LIVE Q&A: Writing Craft: Dialog, Description, and descriptive action

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This post will go live 5 minutes before the session begins. To participate in the Q&A, post your questions below!

Mary Kole was a literary agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency and Movable Type Management for five years. She sold children’s book projects to all the major houses and has read tens of thousands of queries. Before that, she interned at Chronicle Books and earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco. She has been writing craft and publishing articles at Kidlit.com since 2009, and published her reference book on crafting middle grade and young adult, WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT. She lived in the heart of the publishing industry, Brooklyn, NY for three years, and now calls Minneapolis, MN home. Her favorite part of working in publishing has always been digging into manuscripts, and she offers freelance editorial and consulting services to aspiring writers. You can find out more about her on kidlit.com or marykole.com.

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Lisa

· Reply

February 10, 2018 at 1:56 PM

Hi Mary, ! Can you talk a little bit about how dialogue, description and descriptive action balance one another and relate to pacing? I recently received a kind rejection that said the pacing in my YA Cont. felt “off.” Looking to explore that more and ways to correct. Thanks! Lisa B.

Laura

February 10, 2018 at 1:58 PM

Hi Mary! Thanks for your time 🙂 I was wondering what are some common errors you might see in the first five pages of a MS or a whole MS when looking at descriptive action? I tend to always focus on the eyes and need to definitely diversify lol.

Shanice

February 10, 2018 at 1:59 PM

Hi!
Im struggling a little bit when knowing when I have too much dialogue and not enough characterization or description.
I also am struggling with the pacing of my novel. The intense parts are going by perfect, but the transition chapters are starting to bore me. They are too slow and its almost like i have too much description or something that’s slowing it down. I need what’s happening in those chapters, so I can’t scrap them. But, they are very slow and not intense compared to the others. What should I do?
Thanks for you help.

Gwendolyn

Hello,
What is your opinion on adverbs and why?

Christina
· Reply

February 10, 2018 at 2:04 PM

Thank you for asking this question! Stephen King has ruined adverbs for everyone lol!

Carolyn

February 10, 2018 at 2:00 PM

Hi Mary,
I have continued to struggle with VOICE – mainly my voice as a writer vs. my character’s voice. I’ve flipped back and forth from writing in first person vs. third person. Since my book is a middle grades book, is it better to write it in first person or third person?

Thank you for all your help!

February 10, 2018 at 2:01 PM

Hello,
Are long chunks of dialog a problem? Why or why not?

RebeccaKlay

Hi Mary 🙂 So excited to see you do a Q&A! The critique I won from you last year was incredibly helpful for improving my writing, so I can’t wait to hear more about the craft from you.

My question is, other than your own site, are there any resources you can recommend to help with these aspects of writing?

Thanks in advance 🙂

February 10, 2018 at 2:02 PM

Hello,
Are similes or metaphors better to use in descriptions?

Kira Brighton

As a global thinker, I have a hard time with details, especially description. Do you have any advice on knowing what details are really going to be necessary to the story?

Emalie

February 10, 2018 at 2:04 PM

Do you have any tips on how to make descriptions of places more engaging to readers (besides actively “showing” readers instead of “telling” them)?

Hannah

February 10, 2018 at 2:06 PM

Do you have suggestions on how to make dialogue realistic and not stiff?

Kathy Panzella

February 10, 2018 at 2:07 PM

Mary edited my early chapter book and I want to recommend her. I learned a lot and will definitely use her for the rest in the series. Thanks Mary!

Heidi

with dialogue tags, do agents prefer action prompted dialogue? How can a writer balance them or is that necessary if you are comfortable using action prompts?

Elizabeth Scherman

February 10, 2018 at 2:08 PM

I’m having a problem similar to Shanice’s , only in my case, I’ve heard that my pacing is too fast — that the story moves along too quickly. This is a MG novel, and I’ve always experienced MG as reading quite quickly. Tips?

Tasha

With picture books, how do we find the balance of giving enough detail in the writing but leaving room for the illustrations?

Alyssa

Author

February 10, 2018 at 2:10 PM

#showusthedog

Elisha Jachetti

What are your opinions or suggestions on dialogue tags? Should we only use the word “said?” Are there any tags that are a definite no-no?

Elza

February 10, 2018 at 2:17 PM

I personally don’t plan to use first person narrative in my writing. Do you have any tips for keeping the readers in the moment and steeped in the scene with my hero even without those “immediate” action words?

Rhea

February 10, 2018 at 2:25 PM

Is there anything you didn’t put in Writing Irresistible KIdlit, that you wish you had? Any additional nuggets you’d love to share? 😉

Arlem

February 10, 2018 at 2:26 PM

Do you have any tips on including characters’ thoughts without making it feel like you’re telling (vs. showing) too much?

Kristen

February 10, 2018 at 2:28 PM

Thank you for your time! This is VERY helpful! I’m realizing I need to work on adding more emotional reactions from my characters instead of surrounding my dialogue with wordy stuff. Thank you for all of your advice!

February 10, 2018 at 2:36 PM

I adore your book WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KID LIT. If you had to recommend one other craft book on writing (other than your own) which would it be? Thank you.