META: How Much To Write About (say) Ketchikan?

Scott Eiler seiler at eilertech.com
Sat Apr 28 18:12:19 PDT 2012


I'm in a unique situation today.  I've written a story about 
Ketchikan-Alaska (http://www.eilertech.com/stories/2010/sinking.htm), 
*and* I've been there 
(http://www.eilertech.com/domination/journal/journal24.htm), *and* I'm 
reading another story about Ketchikan.

In my own story I chose to not include details about the city.  I did 
describe that it had a hostel, and a fancy hotel which could see the 
waterways.  That's all the story needed.  My story took place mostly on 
the water.

In the story I'm reading, the author chose to describe the city.  One 
action scene was so geographically accurate, I could trace the 
characters' steps.  He didn't say *exactly* which direction the creek 
flowed, but he *did* describe the historic boundary between white man's 
and native territory at the creek, the boardwalk beside it, the 
boutiques alongside it, the bridge at the shore, the tramway leading 
down to the boardwalk, and the long way up the hill to the tramway. 
Aside from there being a hotel lobby at the top of the tramway, his 
details were *meticulously* correct.  But might that perhaps be overkill?

How much detail do *you* like in your stories, RACC?  Would you put more 
in if only you could?

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

Let's take a look, if you will, at the Second Amendment of the
Constitution, which protects every American's right to shoot another
American.  This cherished constitutional right to shoot people and make
them dead is currently recognized in all fifty states, most recently
Florida.

- The Borowitz Report
(http://www.borowitzreport.com/2012/03/29/an-argument-against-healthcare/),
March 2012.



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