The Dialogue-Descriprion Balance of a Story

Almost all writers I have ever spoken to have talked about the dialogue-description imbalances in their story, or the balance they are trying to achieve. If they don't mention it outright, I have seen in their stories the way some individuals will demonstrate that imbalance through their writing.

It is a hard exactness to obtain in storytelling. Any writer who has written for a long period of time would probably tell you the same. So, how do you as a writer achieve the balance of dialogue versus description in your books?

These are the tips I have come up with as I have researched writing, read writing novels, and watched writing videos for the past few years.

1. When there is action, increase description and shorten dialogue.

You are not likely to go on an epic tangent until the battle is over, or before the battle starts. You would be too focused on surviving and riling up your enemy. Describe the scene in more depth and drop the unnecessary lines.

2. When entering a new place, describe it. When entering an old place, describe only what has changed about it.

Readers do not need to be told over and over what a place looks like or how a person looks. They will remember or imagine it themselves from the first description. You really only need to describe changes to bring that imagined appearance to their memory at essential times. You do not always need to describe the changes to a scene where it is not practical.

3. Do not describe what is not there-it fills unnecessary space in your story. Describe what is there as it is relevant to your characters and storyline.

I found this tip on Pinterest, years ago. It said something like:

Don't say "there were no trees as far as the eye could see."

Say: "there were hills of rolling alfalfa, led onward by an icy stream and grazing bulls."

You can find out so much more about the story when you fill absence instead of filling something with absence. 

4. Do not overwhelm the beginning of your story, or any of your story, with pages straight of dialogue or description.

Either  way, this is not fun to read. Introduce the story with maybe a couple lines of dialogue or a couple paragraphs of description before breaking it up with the other type. This will keep your story fluid and away from the boring strokes of the picture you want to paint.

5. Rule of thumb as a writer: every three dialogue lines, add description.

I found this is helpful. Although it is not a solid rule anyone should abide by every time. Variate a bit. But at least every three spoken lines, there should be description.

6. If a dialogue line is a monolog, there is less space to write description via action and response. The dialogue will have to be intriguing enough on its own if it is long.

Breaking up long dialogue passages with description can get agonizing for you and also for your readers. It is also uncomfortable to read and provides a detachment of reality suspension, making it harder to follow the dialogue and harder to feel its significance.

7. Do not break up every dialogue line with description.

Breaking up too many dialogue lines in a row with description stuffed between them can get dull and hard to read. Not to mention, difficult to follow. Readers will find themselves forgetting either what was said or what was described and have to back track. Which is something you never want your readers to do because of confusion.  

8. If needed, write dialogue first and description second.

Especially for long scenes of speech or revelations, script out the dialogue sequences on another document before writing them in the book's draft file. Add description markers to where you want to add depth to the story. 

9. Description is for adding depth, background, and realism. Dialogue is for adding voice, fluidity, and character. If you confuse the two, it can get difficult to remember where you need to put what.

Using this definition or your own definitions to guide what you use these two principle skills for will help your story flow. Try to think in terms of what they are meant to do to avoid holes and gaps in your description and speech.

10. Over describing is just as bad as adding too much dialogue.

Do not overstuff your story beyond the first draft. It will get difficult to remove such stuffing the more attached you get to it. Remove it quickly and focus on adding what helps move the story forward. 

11. Do not info dump in dialogue or in description, even covertly. It gets burdensome to read. 

Add backstory only as needed in your novel and only if it is important. We sometimes do not need to know that the character almost drowned as a child. But we might need to know she can cook as a first servant to the king because her father taught her how years before. 

12. The dialogue and description must be important to the storyline. 

Try not to write something that is irrelevant to what your story is about or which roads the plot is following. Some tangents are not worth it. 

13. Some say dialogue accentuates description. I say description accentuates dialogue.

Everyone talks in real life almost without fully realizing their surroundings on a conscious level, while acting in an unconscious way. Most of the time, you are paying more attention to speech than the situation you are in: unless something about the situation is irregular. Like, A) being alone with nobody to talk to. B) Coming into a new place [sometimes]. C) Involving yourself in a dangerous situation. Otherwise, dialogue is more the center than description. 

That being said, your description must set around the story and dialogue in important ways. When you need to add description, it is good procedure to make it as if it is,  and consider it, more important than the dialogue being spoken.

14. Ask yourself questions about the dialogue and description.

Do I need this here? What are the characters trying to do right now? What is happening around them that is relevant? Most importantly: Would the characters notice "this" enough to mention it in voice or in mind? 

Many forget that characters do not notice everything about the places they go to or what they are doing, especially if something is happening directly to them. You would not notice the random girl with her dog while in a sword fight unless it was somehow relevant to what was happening: maybe you are trying to protect the girl or trying to kill her.

I met someone who had a scene in their story in which the characters were healing an injured friend who had just died. They were all panicked, but somehow they still managed to notice in great detail the painting on the healer's front door... while trying to get their friend help. This would not be something they are likely to notice right then. 

Ask: Would they notice it now? Do they need to notice it at all? How else/when else could they notice it?

I like to think in terms of "Some say to stop and smell the roses. Characters hate those people." They should be focused on what they are doing. Not the painting on the wall, unless they came looking for the painting or saw it in a moment of calm.

15. Description of physical objects and scenery is more likely to be written at calm lows in the story's arc.

Writing about what something looks like should not happen in a battle sequence-unless you are writing about a character's broken nose showering blood down their fine clothes. Description of action, alternatively, can be used in such situations.

16. Do not have characters use their dialogue to explain things for the sake of the reader to another character who should already know the information being told.

Everyone has done this at least once in their writing career. At least, everyone I have spoken to. Do not dump reader know-how in your dialogue. If you cannot find a way to show it to them instead, you might need to reconsider the structure of what you are trying to explain and how it might be altered to be showable in your book. 

17. Decide this: which would better depict this situation? Dialogue or description?

You will naturally have a guage to what feels better in a scene or what needs more. Follow that instinct with this question at the lead. Traversing the mountain alone would not be written the same as hunting through the mountains with a friend. 

18. Try not to describe in dialogue.

Describing in dialogue can become aggravating to read. You would not describe in dialogue a person's features while observing them (in most cases), neither would you speak internally the way you spoke out loud.

19. Characters do not notice what they already know, most times.

Characters would not be apt to describe their entire house in a story when they've lived there for years. Neither would they talk about something that they know about if it is irrelevanf. They have no reason to. It is familiar to them. Keeping the descriptions to what the characters would notice in an instant is smoother than trying to describe everything for a reader's perspective.

20. Describe and dialogue in your own way.

Copying another author's style of writing will make it less fluid to you. You have your own sense on what you need to write. Making it something from someone else is not going to please you in the long run. 

Those are my tips so far for description and dialogue after my many months of learning. What tips do you have? Which part, dialogue or description, do you struggle with the most? I used to struggle with dialogue, but now I struggle with description. You can always improve your craft in either area with enough commitment. 

Good luck, fellow writers!