Do Work, Son.

Check out this dialog excerpt from the MTV "Reality" show Rob & Big:


Big: Baio got dough?

Rob: I'm guessing he's caked up from like Charles in Charge and shit.

Big: Charles in Charge? C'mon man!

Rob: That dude was crack rockin' a couple of m's a movie in his heyday

Big: BAIO??

Rob: Yeah.

Big: A couple m's?

Rob: Yeah!

Big: OK I'm underestimatin' the dude. Half America loved that Joni Loves Chachi shit. You know they had t-shirts and shit.

Rob: Oh yeah.

Big: Oh man! Yeah Baio caked up.

Rob: Yeah.

Big: Sorry Scott Baio.

As someone who constantly struggles to write realistic dialog, I thought this exchange was interesting. It has a flow and a rhythm to it, and "crack rockin'" as a verb just has to be appreciated.

In an interview I read several years ago, George Pelecanos talked about how he learned to write his dialog by listening to people. People in bars, people at diners, people out in his neighborhood.

You want to improve the dialog in your writing? Start paying close attention to the way people talk. Not the way other writers write how people talk, but how people actually talk around you.

As Rob & Big say: Do work, son.