With the rise of nearer science and the gradual understanding, or seeming understanding, at least, we process stories by literally imagining ourselves in the world where the story is happening. This idea of the setting doesn't really satisfy any more. It's a whole world that you want toa that people want to throw themselves into if your story is going to be successful. And so given that, why would you want the story to end, you know?
Once it was The Shadow radio show; now it's the podcast Serial. Is every old storytelling medium new again? Frank Rose, author of The Sea We Swim In, concedes that some things remain sacred--from the power of a great hook to the hope that great stories never end. But he also thinks the Internet has led to new kinds of stories, ones that are not just entertaining, but immersive, and whose worlds are more richly imaginative than ever--even as they leave increasingly little to our imagination.