The Devil is in the Details

Details enrich story. They help to create a story world in which your reader can dwell for the length of your book.

They can also throw them out.

A few days ago, I was watching an episode from the television series, Lie to Me (A big favorite of mine). A young girl had gone missing and the father flashed the photograph to the investigator. I immediately gasped and then laughed. The girl was wearing one of my daughter’s favorite sweaters.

This detail shocked me out of the story for a moment, but it was just an odd coincidence, right? Costume designers have to get the actor’s clothes from somewhere. So, this one shops at Gymboree. No big deal. I frequently spot our kids’ play table (from Ikea) on television shows. It always makes me smile.

But what followed really threw me for a loop, story-wise. Several scenes later, another photo emerged–someone had seen a girl wearing the same sweater, but you can’t see her face. “It HAS to be her,” the father insists. “Her mother knitted that sweater herself, it’s a one-of-a-kind!”

Uh, no, it’s NOT–a perfect match is hanging in my daughter’s closet. Mom knitted it herself? Not unless she works in a factory in Hong Kong. It doesn’t even look hand-knitted.

So, what’s the big deal here?

A major plot point hung on this detail. If it was hand-knitted and one-of-a-kind, then the costume designer should have made sure that it couldn’t be purchased off of a rack at Gymboree (or at Ebay, here, here and here and dozens of other listings). The vivid story-world created by the screen writer had collapsed, because I was no longer thinking about the poor missing child–I was focused on the sweater mistake.

Am I being nitpicky? Yes–for a reason. When you are careless about details, your story world becomes unstable. When your story world is unstable, readers (viewers) become distracted. When they become distracted, they put down your book. They may never finish it. If they don’t finish it, likely they won’t buy another.

So, consider the details in your story–historical, medical, geographic, use of language, etc. Do you have a cop making an arrest? Maybe you’d better interview one and make sure you have it right. A patient has a stroke? Talk to a doctor and/or a stroke survivor. Your character was at Gettysburg? Review the timeline of events and closely examine the maps. Lives in New Orleans? Maybe you should walk the streets and see what they see.

Don’t forget–the devil is in the details. Make sure he’s not prowling around in your story-world.

Now, I’m off to hand wash that one-of-a-kind hand-knitted sweater.