Creating Effective Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the hardest elements of fiction writing to master, and one of the most important. Done well, dialogue advances the action of a story, provides information about the characters, and illuminates the relationships between them, all while providing the reader a break from straight exposition. However, just as artful dialogue is one of the most powerful tools at a writer's disposal, nothing pulls the reader out of the story faster than bad dialogue. Although it can take time to develop a really good ear for dialogue, there are some simple tips and obvious pitfalls that can make an enormous difference from the very beginning.