Trust your reader

Once upon a time writing was all about capturing every little detail so that the audience could really see in their minds what the characters were experiencing. Expectations are a-changin'. Sure, there will always be a time and a place for these kinds of things. I think any story that is not based in a current real location, you need the details. Fantasy and sci-fi instantly come to mind where you need descriptive text and possibly even a map. But let's avoid Tolkien levels of details. I do not need to know what the pebbles look like. I am so aware already what pebbles are and the assortment of their shape.

Most genres, and I think this is even more true for young adult fiction, the readers can be trusted to fill in the gaps. Walking down the street, kicking a can... yeah we all know what that looks like. Do we need to go into detail about the weather, the other people on the street, the characters clothing choices for this moment. Nope. UNLESS (yeap - exceptions to every rule does apply here) those details are important for later on. If your character is going to be mugged, telling us that their Vitton bag slapped against their side with every stride can assist in the mugging scene later. Is your character homeless, than yes a detailed description of their clothes would be good at the beginning of the story, but doesn't need to be repeated every time we see them.

We live in a world of intelligent readers that you don't even need to add name tags to sentences anymore and your reader will still know who is saying what. You should add flourish, mannerisms, and a few adjectives in after aa while so it isn't a wall of text, but, generally speaking, it is ok if two characters are speaking, to just let the dialogue breathe. Let it sit there and create speed or drama. An example (and shameless plug) from my novella Trammel. (Download it from Amazon)

“Just me sweetheart.” He gestured back to the front door of his apartment to invite me in, but I stayed where I was. Last time, I had gone into his rooms I had the sudden feeling of comfort and wanting to stay. Fool me once… “Everyone has already packed up and left.”

Why did it feel like he was in on a joke that I just wasn’t getting?

“Funny. I always thought rats were the first to flee a sinking ship.”

“It is really hard to tell if it is sinking with all this rain.”

I bit my cheek to keep from smiling. I might hate Eric, but it was a good line. Dammit. “Whatever. Where did they go?”

I didn't need to add said Skye/Eric" and I think adding it would have slowed down the reading of the response from Eric, and how quick witted it was. Letting the dialogue sit there between them and bounce between the character like a normal conversation was more effective than adding some descriptive text. I trusted my reader to know Eric and Skye.