How much is enough?
Is the Devil really in the details?
Many of y’all are too young to remember Dragnet, a 1950’s TV series. A movie remake in 1987 starring Dan Aykroyd, and Tom Hanks didn’t do justice to the old B&W series.
But so many times I want to make sure my reader “gets” the point. As a result, too often I bog the reader down in details that just muddy the water.
As Joe Friday used to say, “Just the facts, Ma’am.”
Like many of you readers out there, I sometimes skip through a story like Dorothy on the yellow brick road rushing toward Oz.
No one, myself included wants to read the boring stuff. So how do we strike a balance?
Jerry Jenkins wrote, How to Evoke Powerful Images in Your Reader’s Mind
In his post, he suggests that too often as writers, we crush the reader’s imagination instead of igniting the images.
Don’t force the details. Every reader wants an “ah-ha” moment.
Don’t strive for the reader to see what you see.
Resist the urge to explain and trust the reader to follow their own path of discovery.
So what do you think? Is your writing lighting fires or crushing the reader under the boulders of information?
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I don’t know about y’all, but I read the back cover before I buy a book. If I’m downloading an ebook I read the excerpt too. What do you read before a book purchase?
Jean's Writing 