Details are the reason I love to read the same books two or three times and watch the same movie over and over. I already know the main events, but I forget the details. The nuances of how an actor chooses to say a certain line. The reactions of a character to another and what that tells me about their personality. The little facts that when put together piece by piece create a unique individual. The clues that an author or director hints at throughout the story to entice an audience to pay attention. The flicker of emotion on someone's face. The way an author will choose one word over another word because of its connotation. How much description an author chooses to devote to a setting or character and how much the author leaves up to the reader's imagination. How story events seamlessly flow together. The details are what keep me coming back again and again to the same story. If it's a good story, I love to sit and read/watch for all the interesting and fascinating details I had forgotten from the previous reading/viewing. If it's a great story, I already have all the details ingrained into my memory, and I read/watch simply for the pure enjoyment of having to experience this riveting story again.
Details are also why I love to people watch. I look for the interesting tidbits that make one person different from everyone else. I soak up details about people so that I can figure out what makes them tick. Why are they the way they are? People reveal all sorts of things about themselves without ever having to open their mouths. The way they move, their smile, their frown, the way they look at others, the way they physically interact with the world around them - these reveal so much about a person. Then, when you add in how a person verbally interacts with their world, a whole new layer is added. Word choice, sentence structure, tone, laughter, volume, sarcasm, humor, phrasing all add new dimensions to a person. I love interesting people who require careful observation in order to discover their varying, unique layers.
Details are also what make a day interesting. The day itself may contain the same basic schedule, but the details make the day entertaining. The details are the answer to the question, "What happened today?" A person rarely answers with "Oh, I woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, ate lunch, came home, ate dinner and went to bed." That answer is devoid of details and therefore, boring. A more interesting answer would be, "The funniest thing happened at work today! I somehow accidentally locked myself in the music library and had to pick the lock with a safety pin to get out!" or "Everyone at work made fun of me because I wore three layers of clothing in protest of the broken heater" or "Mary brought free apple cider and cookies to work today and it was seriously all gone in a manner of minutes like a cloud of locusts had descended and wrought havoc in the workroom!" or "I slipped on a small patch of ice as I was walking across the parking lot and the cutest guy at work happened to witness my tumble and gallantly offered me a hand up." See, the details are so much more engaging in a conversation than the broad main topics! Others agree with me, too:
The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.
William Morris
To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
Ernest Hemingway
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