If you have a poetic turn of mind, you can let it out of its cage from time to time. You just need to remember the other principles we’ve talked about, such as proportion. When you take the time and energy to capture precisely a particular state of mind, make sure it’s a state of mind that’s worth capturing—a turning point in your main character’s life, a moment of realization that defines his or her entire existence. If you expend your literary gifts on a character’s passing fancy or fit of pique, your readers are going to feel manipulated and you’ll get in the way of your story.
