Don't Get Lost in Facts

There are more facts than there are things in the universe.  In terms of writing, there are more facts than there are interesting things to write about.  A really great way to drag your story to a halt is to put in too many facts.

Suppose two characters get into a fist fight.  Does it matter exactly which hits landed and which ones missed?  Unless a specific injury becomes a significant detail later on (like a black eye which everybody makes note of), it isn't needed.  All we need to know is that the two people got into a fight, both got hurt, but one of them was the clear loser.

Be conservative.  Only mention necessary facts.  If Bob asks Alice how her mother is, we may assume they're friends.  We may assume any number of things.  How many of you saw that and assumed they were cousins (thus Bob is asking about his aunt)?  This is the kind of situation where you should mention their relationship.

Be careful, though.  Most writers will say that the worst thing we can do is tell the audience things instead of showing them those things.  If we are giving noticeable exposition, it gets distracting.  Make your facts sound natural.  Weave them into your narration.

Look at these sentences: "Alice and Bob are cousins.  Bob ran into Alice outside of a new deli."  Now compare them with, "Bob saw his cousin Alice on the street."  Both of these have the critical information that Bob and Alice are cousins, but the second one is smoother in how it tells us that.  It gives us a pertinent piece of information, but it does so very nonchalantly, like we should already know that.  It also drops the unimportant information of where exactly they met.

Facts are wonderful things.  They tell us the things we need to know.  Just don't go overboard.  We don't need to know every fact, just the ones we need to know.