: Re: Breaking up a talky piece of writing Dialogue is my favorite thing to write. I tend to use a lot of dialogue in my writing, which sometimes results in long, talky passages -- a bit similar

@LarsenBagley300

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I'm starting to grok that the narrative that accompanies dialog has a fair amount of internal thought that is not immediately recognized as such. Unspoken reaction, deepening of the story. This means you want to be in your character's head as you're writing. Here's a meaningless example:

"Hey let's head to the beach."
"Alright. I'll grab my keys."
"Sounds good."

But break up the dialogue with some of the internal reaction of the PoV character, and it's fuller:

"Hey let's head to the beach."
In March? This guy was full of bizarre ideas. Still, it would give her
thirty minutes of uninterrupted time with him, and she could
drill into his back story a little, get a handle on why he had come out to Portland to begin with. If she took a wrong a turn, she might
even stretch that to forty minutes. "Alright. I'll grab my keys."
"Sounds good."

More broadly, it feels to me like writing dialogue uses a different, less descriptive but punchier part of the brain than writing narrative. Maybe these are different sets of writing muscles. Both are important and give a balanced story.
Your question: What's the best way to make this more interesting for the reader? Is it a sign of deeper, structural issues? Or is it something that can be tweaked?
My answer: It depends. A quick back-and-forth is sometimes best. Still, assess your writing overall (and take a look at the books you read) and see if the story would benefit from including more of the inner life of the characters. :-)

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