Have you ever read a book where it seemed like the characters did not speak enough? How about one where they talk too much and there is no imagery? Dialogue and narrative, especially in certain fiction genres are a delicate balance. Your characters need to tell the story for you through their dialogue, but the narrative actually gives your reader a visual as to the scene, setting, and current events in a given story.
But over-narrating is often a problem for new authors, who don't understand the importance of writing a heart-stopping story told by the characters themselves. Story creation is not like an essay or a news article, whose essential elements depend on the narratives to tell their stories. With any story in which there are characters going through their "journey" from the beginning to the end, their dialogue is the most important part of the tale's creation.
The creation of a dialogue should be in keeping with several things: the character's personality, their situation, their overall journey, and the relationship with whom they are speaking. Just like we as human beings react to different people we know in varying ways, so too should your characters. If they hate someone or are very angry with them, they will not speak to them the same as they would for a loved one or close friend. The idea of not adding emotions in your character responses is considered cookie cutter creating. It makes your dialogues boring and one-dimensional.
Need some help in creating a more realistic dialogue and not sure what to do? Study people. Listen to the way they talk to each other. Sit in a coffee shop or restaurant, pay attention when watching real TV shows, listen when your family members or friends talk to each other. Pay attention to the way they react to different situations and use what you learn to write that realism into your characters. You will find that with most people, they react differently to pretty much everyone they know.
Narrative is important too, as it sets the scene for your character's story, and some details are important. There are conflicting ideas as to how much narrative is too much or not enough, but the general rule is not to over-narrate or "information-dump", as this actually takes away from your story instead of adding to it. Narrate enough to create the right atmosphere for each scene individually, but do not get so carried away that you forget to let your characters tell the story for themselves. There are some trends today that actually scream "simplify, simplify, simplify" and they would have you butcher or cut out all your narrative completely. This is also wrong. Many fans do like having some of the scene narrated, so they have a visual that plays out in their imagination.
This is where a balance comes in. You have to resist the urge to go on for three pages or even two about a scene set-up. A paragraph or two is usually sufficient to describe a scene to your readers, and if it has to go further than that, then be sure to edit it as tightly as you can, with as little fluff as you can. Try not to use repeat words over and over, as you can sound redundant, and don't repeat parts you have already told them.
For example - if you said in your first couple of paragraphs of chapter one that your main character is a master of magic, you don't have to say it again in another chapter. Your readers aren't stupid. They remember things like that about your characters. Instead use the space to give information they do not know, or better yet... give them a fantastic dialogue!
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