From writing media releases, I learned that quotes are a form of punctuation. When readers see a quote, they refocus. For this reason, a release should place important points after the initial sentence in a quote, and have at least one about halfway through.
Something similar is true in fiction. Readers’ attention is apt to wander if too many paragraphs past without dialog. Typically, I’d suggest no more than two pages, and preferably half a page.
And, yes, this means that in a scene in which a character is alone, you really have to work hard to prevent attention from straying.
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