r48 writing reminders to self,
Dialogue is important! Don’t half-ass it!
Dialogue is fun. Characters interacting with each other is fun. Dialogue is a great way to move the story along. Personally, I find it gets boring reading a book that continuously tells you what is happening so I shouldn’t expect readers of my fics to enjoy it either. With dialogue, you learn as the characters learn, making it more exciting - more alive. It sounds weird, but I like to talk to myself as the characters. It’s the best way to understand them and when you take the time to write purposeful dialogue, you get the best flow in your story.
Dialogue should always have a purpose. Whether it’s to convey a character’s feelings, opinions, or introducing something new, etc. But it should always flow smoothly. Don’t rush to get your point across, let it happen organically. A lot of this has to do with writing in character, but I’ll end this here for now since this is mostly a little self reminder to be patient with dialogue =]
tl;dr: never half-ass dialogue. Always full-ass it =P