dialogue vs description

okay, it's not so much a competition as a discussion about what you find easier to write.

personally, i love dialogue. i love getting characters together and talking, or having inner monologues. i find i play scenes in my head like movies (or even act them out myself, let's be real) and the dialogue is just there, so clear, and i can hear their voices.

but when it comes to adding description and making a moment real, making the characters notice and react to their surroundings, i struggle to get the right feel without either over doing it or under doing it. i tend to overuse the same phrases or words.

anyone else have this problem? or the opposite?

I find myself having a bit of the same problem as far as descriptions are concerned. Dialouge is simply easier for me because there's a flow to it whereas descriptions are more clunky? I guess? At least that's the case for me.

I'm a lot better at dialog too. I feel like a lot of writers have the same issue. I mean, we practice dialog every day. We hear it all the time. Dialog is natural. Description, not so much.

I may be the rare writer who can do everything else pretty well, but dialogue never seems to come very naturally to me. I'm constantly rewriting it. I think dialogue is one of the most important parts of a novel, and realistic dialogue can not only make the characters feel real but also move the plot along without having the narrator butt in.

I sort of have the opposite problem. I have no trouble describing things, but my dialogue always sounds a bit forced and unrealistic. Because of this, I often end up over-describing everything. :/

I totally relate to both sides. Description is really easy for me to overdo, but there are also times that I can't find anything to describe what I'm picturing or what the character is feeling. I also struggle with dialogue, I feel that when I make it as my conversations it is dull, but if I fluff it it sounds very fake.

I absolutely love writing dialog, but description is a foreign art to me. I'm very plain and bland when I write descriptions and nothing I do to improve it seems to help.