Writing Discussion 2

[kriadydragon]

Including descriptions of characters' actions in dialogue scenes - how much is too much, and how much is not enough? You don't want it to just be a long string of "he said/she said", but you don't want to describe every eyebrow twitch, either ...

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Very true to all of this. I've read stories that completely snub he/she said altogether but then it's line after line of he muttered, he yelled, he interjected and that gets just as tiresome as line after line of he/she said.

The stories I've read that I felt had the best execution of dialog were those stories that did a little of everything. This includes lines of dialog with no dialog markers. ("What did you say?" "I said." Or "What did you say?" He turned to face his accuser...).