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I wonder if one possible solution is to think up a list of things in whatever scene you're writing--the dishes at the kitchen table, what's going through the guests' minds, the various subjects they'd probably discuss out loud--and pick from them, depending on what's most "appropriate" to focus...

Another thing I just thought of is keeping the text focused on the matter at hand, deviating only a moment or two so that readers aren't so absorbed in all the side-details that they forget the bigger picture. That's a piece of personalized feedback I received on a short story I typed up for my...

Unless you have a good reason to take liberties, make sure your characters' dialogue and inner thoughts make sense. That is, similar to a point I made elsewhere, have their speaking style and thought process match their characterization, so that some generic fourteen-year-old who you incorporate...