As an English major there are two major types of writing: critical and fictional. There’s a bit of irony involved between the two. The target audience for literary criticism is educated folks–basically nerds like me who like to read what other people say about so-and-so’s story so that they can prove them wrong. Fiction, on the other hand, isn’t for hoity-toity folks. It’s for people who just like to read made-up stuff.
The irony is that, for literary criticism, you have to spell everything out. Set up your argument and show every little detail. For fiction, you are required (in order for it to be “good” fiction) to trust your readers to “get” what you mean.
I realized tonight I was talking to the wrong audience.