There are two worlds in writing. The first is one of pure, mindless, nigh-hedonistic entertainment. The second, in contrast, is a realm of cold, analytical detail. The balance of these two, like the supposed importance balance of the humors or the alignment of the solar system's planets, are important to the point of being integral to any story, written or not. After giving too much detail, the story teller finds them self with an audience saying "So what?", or in the worst case, finds them self alone. However, if the tale-teller plays only to the tune of entertainment, they soon find them self bandying about with baseless tales of witless concepts, only suitable for when conversation has come to a stand-still, or when one is writing something along the lines of dime-novels.
The two worlds are intrinsically tied to one another. They are not, as some would think, mutually exclusive; when one is strengthened, so is the other. To truly entertain, one must at least have some basis to go from and thus is detail required. But to truly detail, one must include some form of entertainment, be it wording or conceptual curiosity, and thus is entertainment required. One must always capture attention when one writes. Far too many writers with beautiful and greatly intriguing concepts have fallen to the folly of writing in heavy, obtuse wording (and thus sacrificing the element of entertainment) so that they may express thoughts in detail. Still countless more have fallen to the greater draw of merely repeating exciting, attention-catching, hackneyed phrases, setting the modern stereotype of hack writers.
In view of this, the writer must always remember the audience to which they are writing. Writing being the art of non-verbal communication, a human element is always to be considered. Thus, the writer's first concern is to catch the majority of the audience's notice. This eye-catching may take the form of an interesting hook, a impressive title, or the first intriguing few lines, or even an accurate and tantalizing summary (this being most commonly found on the back of modern novels) as preface. But once the writer has the audience's attention, once these scales of Entertainment and Detail have been balanced, the scales are not to be tipped.
This does not quite mean that the writer is to force them self to add a tidbit of interest with every detail, rather that they must always keep a keen eye upon their writing, and the flow of its concepts. Every piece of information comes with a modicum of excitement, as long as it is not the same piece of information reiterated. So, despite the cyclical nature of life, and ignoring the usefulness of alliteration and/or having a common theme throughout, the writer must try not to be repetitive. That is, unless the writer is attempting to write a persuasive article, but that subject will be addressed in a later piece.
So. Avoid repetition, and keep the hell away from extremes when it comes to this Balance. Remember, everything in moderation. The best way to ensure moderation is to, well, moderate! One must read their own writing, and re-read, and re-read, and re-read, in any possible way one can read (or re-read) it. Then, edit the piece according to one's newfound insight into their writing. Finally, it is recommended that one put it up to peer review. While the writer might understand what a certain turn of phrase means, the audience is always of a different mindset. No piece of writing has been found to be universally approved of, and rightly so; no view point is universally agreed upon.
Though these tenets, followed to their fullest extent, do not a great author make, they do make for a nice foundation on which an amateur writer can build upon. And thus, this author imparts this advice to his audience: Practice using these guidelines. Try reading a literary favorite, and one will quickly notice these themes are followed, if loosely so. Keep in mind though, nothing (except grammar) is set in stone.
