The gunwale aluminum is icy under your hands. Inky waves push themselves up the hull. Sound is swallowed by two hundred thousand tonnes of glacier shearing off.

I’ve been concerned with adding detail to my story. Subtle inclusions make the world interesting and real. The more information you can fit in, the richer the plot.

In editing of course it’s the opposite. The goal is to remove every distraction. Only leave the essentials. Engineers don’t design unnecessary parts into their machines. Storytelling can seem like more is more, but extra inclusions in a story are like windshield wipers on a blender.

l touched on this subject in Editing Isn’t Done Until the Book Is….

“Subtle details can make the most drastic changes to a story.”

Details are important. So is what’s excluded. Think of movies like Alien or

Cloverfield. What we couldn’t see told us infinitely more than what we were shown. The power of not-knowing is a major tool in storytelling. Secrets entice us. They can amplify the effects of what we do reveal to our audience. Those finite details are just the tip of the iceberg.