Story Description: Finding the Right Balance

In writing, we always talk about finding the right balance of elements for our story. Characters can be too unlikable, or they can be too perfect. A character’s emotions can be lacking—leaving readers feeling distant—or their emotions can feeloverwhelming and melodramatic.

Even when it comes to writing craft, we can go overboard. There’s one popular series I didn’t enjoy because the prose had too much voice, due to an overly chatty narrator. Or some stories suffer from too many adjectives or...