In an essay in the Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern made this observation about acting:
"We often talk about an actor projecting this or that emotion, but that's not the only way it works. Watch a movie star, especially during a close-up reaction shot, and you're likely to see his or her face holding still, staying neutral so as not to give too much away. We're the ones who are doing the projecting, and what we detect, bouncing back like radar returns from the actor's face, is our own empathetic response--what we feel the character is feeling."
One example he gives is Gary Cooper's portrayal of Marshall Kane, writing his will under the ticking clock in "High Noon."
It occurs to me that great writing is similar. It sets the scene, but you bring your own rich imagination to it. The writers I like best do this seemingly effortlessly (which means a lot of work went into it). Of course a good place to start is a ruthless hunting down of excess adjectives and adverbs. Painful sometimes, but worth it if it leads to a style worthy of Bogart.