Non-readers are so often inclined to conclude that reading is a passive passtime. One sits, book in hand, and the written word does all the work. “I’d rather be doing something,” they say.
As a reader and, more to the point, a writer, I know how ridiculous this is. However rich the layers of my work, it is the reader who supplies the detail. I breathe life into my characters, but only the reader can decide if they should continue to live and, if so, what that road they walk down really looks like. It is one of the first, the truest interactive media.
And you don’t even need a red button.