Fair enough. But still, I don't see how I can get myself over this problem. Does anyone have any good writing exercises or advice?
Thanks.
My more recent stories are more rounded, although I still often have to go back and add detail.
What did I do in order to make my stories more well-rounded? I quit writing stories for over a decade, and when I started writing again, my stories were better.
I don't suggest that as a course of action. (Interesting thing, though: Many of this year's Writers of the Future workshop participants had given up writing for years before coming back to it.)
Something you could try doing is writing without using dialogue. Pick a scene and write it without recording any (or at least very little) conversation. How is it different from the version with more dialogue? How can you bring the two versions together?
Also, you didn't really develop the characters to a point where I felt involved with them. It felt a bit stilted or emotionally removed.
Maybe try writing character biographies. Who were they before the story started? What did they do? Who/what do they care about? What happens after the story is over? Have they changed? How do they live out their life? What are their motivations for things? Everyone, fictional or real, is a sum of their parts. How can you encorporate what makes them who they are into your story?
Just some thoughts, ideas. I'm still working on some comments for you
I'll also try the biography idea. After all, the firmer vision of the character I see in my head, the more I'll have to place on paper.