Things Writers Do

Ch 5: Yeah, another chapter about details--they are that important!

Your character just fought off the big scary Grumpasaurus monster. He won. But, uh-oh, a little known fact about the Grumpasaurus (Grumpasauruses? Grumpasauri?) is that it has venom in it's claws! Whoops. Yeah that was a detail that someone should have let your hero know before he went into battle. Maybe he would have brought along his big health potion instead of his little health potion. 

But what's done is done, and lucky for your character he managed to get to the healer's hut before completely red-lining and passing out on her welcome mat. We keep reading (because OMG WHAT NEXT) as he wakes up and discovers his surroundings. 

Here come another round of detail descriptions: the bandages on his chest, the fact that his shirt is missing, the fact that his pants are missing, that his socks are folded neatly on a stool next to his bed. His cloak? Oh that is hanging on a peg. And his boots are by the door. 

So what does this tell you? Maybe your hero is a bit laundry-obsessed? Maybe your hero has a crush on the healer, and is suddenly checking where his underwear are in a mortified moment of panic, because he can't remember if the ones he put on that morning were the one's with the skid marks. 

We don't know yet. But we know it's telling us something! The focus upon clothes is suddenly becoming very obvious to the reader. Focus tells us when something is important. And the number of words the author spends on something denotes the level of focus.

The fact that he was alive but bandaged was mentioned exactly once--basically brushed over. Well this must not be very important. Must happen to him every other Tuesday. But there is something really going on with those clothes!! 

Which is great, if that is what you intended. But if you were just going through a laundry list of details (yeah, I went there!) and hadn't meant to shine such a bright spotlight on the clothes, you may end up leaving your readers a bit confused. They will be expecting something to happen with those clothes, and keep on expecting it for-EVER. 

You basically put the gun on the mantle, picked it up a whole bunch of times, waved it around, did a little tango with it--even a dip--but then left it on the mantle and went about the rest of the story. Which is a real jerk move.

Anytime you start giving details, the number of words you spend on particular details is going to communicate something to the reader about how much they need to pay attention to those details--and to the things and characters revolving around those details.

For example, if a reader is introduced to two characters in a story, they automatically decide that the character with the felt hat, is less important that the character who is five feet tall, wearing a rumpled hoodie, grinning like she's had way too much caffeine and carrying a bike satchel. Why? It's either because more details were given about the coffee fiend, or because that could be a description of me, and I am an extremely interesting person--you decide.

Details are not to be wielded without thought. With great details, comes great responsibility...for plot.

The lesson I hope you are learning with my focus on details is: authors must not only choose the details that communicate the feelings intended and paint a vivid scene for the reader, but also, very importantly, direct the reader's focus to the story you are actually telling.  

Without focus you might end up shooting your little toe off with the gun on the mantle, and little toes are important for balance.