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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47884
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

## It's impossible to make sure your book is interpreted the way you want it to be.

Some writers have actively disavowed particular audience interpretations of their works. In many cases the audience either ignored the author or sometimes even actively attacked the _author's_ interpretation. Famous examples include Tolkien saying the ring is not an allegory for particular technologies (and then scholars writing more essays on the topic) or many characters in television shows that the audience has interpreted as gay, bisexual, or trans.

So, even explicitly stating the "correct" interpretation of your work won't ensure people interpret it that way. Your audience will simply think you are lazy. What you **_can_** do is give your work to beta readers to check that their interpretations are not totally off base from what you expect.

## Not having one unambiguously correct interpretation of your work is a good thing.

Sure, your audience may not interpret your work the way you want them to, but this also means your audience may give you more credit than you deserve. Your audience will inevitably project their own life experiences on to your work, and this allows them to relate to your work in ways that you would never expect. A decade from now, people may think you predicted things you never knew were coming.

Original score: 12