A Few Comments on Description, Action, and Dialogue

Description:

Too little description makes the story vague, and too much description can bore the reader.  You want to be specific, but not too specific.  For example, in describing a character you don’t want to create a photographic image for the reader.

Most writers tend to focus on the visual description, so make sure to include the other senses.  For example, if a character was eating pizza, then you might include the smell or taste.  You don’t need to use all five sense, that’s overkill.  One to three senses is enough.  Also avoid the over use of cliches.

Action:

I’m not taking about writing an “Action” scene.  I’m talking about what the characters do.  For without action, the characters would just sit or stand around doing nothing. Action moves the plot along!

The key to action is an active voice with strong action verbs (e.g., gripped, chopped, cut, swung, etc.).  So instead of writing Jack drove across, write that he stomped on the accelerator and weaved through traffic.

Dialogue:

The key to good dialogue is making it sound natural.  Each speaker has a style of speaking.  Some have a limited vocabulary while others have a large vocabulary.  Some  talk a lot and some are verbose.  Some swear or like to use the same expressions.

Further, natural conversation is not grammatically correct.  People speak in sentence fragments, get interrupted, etc.

The Mixing Bowl:

Fiction is never large blocks of pure Description, pure Action, and pure Dialogue (though we may be able to find some isolated good examples).  Most fiction is a mixing of these elements.  You’ll find action packed scenes with dialogue and description, and you’ll often find dialogue intensive scenes peppered with action and description.