Hold On To That Feeling
I enjoy stories that start late and end early. They give you the sense that you've walked into someone's life and you could be jettisoned at any moment. Stories like that leave a lot to your imagination - they aren't defining every tiny detail of someone's backstory - you don't know where they got that limp or scar or bag of money, it's just there. The author of these works has decided to introduce a counterpart to his artistic process - the reader. People bring their own baggage and assumptions - personal perceptions create a funhouse mirror effect. Think of the suitcase in Pulp Fiction or Norman Bates's mother or what happened when the police arrived on the scene at the end of American Beauty. My favorite example is the finale of The Sopranos - David Chase layered Godfather allusions with cinematic music and the tension of Meadow arriving late and trying to get parked - then the screen went pitch black. There is power in not knowing all of the answers.