Novelist Johnny Ray's reflections on Dialog.
One of the great exercises in creating fantastic dialog is simply going some where and listening to what they say and how they say it. I recently did this and learned two things that I found very interesting. First off, when asked a question, most people never directly answer it, but beat around the bush. The next point is that most people try to talk over the other person. It would be great to learn how to make two people talking to each other at the same time appear on one flat piece of paper.
If anyone knows of an author that has mastered this technique, I would love to read some of that author's work. Let me know what interesting experiences you have had in observing others talking.
