That's right! I've just discovered that it's a big deal if one starts his story off with a flashback of past events or whether he describes those events in a choronological order or retrospectively. It does matter if you torrent the reader with unnecessary descriptions or throw him headfirst into the action, just like a battlefield skirmish, decorating bits of details here and there. Unlike in real life where things exist and their purpose may never be discovered, in a story everything that is there has to have a purpose, a meaning. It's like symbolic objects in a painting -- nothing that you see in a painting is there on a whimsical basis. I'm just in the middle of learning of how to use this focus shifting to my advantage to make the most out of my story.
I discovered this too, not too long ago. It really helped me and it makes sense. I think the trouble with writer's is they can think in movie terms. I remember getting Entertainment weekly and loved when they'd pick apart a t.v. set. All those things a viewer takes for granted are swept over in seconds. A writer really doesn't have the option of cramming in everything so they have to pick the most important. And by not wasting words - linking to the words to something of deeper meaning helps tie everything together. Like Archie Bunker with his crummy chair positioned right in front of the t.v.
That's right @peachalulu Exactly, picking the most important; It all boils down to the matter of importance and priority when writing. Mention this fact or not? What will the reader get if I do? Does the strory need to foreshadow? I'm asking these questions throughout the story, I label a name or a character and ask myself (as if critiquing someone else) many whys. I feel I'm on the good track with this approach but inevitably I've discovered there are lot of potential questions and it's a donkey work to answer them, eventhough the reader may never know an answer to them. I need to know the answers. Presently, I've reached a coul de sac in my story, 'cos there are queastions that the MC will pose to another character and I don't know the exact answers to them. I have to think them over now.
