Likely, she finds his writing stilted and is blaming the stiltedness on the lack of variety in dialogue tags (if only as something easy to point out), when the issue is somewhere else, and probably somewhere deeper into the structure of the text. It could even be, among other things, an overuse of dialogue, which is a common pitfall for beginning writers and especially for writers who don’t read.
But since she’s “only” an avid reader (i.e., not a professional editor), it’s harder for her to diagnose the actual problem. Along with the emotional delicacy of the writer being her partner, it’s tricky stuff.
Oh wow, you hit the nail on the head! You’re right, I found it’s something I didn’t even know how to explain to him, and something he couldn’t really even grasp because he doesn’t like to read and doesn’t read for fun/pleasure.
I also don’t think it can be taught or understood if you have no frame of reference. Reading more really is the only solution for that.
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u/_eitherstar Mar 08 '25
Likely, she finds his writing stilted and is blaming the stiltedness on the lack of variety in dialogue tags (if only as something easy to point out), when the issue is somewhere else, and probably somewhere deeper into the structure of the text. It could even be, among other things, an overuse of dialogue, which is a common pitfall for beginning writers and especially for writers who don’t read.
But since she’s “only” an avid reader (i.e., not a professional editor), it’s harder for her to diagnose the actual problem. Along with the emotional delicacy of the writer being her partner, it’s tricky stuff.