Avoiding Unnecessary Details

    As readers, we have all had the experience of reading a story that seems to be going nowhere. Details seem to be meticulously included in order to pad the composition but have no essential role in the furthering of the plot in any particular way.  As readers we sometimes try to have patience despite our growing frustration.  Especially as the story monotonously goes on and on without any indication that what we have been told so far was needed. Most reader do not read very far into stories like that. They avoid the unnecessary frustration and do something more constructive. 

     Of course as writers, we don't want that kind of negative reader-reaction. We want to maintain interest from start to finish.  This means avoiding what is totally irrelevant and totally unessential. If indeed our cat's refusing to eat or hesitating before eating adds absolutely nothing to our story, then why include it?  

     In short, an essential characteristic of good story-telling is that every detail included has a crucial function in the plot.  An example of this can be seen in the film The Fifth Element, where Bruce Willis is shown to have only one match left as he lights up a cigarette.

    This detail might have seemed insignificant, but it turned out that the very existence of mankind depended on that one last match at the film's conclusion. 
The drama over that last match was intense.

    Other details  that might seem insignificant at first have the function of reinforcing the mood the story whether that mood be sadness, fear, love, appreciation of  beauty,  patriotism, hatred, envy, cheerfulness, reverence of God, incredulity, mirth, contempt,. etc.

    For example, a thunderous lighting story just before Dracula appears intensifies anxiety and fear.  The Showing of a weeping willow tree might prepare the reader emotionally for the sight of a weeping maiden in distress.  Some are very overt and others subtle. But they all contribute.

    Now, a reader familiar with this will expect such things to have some meaning in the start, So when such a reader reads that a cat hesitated before eating its food, he expects it to dovetail with some important event or to reinforce a theme or a mood. If the reader notices many such details are added haphazardly with no logical coherent development, then the reader wills suspect that the writer is just putting down things willy-nilly without any rhyme nor reason.

    In such a case, the reader will begin to feel uneasy and ask why is he being expected to read. After all, time is precious, and if the story goes around in endless aimless circles, then why should he be expected to stick around? In short, we do not want to test a reader's patience in that way, because we will lose the reader.