I would say that a good heuristic (in my experience) is that you should write it as you would write fiction. In other words, pretend that you are writing it as a story for publication. (Or maybe publication in a very similar alternate universe where the events you were writing about did not actually happen.)
Think about how much information the reader is typicality given in the standard novel that you read. It is a balance between the factors you mentioned. Enough information for readers to know what is going on, without the burden of irrelevant details.
So do I just start a journal and consider it to be the beginning of a book and then explain all the stuff I haven’t explained in it before and then reference it when it comes up again later? Thanks, this is an interesting idea! Though it sounds like a lot of back-story. Do you think of it as fiction that you’re trying to make accessible to an audience or more like those cryptic books that put you in the middle of a situation? That pesky “audience” consideration always creeps up on me.
I would say that a good heuristic (in my experience) is that you should write it as you would write fiction. In other words, pretend that you are writing it as a story for publication. (Or maybe publication in a very similar alternate universe where the events you were writing about did not actually happen.)
Think about how much information the reader is typicality given in the standard novel that you read. It is a balance between the factors you mentioned. Enough information for readers to know what is going on, without the burden of irrelevant details.
So do I just start a journal and consider it to be the beginning of a book and then explain all the stuff I haven’t explained in it before and then reference it when it comes up again later? Thanks, this is an interesting idea! Though it sounds like a lot of back-story. Do you think of it as fiction that you’re trying to make accessible to an audience or more like those cryptic books that put you in the middle of a situation? That pesky “audience” consideration always creeps up on me.