In David Shield’s extract on ‘collages’, he mentions that books and narrative are set and made according to the wishes of the author, that a story and the events within that story happen for a reason. However I agree in a sense that what Shield argues through implication is that we the reader have the ability to influence how we receive the message.

An author does not game power by writing a book, a story and fabricating events. An author gains power by the recognition he gains from the readers, in essence, the story we are provided with is the foundation of what we then use to build and create our own sense  of meaning from.