I started out this section, merrily wrote some good stuff about what makes fiction memorable, and went, “I FORGOT TO DESCRIBE HOW TO USE ACTUAL SENSE DETAILS.”
UGH.
A lot of writers skimp on the details. It’s surprisingly hard to stay focused on writing them.–It’s a lot like when you zone out on the way to work. You focus on the things that you think are important at the time (plot and character and dialogue) and completely space out about the setting.
I’m no exception. When writing the examples for this week’s post, I had to edit them twice to take out summary details.
AND I was writing a lot of details on purpose. I’m sure there are still summary details that I missed. I hope I got the point across!
Anyway, writing good sense details is vital. No sense details = the reader doesn’t get dragged into the world. Readers will enjoy books that don’t use details well, but mostly that’s because they’re doing most of the mental work themselves.
And that isn’t something you can rely on!