Dialog and narrative

I've been participating in a blog tour for Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet on my other blog and one of the things that I noticed was the dialog. The section I just posted for Cerel Gold has a better balance of dialog and narrative than i ususally manage, I think, neither minimalist nor slowed by narrative expect where slow is appropriate. I think Overstreet goes a bit overboard with the narrative. He crafts beautiful narrative, but I'm more of the minimalist view on dialog: let the speaker's words tell the speaker's story to the degree it can.

I suspect its because of my heavy tv life, which isn't a good thing, but is useful for translation into a script, if any of my stories were movie/tv worthy (Cerelian Gold is probably too much drama, too lttle adventure for an SF movie, but there you are). If I think about it, I like to think narrative should serve a very particulat purpose if it is going to interrupt a discussion: slow the pace for a slow, thoughtufl dialog; convey not just expressions but hidden messages that can't be said aloud for whatever reason, or to hint at lies and such: the reader tends to have to believe what is said unless the author has made clear that a character is a liar. Otherwise, the narrative can go elsewhere.

I've seen it used to explain why characters are saying something, or the reason for reactions to another character's words; but if the writer has done the job, no explanation should be necessary at the time, because the character's and their goals have already been made clear (except in the opening scenes) or it can be explained a little later.