Biggest Wattpad Pet Peeves

Story=Play?

AKA when there is only dialogue in a story. No description. Or anything else. Well, hardly any.

I'm not saying you have to describe every single little detail: She was wearing her two-day old, $40, navy blue, size 0, Aeropostale-brand skinny jeans, the ones with the two inch by three inch rip on the left knee. In fact, please don't. No one cares.

But try to have some description, would you? I mean, otherwise it's essentially a play: dialogue only with a few notes depicting what the character is doing.

If you are actually intending to write a play, great! Keep doing what you're doing. If not, pay attention. This is for you.

Help the reader picture things a bit. Don't just say things like "It was a beautiful place". Tell me more. Why is it beautiful? Is there a waterfall? A rainbow? Grassy hills with delicate flowers? A llama farm? A cemetery? Bright orange trees with purple leaves? I really have no idea from what you told me. My definition of beautiful is probably different from that of the speaker, so it could be anything, really.

If you're doing a realistic fiction story, you don't need as much as if you're creating your own world because people generally know what it's like. But in a new world, you're the only one who knows, unless you tell us. The rest of us have no idea, because it's all in your head. (That makes it sound like I'm calling you crazy... Sorry.) If even you don't know what the world is like, then I would advise you to postpone this topic and plan out your setting a bit.

And try to show the characters' thoughts, too. At least the one whose point of view you are using. Otherwise, the reader is all, "Whoa! A guy with a gun just jumped out! How is Sally handling it? Is she terrified? Is she pumped and ready to fight him? Is he maybe secretly her boyfriend? Hold on, did she even notice him at all?"

I know it's hard to find a balance between dialogue and description. I struggle with it too, I really do, and I think I tend to lean more on the dialogue side. BUT that is something I am working on and plan to edit for in the future. I am trying. Can the same be said for you?

Unless, of course, you already have this down. Then give yourself a pat on the back while the rest of us try to catch up.