As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my writing tends to be heavy on the introspection. I have no problem churning out sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph of a character’s internal thoughts. It comes easily to me but I end up having to cut a lot of it…because I understand that for some readers, it drags. This is definitely the comment I see most from my critique partner: Get us out of her head!
On the other hand, I tend to struggle over dialogue. I’m hardly ever happy with the first pass, sometimes not even the second. I pour over the conversations between characters, trying to keep the voices different, the words and attitude authentic, to not say too much but still say enough. And eventually I get it where I like it.
Lately I’ve been wondering if the reasons for the above are because of my personality. I’ve always been sort of a loner, always happier as a kid with my head in a book than playing with my brother and sister, almost always would rather stay in than go out, read than watch TV. Even my job–when I had one–was the sort where you mostly work on your own. And as for friends, I’m not the type to call them up everyday, just to check up. We can go for weeks without talking. I spend a lot of time alone, with just my thoughts for company.
Could this be the reason I’m having so much trouble with the dialogue? The reason my characters tend to overthink instead of interact? If it is, I guess I need to start striking up random conversations.