Too much dialogue?

I would just keep writing, and keep writing in as much dialogue as you think you need. You can fix it in edits - and you might find the dialogue brings extra depth in places. Finish the draft and then edit, is my advice.

A good way to find betas is through SYW here - and a good way to start is by critting other people. Have you found SYW yet? You can't put your own work up for crit till you've made 50 substantive posts here - but critting others is a great way to get those posts up

Just so you know, SYW is only excerpts. Beta readers have a different page. But you just work the way that suits - lots of people here, doing things different ways

Some Lonely Scorpio said:

I am, after all, a mere noob.

Click to expand...

I think as long as they're not talking heads floating in space, it's probably not as much of a problem as you think. I can't remember ever having read a book thinking, "ugh there is just too much dialogue in here."

One thing I'm doing with the current pass of my WIP is making sure that all of my characters have something interesting or symbolic to do during the conversation. Do you have enough action with your conversation?

How are you describing the scene?
Outside: night or day, weather, wind, smell. How does your character feel in that environment.
Inside: Walls, colors, smell of the air, heated or ac, pictures, the feel of the place (old castle vs modern apartment building).

My first drafts are always super dialogue-heavy. In edits, I go back and make sure I'm grounded and my people are also seeing, feeling, doing... but I very rarely end up dumping much of the dialogue.

I agree with several other posters: write what feels right at the time you write it. Info dump, lots of dialogue, whatever. Then finish the story, set it aside, maybe work on something else. Whatever gives you some distance on your work. THEN rewrite. My guess is you'll find your dialogue is just fine, likely needing only a bit of fine-tuning.

Ive been worried about this exact same thing right now.

Like above I'm gonna add pros in between the dialogue as needed on edits.

Also, one of my favourite authors, Terry Partchett, Im reading one of his books now and its very dialogue heavy too so I'm not too worried if it ends up that way

I recently saw advice that fixed my dialogue- heavy portions.

It ties into what the published authors on this thread say.

It also fixed my other problem - that in parts of my book I believe I lose my descriptions. In the dialogue patches I don't think to add them. I just stand back and say "wow there's a lot of dialogue, that's weird."

So, the dialogue heavy parts feel distinct from the descriptive heavy parts. That means a book with chunky parts. This is Ok if intentional, but here it isn't.

The answer is to add description into the scenes that are dialogue-heavy. This answer is fantastic for me. It keep the dialogue from being a 'dialogue dump' and allows me to talk about how, when Joe and Bob are having that dialogue-dump conversation, the smell of fish roasting on the campfire keeps distracting Joe from whatever Bob is saying, because after all Joe is hungry. I mean, he was driving a team of oxen all day. He's really hungry and the trout smells fantastic with the campfire smoke blending in. Joe's butt is sore, too, and he feels like there is so much dust caked on him that he could probably flake it off in chunks. But Bob keeps talking. So Joe wrenches himself back to the conversation, and holds up his end, while his sister grabs him dinner.

A lot of dialog can be a strength, too. Dialog reads fast-paced and concise. You could lean into this and make it a unique aspect to your writing.

I'm gonna say if you have more than 50% dialogue in a scene you might be doing it wrong. That's not to say you can't have scenes that are basically just people having parlor conversation. Obviously some authors have been very successful with this formula (Jane Austen?). It doesn't mean you have to cut dialogue. Just learn how to leaven it. Internal monologue is your go-to. It's like the dialogue that people want to say but are inhibited from saying. (Not saying it says as much about them as saying it.)

I wouldn't go heavy on description if there isn't really anything interesting to describe, but a little keeps it from being floating heads. And you can round it out with some personality-revealing action beats. Nervous fidgeting, glances askance, and the like.

I'm a heavy dialogue writer by nature.

