Understand

My friend VW commented that not many people would understand my stories.

I think that's a good sign.

Many years ago, when I first tried writing, I was given this advice: Do not try to make it understandable by every people. Imagine you are talking to one person, and the rest of the readers are merely eavesdroppers. You should be satisfied if there is one who know what you mean.

After all, what could everyone understand ? When Albert Einstein presented his work on the general relativity, he was sure that no more than a handful of people on earth could know what he said - it doesn't make the theory wrong.

And, do you really understand everything written in the Bible ?

By the way, disaster would more likely happen if one believes he understands the meaning but in fact misses the whole of another layer of implication.

The unfortunate thing is: It is not always a disaster of the reader - but, equally likely, of the author.

PS. To a large extend I follow that early advice not only for my writing - but more so for my teaching of students. That's not a correct attitude, I know.