One of the problems facing a beginning novelist is the temptation to explain a lot through dialog when two or three characters are sitting together. It can even happen if the character has insight into his own life if he isn’t doing anything at the time. It’s called “talking heads” and it’s death to news departments and fiction editors.

So I made a list of 100 things that your characters can be doing if they are talking.
For example,

• Sitting on a tree trunk watching a river flow
• Bicycling together
• Journaling
• Writing a letter to a friend
• Writing a paper and daydreaming or having insights
• Dreams

You can purchase the rest of the list here for $8.97.