How many of us have received dripping red comments on our essays like these?

• Too general

• Vague

• Needs more detail

And how many of us knew how to revise our writing when we saw those comments? If I was a betting woman, I guess that only a few of us know how to go from vague and general to specific and detailed.

Novice writers believe adding more details means adding one or two adjectives and voila! They’re done.

My dog plays fetch

becomes

My fluffy dog plays fetch.

That’s all they’ve been taught, but that’s just the tip of the adding details iceberg! There’s so much more.

To save you from the perils of vague generalizations and evil red marks, I’ve created Mrs. Tom’s Guide to Adding Details to Your Writing.

The Guide to Adding Details to Your Writing includes the following:

• A list of common detail types.

• Definitions and examples for each type.

• Two BIG tips for using all those different types of details.

• Space to collect your own samples of great detail sentences from reading.

It’s my hope that Mrs. Tom’s Guide to Adding Details to Your Writing is a resource your entire family can use forever!

P.S. Can I hear an amen for Chekhov being too uptight? God save us from writers who take themselves too seriously.