other intention than entertainment. If the rest of us want to draw deeper meaning than that, it is our perogative, and authors intention has little to do with it. The concept applys if I write something with a clear intention and a deeper meaning, don't spell it out and no one catches on.