fiction - Breaking up a talky piece of writing

Dialogue is my favorite thing to write. I tend to use a lot of dialogue in my writing, which sometimes results in long, talky passages -- a bit similar to this question about breaking up exposition. The dialogue I'm talking about isn't necessarily infodumping, however. It's just long stretches where my characters are mainly talking to each other.

What's the best way to make this more interesting for the reader? Is it a sign of deeper, structural issues? Or is it something that can be tweaked?

Answer

I'll say what has been said in my own way: A long block of JUST dialogue is generally an under-imagined scene.

The dialogue takes place in a setting, with its own sights, sounds, smells and temperature and humidity and interruptions. If the characters are telling each other things they don't know; they have reactions and private thoughts. Most people are doing things as they talk (or you can make sure they are doing things).

Take a drink. Look up to think. Take a deep breath. Your MC can think of an argument, but doesn't argue it.

Anytime you see a stretch of dialogue that is not explicitly a speech to several others, it should be interspersed with actions, thoughts, conversational conflict (misunderstandings, interruptions for clarification, arguments against a claim, etc), facial expressions, etc.

Have a conversation while somebody is getting dressed, or cooking, or doing laundry. Or at work, dealing with interruptions, or constantly getting text alerts on their phone and reading them.

Dialogue IS action, but it should be fully imagined, in a setting, with emotional reactions and real life happening around them. Even minor throwaway conflicts (meaning they don't change the plot or characters, jump up when the microwave beeps to get your warmed over coffee).

Keep the reader grounded in your imagined reality, don't go a hundred words without touching something real. Don't let them disconnect and drift into a white room of just noise.

Imagine yourself trying to hold a conversation from a sensory deprivation tank, with your eyes closed, only able to hear a voice on the phone. It is an incomplete experience to just have a wall of dialogue.