So true! And what fiction writer hasn’t been surprised (and possibly delighted) to observe reactions in readers who experienced their written work differently from how they intended it?

Literary criticism almost begins with the premise that author intent is not centrally meaningful.

When I publish fiction and readers get back to me with their impressions of my work, I’m almost always surprised by how some of their emotions have been struck in ways I didn’t intend.

Part of what makes art so marvelous is the unpredictability of human emotion.