Like a needy ex-flame, narrative has an eye to smother your story

It's true. You may have once looked at narrative as an interesting descriptive tool, you may even have been caught up by the way it took your story so seamlessly from one plot point to the next. But in reality, narrative's just a petty writing tool with low self-esteem. Even narrative won't think well of you when you splash it all over your story. It knows that you're probably using it as a way to avoid using scenes. Narrative has a specific purpose in writing and knows it, but it just can't help going along quietly when you decide to use it for 70% of your story--it wants the attention!

The good news is that it'll accept large deletions of its influence on your manuscript. Like I said, narrative knows when dialogue, inner monologue, or even a scene jump is a better fit. But maybe if you stop using narrative so much in the first place, you wouldn't have to remove so much of it when you get around to revisions. You never know, using less might even improve its self-esteem.

There are people who have found a way to allow narrative to wear the pants, but they are a rare breed. Most of us can't find that delicate balance of approach that allows the narrative to take centre stage, describing the events of the story in beautifully understated terms, while still allowing for the creation of engaging scenes.

So, unless you're the next Tolkien, stop to think before dropping narrative a line. Maybe it's what you need, but maybe it isn't. Just remember that dialogue and inner monologue may be waiting by the phone.