I ran across an interesting post the other day on Patricia C. Wrede’s blog, particularly interesting for anyone who remembers my blog post on the engines of a story.  Wrede’s post doesn’t use the term “engines,” of course, but if it were phrased in that terminology, the thesis of her post would be that sometimes a particular engine of a story should be left undeveloped – if developing it would take away from the story’s primary engine.

It’s a position that many will find surprising – even shocking – but Wrede’s logic is sound and convincing.  I recommend checking it out.