How much is too much? Balancing dialogue & narration

No real advice. I've been there, especially in my WIP. Just wanted you to know that I feel your pain.

Oh boy. Your internal editor is working overtime on you right now, huh?
Some books are heavier in dialogue than others. It really depends on the book and the writer's style.
I would say the happy balance is different for every story. Instead of looking at the novel as a whole, maybe if you take each scene individually you will be able to see judge each scene by how it flows and what it's pace is, and how well you balance the elements within them.
Instead of looking at the whole thing and deciding there may be too much or too little of something do it scene by scene or chapter by chapter. I think that is the best way to break it down. It feels more manageable, less overwhelming.
Try to turn off that doubt and go with your intuition on the right thing to do.
And after you get through this draft, get some dependable betas to look for those things you still aren't certain about for you.

Sissy, I've been through this and I know exactly what you mean. Dialog comes out fast and takes up lots of pages, so as the pages fly by, you start to wonder if something might be missing. And if you wonder that, you're probably right. Here's why:

Words are flying out of your characters' mouths like bees from a hive, and that's a good thing! The story would be boring without character interaction. But it may appear shallow without the support of a few other elements. So just make sure, for one thing, that you have beats going on throughout the conversation. Actions to punctuate or enhance what's said, or other descriptions to highlight your characters.

Next, take a really good look at your POV character. Whoever it is that's taken center stage, the one who has the most to gain or lose in the scene, needs to have a bunch of other stuff going on inside his or her head. What's he/she thinking? Feeling? Planning? Anticipating? Remembering? All this goes on, too, so don't forget to include it. Your scene will appear more authentic if you do.

Good luck!

Some good advice already.

I'd add that have a look at occasions you may be able to tell. That was always my biggest problem. Being a playwright and a huge movie fan, I could go pages with just dialogue. And then I realised that instead of writing a conversation where my characters discussed their day I could just write: 'The two of them sat to dinner and discussed the events of the day. It was an innocuous conversation, but Mary suspected there was something wrong with John, something he wasn't telling her. "What's up?" she asked.'

Another thing you can do--find other books in your genre that you like and type up a few pages from them. Use the same type of formatting you use when writing your own work, and you'll see really fast what the ratio of dialogue to action is.

I did this with about ten books, and found that they were all different. But it'll help you gauge your own writing. It's a very helpful exercise.

Karen Duvall just gave some great advice.

On a similar note, I was taught the tripod method of writing: balance narrative, setting and dialogue. They won't have equal word count on the page (that would make someone crazy trying to keep track!) but they should have equal importance on the page, if that makes sense.

Maybe it makes no sense. Let me try to illustrate in my own pathetic fashion.

When I'm looking at a scene I try to make sure that there's enough whereabouts so that the reader isn't in an empty room with white walls, floor and ceiling and no window. If you have setting that does something, that's great but not strictly necessary. (An example of setting doing something would be a marketplace where people are doing stuff, or an engine that won't start.)

I try to make sure there's enough narrative that the reader has a good idea of what the pov character is thinking and feeling. If the reader knows the character is upset, or happy, or worried, that's good. If the narrative is doing something--for example if he pov character is bored and thinking about their grocery list, or if there's an agenda--that's great but not strictly necessary.

I try to make sure there's enough dialogue to keep a feeling of interaction, especially cause and effect. I'd talk about the pitfalls of too little dialogue, but apparently that's not your problem. Toothpaste suggested a great technique for cutting down dialogue that doesn't impact the story. You want to only include the dialogue where the characters are learning, changing, conflicting or otherwise influencing each other so that both are affected in some important way, even if it's just to dig deeper into their stubborn hold on their position. If the fate of someone's, or even the Universe's, destiny hangs on every word, that's great but not strictly necessary.

I hope that helps!

Kami

Appalachian Writer said:

No real advice. I've been there, especially in my WIP. Just wanted you to know that I feel your pain.

Click to expand...

I have a similar problem with one of my wips. It's a short story and the first page appears to be all dialogue. I may fix the problem by chopping that whole scene and furnishing any needed info another way. I'm vascillating between leaving it as it stands because it does show and not tell, but it looks weird to me on the page. I know, I know...that's not how I should judge this thing.

Advice to sissy and memo to self: finish the darn thing and read aloud...see if it works.

Well, that was helpful...

Keep the dialogue to the point.

I strive for imbalance in my own tales. I want the dialogue to be top heavy and overwhelming, to reflect my own life experiences with others, who chat and chat away, without really paying any attention to what I have to say, so that in essence I really haven't spoken at all, but merely listened, and listened, and listened . . .

Thanks for posting this. I was going to ask this question, without driving everyone nuts.

It's nice to have dialogue overpowering narrative from time to time(or vise versa) just make them interesting Don't make your dialogue too casual, for example, your characters know Godzilla is attacking the city and they're supposed to save the city. One of your characters ask your MC "Hey, wanna go to the mall?" Just get to the point and stay on topic.