One of the decisions every good storyteller has to make is when to tell the story’s secret to people. Every story has a secret, and the spinner of tales has to decide whether to let them know about the secret early in the story or to surprise them with it at the end. Mystery writers often hold back the secret until the last chapter, keeping us eagerly turning the pages to discover who really poisoned the heiress or pushed Colonel Whitington down the elevator shaft. The same is true of soap operas. "Will Marletta find true happiness with Jason the chauffeur?" the old radio announcers would intone. "Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of ‘The Bright Horizon.’ " In other words, turn the next page, tune in tomorrow, and you’ll learn the secret.

There are other stories, however, in which the…