I like dialogue. I like to read it, I like to write it. For me, what a character says, and how they say it, can be more telling than any internal monologue. A character's thoughts are their own, and therefore, it is how they perceive their own actions. But what they say is how they are perceived by others.
Not just any dialogue, however. I like good dialogue. Good dialogue flows, doesn't bore the reader, doesn't take them away from the action of the story. I've recently been editing manuscripts and one of the most distracting habits I have found is the overuse of names in dialogue and dialogue tags.
Consider this:
"Jimmy, eat your dinner,"
Mary said.
"But, Mom, I don't like
peas," Jimmy replied.
Mary slammed her fist into the table
and raised her voice. "Jimmy, I said eat it. Now!"
"Oh, Mary, leave Jimmy
alone. He's a teenager, they don't like
peas," Bob said.
Mary turned to her husband.
"Bob, quit taking up for him."
How about:
Mary sat the plate in front of her
son. "Eat."
"But, Mom..."
She slammed her fist on the table.
"Now!"
"Oh, leave him alone, he
doesn't like peas."
"Quit taking up for him!"
Too simplified? Maybe. But in a scene, you would know who is at the table: Mom Mary, teenager Jimmy and Dad Bob. Removing the names from the dialogue, as well as some of the dialogue tags, makes the scene flow more freely and doesn't take away from the action, or in this case the tension of the scene.
Less is better.
