Narration is a delicate balance of telling the story and letting the story tell itself. Whenever possible, let the story speak for itself. If what your character is thinking, feeling, or saying is not clear enough, you’re doing it wrong. If it is, then you are just being redundant. Let the characters say what they mean and mean what they say without you having to interrupt and explain it to the reader. This is hard work, and where the real skill of the writer is revealed. (Or the perseverance, which is often the same thing.) You’ll say so much more if you shut up.
Agh, I used to do this SO. MUCH. and am still working on editing pieces so that I don’t do it. I don’t try to be repetitive, but it’s sort of like the old 18th- and 19th-century writers who were taught to be florid and able to write long passages where a sentence or two could have sufficed with just as much grace (in my opinion). Except I don’t write nearly as well as they do, but oh well. 😛 Writing is always practicing, practicing, like a performance art, except the performance is the piece you create, so it has to be as seamless as possible because you only get one show.
I’m with you, Cleo. It’s one of my biggest problems. 😛