Lois’s answer to “Ms Bujold: Have you considered writing the story of Count Piotr's war, or perhaps part of the histo…” > Likes and Comments

I have to agree with them staying potential rather than realized. Too many good stories get ruined by too much detail, backstory, or filling in other blank spaces. And with many of these, if you start looking too hard at the hidden structure, things start to unravel and it gets harder to suspend disbelief. If it's a good story and works, stop embellishing. Too much polishing might remove the shiny bits completely.