I'm not ashamed to admit that as a reader I tend to skip past several pages of text just to get to the dialogue. Especially, when we're in the main character's head and she's rambling about something that happened and what it all means when all I really care about is what are you going to say next.
As an author, I love writing dialogue. It can move the story forward and provide insight into my characters. But the key is to make it real. Don't just have them say stuff just to talk. I recently read a series and where I enjoyed the general story line and couldn't wait to find out what happens next, I found myself even skipping some of the dialogue because the main character was chatting with her friend and they weren't saying anything important. I don't care what you had for breakfast and to be honest, neither does the person you're talking to even though they are fictional character.
Its also important to make sure if you are, let's say, writing YA that your character speaks YA. As a 36 (I have to ask my husband all the time how old I am!) year mother of 3, I may not be the target audience for my books but that's were watching TV and reading magazines help. I love YA shows which if full of dialogue (do you see a theme). I devour everything they say and the way they say it because we all know inflection and body language can take what you say and twist is all around.
Here's my tip of the week about writing and dialogue. It can move your story forward and provide the reader with a lot of information but you'll fall flat if your characters sound too old and if they ramble about nothing important.
Happy Writing!
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