This blog is not about the cool music group from the 90's. It's actually about a no-no in writing. I used to wonder why parts of my story were zooming by. It turned out, I had a couple of passages with talking heads. This is when there's dialogue with no action.

I didn't recognize it as a problem at first because I thought it was an exciting read. One character said something–– right away the other responded–– then the first person commented–– and back and forth it went.

The problem is that it's limited. People rarely talk without moving, getting distracted, getting interrupted, taking a sip of a beverage, etc. If you write with only 'talking heads,' the reader will not get a true picture of the scene and it limits character development.

Here's an example:

"Hi hun, what are you doing?"
"Finishing up some work."
"Okay I'm going to watch TV.
"I'll join you soon."


Here's an example with actions added:

"Hi hun, what are you doing?" He took quick steps out of the kitchen toward the living room with a soda and bag of chips.
"Finishing up some work." She took a big breath and let it out, then slumped back in her seat in front of the computer.
"Okay, I'm going to watch TV." He stopped behind her chair and leaned over to give her a kiss on the back of her head.
"I'll join you soon." She smiled and moved her fingers back over the keys.

Actions give context to a scene and flushes out the characters. In the first example, you really don't get a feel for who these people are. In the second example, you can draw some assumptions about them.

If you're a writer, help the reader really get to know your characters. How they act is just as important as what they're saying. A well developed scene will have more than 'talking heads.'