: Re: Striking the balance between dialogue and narrative I am participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. I have never in my life written so much of a single story. Although I am

@Cugini967

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First, for the purposes of NaNoWriMo I strongly suggest that you shoot your inner editor in the head. Write the most awful dreck that you can imagine, and then go back and fix it.
But as for answering your actual question, you should alternate between description and dialogue in the same scene. That is, instead of doing the following:

[Several long paragraphs of description.]
[Several pages of dialogue.]
[Several long paragraphs of description.]

Try something like this instead:

[A few lines of dialogue.]
[A snippet of description, preferably one which relates to the dialogue on some level.]
[A few more lines of dialogue.]

This may be easier said than done, so here are a few more ideas for how to know how and when to insert your descriptive snippets:

Use description to control the pacing of the dialogue. Wherever you need a "beat" (a moment of silence or brief lull in the conversation), insert some description.
Use description to create atmosphere or theme. If your story is dark and foreboding, break the dialog for a moment to have the character notice a crow picking at some roadkill. Use other descriptive techniques as appropriate to the tone of your story.
Use description when you need to turn the dialog in a particular direction. Have one of the characters be distracted momentarily by something in the environment, but have this distraction serve as the excuse for a change in topic.

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