You can write better DIALOGUES, here's how.

n how you can make those dialogues fun without... stressing.

No one is perfect, you only get better when you earnestly want to improve.

Less Fluff

Have you ever written characters that are, well, stammering a lot, giving small talk or their braggadocio? I mean, if it's too frequent in novel, don't do that... make it less. Sometimes too less, if it even makes you feel irritated when reading your own novel later.

Know what they should say to continue the story

Sometimes it's the characters' words that they say; the story continues. It can be wonderful encouraging words given to the villain so he can continue doing vile things, or it is telling a truth that can make the story flow deeper.

Practice Your characters

Practice makes something perfect, don't know what that something is but one thing is certain. If you take a writing software, it can be a distraction-free writing software, and start practicing your characters. Take a scene from your novel that you haven't written yet or will never write, take minimum of two or three characters. Without tags (said, asked, etc.), write out a conversation between them, and figure out if you can distinguish who's who.

Read and observe

When you read other people's work, what I want you to do is observe the characters, their way of speaking, writing, and behaving, and accumulate all the information. Try to write down the information you have learned from them in your own wording.

People say something else but mean something else

Sometimes people don't mean what they say, like.
"The wind is sad but it can't cry, I wonder why" Said the stranger, why didn't the character say after losing his cat, "My cat died and I'm sad. I wanna cry but I can't. I don't know why" He doesn't want to admit it, the words are too direct for him, so the best he say indirectly but it works differently for different situations. You might get what I mean to explain here.

People speak differently depending on relation

If you met a stranger, would you speak to him as you would speak to your closest friend, or would you speak to your unwelcoming relatives the way you speak to your girlfriend (if you had one)?
Just like that, characters behave differently depending on the relationship they have with other characters. They can be casual with one person, opening up to him about everything, and with another person, barely wanting to speak.

Dialogue can build Tension or resolve them

Not every character has the ability to do smooth talking, some might even unintentionally aggravate an already worse situation with their self-believed smooth talk.
Few might actually have the ability to do it. You have to know, which of your characters is capable of resolving a situation with his words without provoking other characters and which can't.

Dialogue shouldn't be perfect

Have you ever seen a person who never learned grammatical stuff in his entire life speaking fluent English? I mean, one perfect speech can be excused but his every dialogue is filled with perfect grammar! whoa!
Dialogues shouldn't be perfect for every character, they can be imperfect; that shows how educated the characters are. It's also about how many fancy words they use, you don't have to make them use fancy words. Even in simple conversation, people tend to use simple wording. Unless you're a nerd of English... or maybe know only two words...

Dialogue can be real too

Not every character speaks smoothly in one go, sometimes few characters pause or stop at a certain part or sometimes can never complete the whole sentence.

Some important information

Use of tags

• Use of tags should be limited to said, asked but not always. When there's an ideal tag for a certain dialogue use it, sometimes if a person is saying something and the word growl seems more ideal, you can use it.

• There are times when the flow of the conversation seems natural, in those times you can omit the use of tags.

Don't let one person speak too much

Don't let your one character fill the page with his speech, break it and let other characters also speak. Even in day-to-day conversation, An exchange of speech is always between them.

Add dialogue to break up narrative

Your readers might get bored from reading a three-page-long narration before some good dialogue appears. To not let your poor readers get bored, I want you to add dialogue in between. This can be inner thoughts or outer dialogue. Just break up the three-page narration.

Dialogue length varies

Dialogue length depends on how much a person speaks, it can be in a few words or it can be whole paragraphs. It should also depend on what type of person is speaking, someone who likes to say a few words, or a person who likes to speak a lot.