Details: How Much is Too Much?

TMI. Too much information. Too little information?

How much detail should you include in your descriptions used in your story?

Part of this is, no doubt, a part of your personal voice and style. As with so many things in writing, there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut rule except when it comes to extremes.

For example, you probably wouldn't want to read a story that consisted of paragraphs sounding like, "Bill got in his car and drove to the store. He picked up groceries. He then left the store and got into an accident. He was depressed."

On the other hand, I'd grow bored reading something that sounded a lot more like, "Bill, dressed in his pleated khaki pants and favorite leather belt and his oversized button up shirt coupled with a satin red tie, ran in long elegant strides to his blue 2005 Honda with a smatter of filth on the windshield and worn windshield wipers. He pushed the unlock button on the black keyfob and the locked clicked open with a musical chirp in the key of F. Bill lifted the handle and swung his size 38 rear end into the well worn leather seat, inserted the key into the starter and turned it one-quarter turn for the three seconds necessary to allow the engine to catch. He paused and listened to the sputter of the spark plugs igniting the fuel mixture in his 98,000 mile-worn engine..." At this rate, somewhere in chapter seven he might be finally able to purchase his groceries and I'll be slogging through his pondering of monosodium glutamate.

I've found one author who advises new authors to be more sparse in their descriptions. I wish I still had the link to the author that I read this from; he basically said that when you don't fill in the blanks for every detail, the reader will automatically impose his or her own ideas to fill in the story, and make the story more their own. Describe the bare minimum detail about the heroine; if her breast size and fingernail length aren't important to the story, don't discuss it. The reader will not miss anything you don't describe, and the only things they need to know are things that pertain to the character as an intrinsic detail and things that pertain to the plot or distinguishes the character from other characters.

In other words...less is more.

Perhaps this is a lot of "duh" for other people. The way I'm wired, I need to consciously remember this detail when going through the work. As I rework my story, I'll be asking myself, "Is this important for the reader? Is this a detail that can be omitted without harming the story? If so, it gets chopped.

From what I can tell (and from stories I typically enjoy) the story should flow from point to point without meandering side trips into details that are mundane or have nothing to do with the story. Unless something is going to happen because of that detail, do I really need to know that your hero had a broken wrist when he was seven or is a huge fan of Applebee's riblets? Don't get me mired in background. Get me entrenched in the story, because the story is the thing!

Maybe other people have other viewpoints or insights on this. If so I'd love to hear from you. My first draft is coming along; I'm wrapping up the ending, then I'll give it a quick once-over rough rough edit and then read it to see if there's something resembling a decent story woven into whatever makes it to the page at that point. I'll be reading it with an eye on details that aren't really needed, and for spots that could use some better details and information. I'll be looking for a story that makes me want to keep reading; the less of a chore it is to review, the better I'll hope the story is.

If you're an author or have experience in writing I'd love to know what you think of the amount of details necessary to a make a compelling story. Please share!