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Topic : Re: Using too much dialogue? I'm working on a novel of my own and, looking back at the bits of it I have so far brought into light, that almost everything in it is dialogue. Is this a bad - selfpublishingguru.com

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The question isn't whether you have "too much" dialogue, but whether you have "enough everything else." There are successful novels that are composed of almost all dialogue, and very little else, but those are definitely rare exceptions. A book without rich descriptive passages is like a cake without flour. It's possible to create, but you'll working without most of what normally holds the structure together, it will feel like something crucially important is missing to most people, and some people will reject it entirely. So let's say yes, your novel is unbalanced. What are options for fixing this problem?

One option is writing a play or a screenplay (or a graphic novel script) instead. These are centered much more around dialogue and plot --it becomes someone else's job to provide the rich visual images that will help people become immersed in your fictional world. Let's assume, however, that you are committed to a novel. I have the same basic inclinations as you --left to my own devices, my writing is all dialogue --and these are things I've done that have helped me develop my descriptions:

Pay more attention to the visuals in real life. We write what we notice, and what we love. You probably pay a lot of attention to things people say, and less attention to what they look like. Practice seeing the things you usually miss.
Remember, descriptions should never be dry catalogs of visual details. Every description should come with a mood, a point of view, an attitude and an context. Is the sky paradise blue? Or pitiless blue? The actual color might be the same, but the way you describe it conveys a wealth of info about your character and helps put the reader in the character's mind.
Something I learned here, on this SE, from @MarkBaker , is that metaphors tell their own stories and carry their own narratives. "I walked through a forest of trees that stood like angry soldiers, with branches like spears." That gives a strong visual image, but it also carries its own story, one that can inform the main narrative.

It might be worth spending some time going through some description-based writing exercises to develop your descriptive "muscle." Once you learn more about what descriptions can do for you, they'll seem less like an onerous duty or hoops to jump through, and more like an opportunity to add depth and layers to your storytelling.


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