When ever you try to write a story, you have to first decide the context and the environment of the place where the story occurs. Then you have to craft the background, and make it detailed enough to fill all of the facets your readers expect while not getting bogged down and losing them in the details. Unlike some authors, I have to struggle with this, because it's a balance of what you want to get the reader to see and focus on. One of my favorite authors (Contemporary, as in alive today) is Deborah Harkness. Her All Souls Trilogy is a masterpiece of detail. Too much sometimes. But the director and cast that brought that story alive is unmatched in the world today (In my opinion).
Still, reading much of her work you find you spend a lot of time seeing the scenery and not the people.
Other authors are a different take. R. A. Heinlein is probably the best example of a First Person Author of the last century. His characters come alive. The likes of Michael Connelly and Matthew Scudder do character development in amazing style, but you do loose something sometimes in things that they forget to present. In Science Fiction, one of my favorites is James Haddock. And who can ignore Kim Harrison? And from SOL we have Jay Cantrell (an amazing author) and Rollie Lawson and Colt 45 and DA Porter. And of course the man I am doing the follow on to, Reluctant Sir.
All of these people are amazing wordsmiths. And I have followed them since 2001. This place is a Heck of a place to read for free. And there are good people here. And they work hard.
But readers here are the entire gamut of good to sniping ankle biters. I have to smile a relate to the simple fact that this is a Free to Read Space and some people don't appreciate the work that goes into writing. They want to make themselves larger by making the effort of the author smaller.
It would be nice if they could Write something that We authors could look at and provide our own Critique. But they don't. It's a sad case where the Art is detracted by the Critics who themselves could not pick up a single brush to stoke a single line in the context of the painting that the author tries to project.