"Shoe leather" is a term used by newspaper folk to describe solid reporting that gets all the facts, down to the tiniest detail, with old-fashioned hard work. You walk through neighborhoods, into police stations and offices to get the real story from real people or documents.

Shoe leather is a good thing in news reporting; not so much in fiction writing.

My college fiction-writing teacher used the term to describe the overly detailed recounting of a character’s movement from one meaningless moment to the next.

He called it out in my writing. I've found it in others' work, like one passage similar to this:

Jane picked up the phone, pressed the buttons for Anne's number, and listened as it rang on the other end. Then she heard a click.

“Hello?” came a woman’s voice.

“Hello, is Anne home?”

“Yes, this is Anne.”

“Oh, hello, Anne, this is Jane.”

“Jane! Hello – how are you?”

Enough already!

Do we need to be walked through all the steps involved in making a phone call? (The writer I'm thinking of even included a phone number.)

I guarantee your readers will not be confused if you just write that Jane picked up the phone and called Anne.

And it’s OK if you don’t quote the “Hello, how are you?” part of the call, unless you take the conversation into “How am I? How am I? I’ll tell you how I am – I’m pissed off!” territory, perhaps to set the tone of the scene or introduce a plot development.

It may seem like these mundane moments add authenticity to your scene, but action should only be described if it drives the story. Does your plot hang on the exact actions Jane took in making her call to Anne? Then by all means, give us every tedious, boring word.

Shoe leather is why characters in TV shows and movies always get a parking space right in front of their destination. We don't need to see them driving around the block again and again -- unless the scene requires that they be late or arrive frustrated.

Remember: Everything you tell your reader is on a need-to-know basis. Be sure they really do need to know.

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