Don’t forget the shoes

A story can’t be just ‘he said/she said’ or ‘and then this happened’.  It has to imbed itself in you by allowing you to sense the temperature of the air, the sound of the trolley, the shoes the character is wearing.  The details are not really details, they’re the tone and feel of the situation.  Is she wearing gloves or a halter top…or both?  Why?  Is it cold or a masquerade?  And, the descriptions can’t just be a listing of stuff to be checked off.  Hat?  Check.  Overcoat?  Check.  They must be sprinkled naturally throughout so they are assumed to be what just happens to be going on.  Unless, of course, something outrageous appears.  It would be hard to be nonchalant about the grizzly in the closet or the army tank that’s on a collision course with the Volvo or the girl in the next pew with a knife sticking out of her back.

I am currently working on a story that spans several centuries.  The conversational circumstances and plot thread are not enough.  What were they wearing?  Did they ride horses or hail Hanson cabs?  Did all men carry canes for protection or only aristocratic men?  The likelihood of an emotional connection author-to-reader will be significantly enhanced if the reader can be made to ‘see’ the scene and believe it.