I recently had a small detail turn into a hugely important point in my latest WIP.

I was merrily editing a scene where the main character was looking in a mirror and doing her final check before going out. In my description of what she was wearing, I kept thinking I was missing something. I initially attributed it to me being male and to just go on. It was just a detail anyway. Right?

But it bothered me. As I played around with different ideas (and asked my wife), I realized I had missed an important detail. Something hugely important in her culture. And it opened up a whole line of thought I would have never considered. It was so impactful it caused me to go back and re-edit some parts to include it.

Because of that one detail, the story became much more impactful. So details matter. Pay attention when your muse whispers that you might need one.