The writer tells the reader exactly what they want them to know; there is no need for and extensive imagination because much of it is given directly to the reader. Not only is a novel self sufficient but after it is written it is complete. All that is needed is printing, a price, and a title and the novel can stand on its own. But literature really means more than printed words. It is considered a fine art.
All other forms of literature, including the historically oral (i.e. poetry, some prose, and drama), follow many of the same conventions of a novel, for example the telling of a story including setting and characters, but not all of them have the same affect on a reader/listener/watcher. Through literature, people meet characters they can identify with, and sometimes find solutions for their own problems. With literature, a person can often understand situations they could not otherwise understand in real life. Often, just the arrangement of the words can be enjoyable. This is very important in Drama because the sounds of words and what these words represent to the audience are important to a production.
Drama is unique in literature because it does not function under the same guide lines as most other forms. Novels, short stories, poetry, prose, etc. may be used, just like drama, as an outlet for personal reflection or to deliver a message but each and every for other tan drama can do so freely. Drama is bound by rules. What is a play? Economy. Without it a play does not exist, but every other form of literature does. A playwright has to take into consideration the amount of money it will cost for production. This limits the setting to one, two, maybe three places as long as the set is not to extravagant. Plays like "Stones in his Pockets" completely relies on the audiences willing suspension of disbelief, or ability to pretend its all there: the hat, the window, the box, the man, the "whatever needs to be imagined".
