I’ve been binging on funny videos and other things related to Skyrim this week. I’ve been sick since yesterday and my mental capacity for anything more substantial is, well, non-existent. To put it lightly. Then I came across a joke about the books in Skyrim, namely about how thin and short they are.
But, as a writer, I spent a lot of the game actually reading those books. Why? Because there are literally three hundred (or more) different (short) books in this game. Seriously. Most people will never pick them up, but those that do are in for a treat. Most are cynical, from what I can remember, but a lot of them are historical books of a sort that detail past events.
Actual books, especially in the science fiction and fantasy realms, should be like this. If you pay attention to the lesser details — though maybe not to the three hundred books-within-a-book degree — I think the reader will fall in love with not just your story, but your universe. And any stories set within it. This, I think, is why so many epic and high fantasy series succeed.
Do you add those finite details to your stories? Do you think they’re necessary?