However there is a balance to be struck. I find I am also an underwriter, and rely on dialogue to form my scene skeletons. What's often missing in my scenes on a basic level is sufficient description (don't need much, but you do need SOME), sufficient internal world (do not skimp on this), and transitions (I tend to skip from scene to scene but that's not always appropriate). Fill that out and you'll find your book putting on weight, in a healthy way ;-) The main thing is that your dialogue feels integrated into the story and not like a "section".

What's often missing on a structural level from mine is sufficient conflict, too, but that's a whole other issue.

It depends also on genre. In historical, like in fantasy and science fiction, you need to "paint in the background" more than you would for a novel set in contemporary times. Your reader won't have a vivid picture of the era without those little details.

However, if you're still on your first draft, I'd advise you to keep writing in the style that comes easiest. I also write historical, and my first drafts tend to be dialogue heavy. They also tend to include notes like "they were eating [typical foodstuff]". I then build up the structure in subsequent drafts.

I feel like I'll expand my thoughts a little more after having read some more opinions from here.

What it comes to is the question: Why?

Why do you feel like writing this much dialog is a problem? Is it because it just doesn't look like a novel you're used to? That would be enough to give anyone doubts, but that is not an answer. Ask yourself, what does the dialog do to my story? There are the basics to look at, such as does it advance the narrative, build character, and feel like a natural progression from what came before, but that's true of anything. The next level is to determine what this does stylistically. Dialog typically reads very fast. The words-to-action ratio is very high, so the scenes will feel like they're flying by. Especially on a tactile level, as all the new paragraphs will mean dialog takes a lot of page space, and the reader will be flipping pages faster than they're used to.

Are these things you want in your story? And why do you want them there? If this is not what you want your novel to read like, then it's time to rework your scenes. What are you conveying through dialog that you should convey through setting, gestures, or actions? (for example, if you have dialog akin to, "gosh, your so lazy so Sir Micheal," you could cut that and have a description of Micheal's unpolished armor, untended to horse, and a look from Sir John of disapproval).

However, if you're aware of what the dialog is doing to your story, you can try to make that your advantage. In this historical book, is it a time of chaos? Upheavel? Or the characters in a rush for some reason? Giving that heavy dialog speed could help the reader feel the rush of pace on a visceral level. But if the book is about a slow, relaxed time, maybe scenes told almost always through dialog don't suit the purpose?

When I say lean into it, that's what I mean. Heavy dialog itself isn't a sin. Unless it's used unthinkingly or inappropriately.

Yeah, pacing is one of the top reasons to put some filler in between dialogue. Pacing isn't just to take up more of your reader's time. If you read through dialogue too fast, it's easy to miss the significance. Reading is faster paced than speaking and listening. Sometimes you can read faster than you can think.

Dialogue is what brings characters to life. I don't there can ever be too much dialogue - provided it's clear, flows, and all contributes to the unfolding tale.

There can be relative to the rest of the book, if other areas or suffering (not cutting back dialogue but couching it with more context)

I wouldn't think in terms of what percentage of your story is dialogue, as long as it's not boring or being abused as long info dumps. Maybe focus more on how the dialog moves the story forward, generates tension and on how the conflicts play out between and within your characters.

Also, what things are they doing as they are talking, and what do they do that get them to where they're having these conversations.

I'm a pantser, so the first draft of scenes often have too much (by my estimate) naked dialog without enough else going on. Also, my characters tend to go on too long--repeating themselves and not getting to the point. You don't want dialog to be too "on the nose," but at the same time, fictional dialog shouldn't be identical to real-life conversations where people exchange meaningless pleasantries, or talk in circles without purpose, or ramble on. In fiction, every sentence needs to contribute something to the story, whether it be plot or characterization. I find that I can cut a lot of length by tightening up dialog.

I've no idea if this is the case for you or not.

Having said this, some stories are very dialog heavy and others have a lot more action or description or observation or something else that doesn't involve a lot of chit chat between characters. I've read short stories that are 100% dialog (and some with no dialog at all as well). I don't think that approach would work with a novel, but maybe someone can prove me wrong.

Kiss of the spiderwoman! ;-)