A Writer's Device: Balancing the desire to describe.

One thing that I keep coming back to, confronting, is that writing in the novella format encouraged the use of very few and very focused passages of detailed description. It really rewarded me there to use sweeping descriptions up to specific moments, and to return to doing so thereafter.

In writing the new novel, there is so much "room" to write in, there is no inherent limit on how much description is appropriate. Only things that seems to matter are:

Does it further the story to tell more?

Does it impede the flow of the story to tell more?

Does it provide introspection, thoughts, or considerations that the reader would otherwise have to glean by guessing, by working backwards from outcomes or decisions?

and,

Is there some "cool factor" in explicitly stating some consideration or nuance in the terms that the character perceived the situation?

The last one is the hardest to get right. Sometimes it is important to be clear that someone like a trained espionage agent sees very different things when they look at a scene than a person who only lived an ordinary life would see. Sometimes explaining leads to over-explaining.

I am taking those questions above, and looking for "yes" as answers to them, before writing entire pages of internal thoughts or stealthy movements.

Oh well... it keeps my Editor busy at least. (( grin))

Right then; back to grinding. Have the goal line in sight now. Just need to get the words on the page.