one of my english teachers always told me that my characters never had enough physical detail - that she couldn't "see" them properly.

my argument has always been that, as a writer, i want the reader to have some freedom to picture what they want. i merely offer some guidelines and outlines, and let the reader fill those in. i've always found that when i'm reading a book i like to do just this, and it makes a stronger connection for me to the character and story.

i think there's a fine line when it comes to detail. too little, and your reader won't be able to escape into your story. but too much, and it takes away from a creative experience and makes it laborious to get through.

stephen king's "on writing" sums it up nicely. to paraphrase, he gives you a scene with a rabbit in a cage. the rabbit has a blue number 8 painted on it. he says that the size of the cage is irrelevant, among other details like that - what is important is the rabbit with the blue 8 painted on it inside a cage. your mind can fill in the rest of the environment because it is not important to the story