He Laughed

I was going through Addiction (again) and found something disturbing. I try to keep my characters believable-I want them to feel real and for my reader to see them in his/her mind. I don't think all they do is laugh. I saw a lot of this.

He laughed. "Dialogue here"
She smiled. "Dialogue here"
"Dialogue here." He laughed at her innocence. "Dialogue here."

Uhm, this story isn't particularly funny, how come all they do is laugh at each other? Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it was noticeable, which meant revise. Even if I am somewhat of a hermit since I moved here, I do watch people in general. I notice nervous ticks (one person I saw at the grocery store had an uncontrollable shoulder movement, I felt horrible for this person), brushing stray hair out of the face, putting your feet up on the chair next to you, gripping a couch from pain (that was me...tooth problems)etc. etc.. You get the idea, don't you? I bet you do.

We do more than laugh. Or sigh. Our stories have to reflect that. We can't only allow them to do certain things and hope our readers insert some human like traits. We must give them that flawed human tendency to bite their nails, or tap their foot. We have to tell our reader that Joe Gorgeous looks in the mirror constantly, or combs his hair obsessively. Why? Because....You know when it's real.

How about you? Do you see some areas in your WIP where your characters aren't really doing anything? Get them up, move them around, do something with them and you'll find your story moves a lot easier.