This morning I ran across this writing tip by Chuck Palahniuk and I must say, it's a good one:
"One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering."
Wow! I can definitely see the value in these words. If a character is alone, you're probably heading towards a monologue. And, while a monologue can give useful information about a character's true feelings, it's often boring.
Which is more engaging? Describing John's angry face or having John vocalize his frustration through words, gestures and reactions to another party?
Through trial-and-error, I've learned that dialogues are much more exciting ways of making characters share emotions and, in short, live. But for dialogue we need to have more than one person.
The next time you're tempted to let your character go off on his own just remember: the worst characters aren't villains-they're the ones who are alone.