Congo Gum

Now that I’m in the process of compiling my first anime environment review I came across a little piece I wrote before I started this blog. I’ve decided to finish it and here’s the outcome.

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In any form of work there are typically three levels of detail; too little, too much and the right amount, or in other words, the perfect medium. Now I’ve been writing fictional works since I could hold a pencil and over the years this has been the one thing I’ve tried to develop most. Others may argue and say that things such as character development or story are vital to a writings success. While this is true to an extent, putting all your eggs into one writing basket is a bad idea.

One of the best weapons in any creator’s arsenal is the viewer/readers mind. Everyone has their own thoughts and preconceptions about everything and anything. Now how does this fit into finding the right level of detail? The best way to do this would be to look at some examples and then derive at the right level of detail. For this well use the following scene, a bank robber escaping from the scene in 1950’s America.

Not enough detail - The robber ran down the alley behind the bank. He threw the sack of money into the trunk of the car and jumped in. He turned the car on but it wouldn’t start. “Crap” said the robber. Finally the car started and he raced away from the scene with the money.

Too much detail – The bank robber burst through the back door of the bank, ripping the door from its rackety hinges. He looked left and right into the murky alley. The blue and red flashing lights creeping round the corner began to close in, he only had one way to go. Like a bolt of lightning he jolted down the alley, dodging the black plastic garbage bags and knocking the alluminium trash cans out of the way. A ginger cat peered down at him from above, screeching at the racket being made. Panting and puffing he made his way to the getaway car. A brand new Chevy Sedan, with baby blue paintwork and cold leather seats. He thrusted the trunk open and without looking he launched the brown leather briefcase full of Dollar bills in and slammed the trunk shut with a thundering clunk.

Now I could go on further but I’ll leave it there, I think you get the point. In example A we don’t have any description or buildup as to what’s going on in the scene. It’s simple and quick, leaving too much to the imagination. In the second example we have a good amount of detail but the story suffers because of it, we have a great amount of information but in reality the story has only moved a relatively short amount of time. This example is spelling out too much to the reader and this takes too long to get anything done.

What I’m trying to get at here is that yes, while detail is important to a story, having too much of it can impede on the story’s development. On the flip side, having too little doesn’t suck the reader in and reads more like an instruction manual than a piece of writing. The amount of detail per scene can vary and it’s fine, not every action needs a detailed piece of writing. The whole point of this article is to highlight that each section of every story requires a certain level of detail in different parts. It’s up to you as the author to decide what goes where and what do you think the reader will already know.

Like before, you can tie this into any form of fictional work, such as Anime. My first Anime Environment review is currently taking shape and hopefully you’ll understand the whole point of this blog in the next article.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.