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I've been reading a lot of comments and criticism but with each one I'm slightly confused on when it's too much or not enough.
In writing some authors are very descriptive such as giving details to every single thing in such depth that it almost becomes a chore to read through it because your mind tries to keep up with it but it loses the setting, character, and plot within all the detail.
How do you know exactly when it's enough detail for the story not to be over done but still enticing to the reader?
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Joined: 6/14/2012
Posts: 194
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First, there is no "the reader." What makes one reader's eyes glaze will make another's sparkle. Some readers like rich descriptive depth and don't find it a chore to read; others want a spare, clean, tight, fast-moving story. (I have recently seen two pre-publication reviews of my next book. One was lukewarm and thought the book moved too slowly; the other was enthusiastic and praised its depth and the use of something other than battle scenes to raise tension. So there you go: two reviewers, who read the same book and had a different reaction.)
First you write it so it reads the way YOU want--you as your own reader. If you see something that slows you down--that makes your eye skid past it--that bit needs to be fixed, maybe cut. Then you show it to other people (ideally several--male, female, older than you, younger than you, etc.) and ask them to tell you if a) they wanted to keep reading and b) if they found places that were dull or boring. If they didn't want to keep reading, find out if they were confused, bored, or disgusted. Fix that. If they wanted to keep reading but found dull boring places, fix or cut those.
Some of those readers may want the story faster and others may want it slower, but you'll have a better sense of how the book reads if ten people read it rather than two. Twenty is even better.
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• How do you know exactly when it's enough detail for the story not to be over done but still enticing to the reader?
Here’s a good guideline: How much does the protagonist need in order to be driven to react?
By that I mean that if you tell me about the beautiful mountain range, and the pretty girl crossing the street, while your protagonist is looking in a storefront window, all you’re doing is slowing the narrative. If he or she doesn’t care, I sure don’t.
Having your protagonist notice things he or she doesn’t react to, just so you can describe things will also slow things.
“To describe something in detail, you have to stop the action. But without the action, the description has no meaning.” ~Jack Bickham
My real suggestion is this: the answer to your question can be found in most books on writing. Writing fiction for the printed word is a complex subject, with damn few simple answers. So yes, you can ask questions as they occur to you. But you can’t ask about what you don’t know exists. And as Mark Twain so wisely observed, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
So given that, why not take advantage of all those who have blazed a path before you? Ms. Moon gave you good advice, but you had to ask, and know what you needed to know. How about the questions you should ask, but won’t because you need to know “A” before you can wonder about applying “B” to it?
Take a bit of time to acquire the vocabulary, and some knowledge of what can be accomplished and what must. Like chicken soup for a cold, a bit of professional knowledge can’t hurt. You can always elect not to use a given tool, but you can’t use the tool you don’t know exists. And as they say, if all you own is a hammer, everything is going to look like a nail. 
Pick up a copy of Debra Dixon’s, GMC: Goal Motivation & Conflict. It’s a warm easy read, and chock full of things that will make you say, “Now why didn’t I think of that?”
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