Writing Tip of the Week - Using Action in Dialogue by Joselyn Vaughn

My first drafts of scenes with dialogue are often disembodied monotone chanting where it's difficult to discern who is talking, how many people are in the room or on the phone, and what they are all doing while they are conversing. It's all clear in my head until I read it the next day.

The second draft improves enough that I can tell who is talking and how many people are in the room. However, these people do an inordinate amount of standing, sitting, leaning, nodding, turning and smiling. S...