Characters will almost always make or break a story for me. Whether it's a movie, or a book, or even a video game. As a writer I try to populate the world with interesting characters, and 99% of the time, it comes down to dialogue and how they interact with each other. Even going so far to have them interact with some characters in a different way than others. Obviously, pure realism in dialogue isn't necessary, and it does help to have some theatrics, but having every character sound the same is a problem. In my current novel, I have two sisters, and how they talk to each other is different from how they talk to others. The younger sister likes to tease and annoy the older sister, and they have banter accordingly. The older sister has a complex about being a commoner and not as learned as her younger sister, so she almost always talks without contractions, because she believes that's how smarter people speak. I'm not saying that everyone has to do things similar, but I place a lot of value on dialogue. And if I'm reading a fantasy novel, and find some denizen of a magical kingdom spouting modern slang... I'm done. Book closed.
YES! Dialogue is a cornerstone for enjoyable characters. Like you said, it doesn't have to be 'realistic' conversations, they just have to feel authentic to those characters and their personalities. If Dragon Mage hadn't been published in 2020, I'd argue that the dialogue was written by AI. Generic and lifeless.
Characters will almost always make or break a story for me. Whether it's a movie, or a book, or even a video game. As a writer I try to populate the world with interesting characters, and 99% of the time, it comes down to dialogue and how they interact with each other. Even going so far to have them interact with some characters in a different way than others. Obviously, pure realism in dialogue isn't necessary, and it does help to have some theatrics, but having every character sound the same is a problem.
In my current novel, I have two sisters, and how they talk to each other is different from how they talk to others. The younger sister likes to tease and annoy the older sister, and they have banter accordingly. The older sister has a complex about being a commoner and not as learned as her younger sister, so she almost always talks without contractions, because she believes that's how smarter people speak.
I'm not saying that everyone has to do things similar, but I place a lot of value on dialogue. And if I'm reading a fantasy novel, and find some denizen of a magical kingdom spouting modern slang... I'm done. Book closed.
YES! Dialogue is a cornerstone for enjoyable characters. Like you said, it doesn't have to be 'realistic' conversations, they just have to feel authentic to those characters and their personalities. If Dragon Mage hadn't been published in 2020, I'd argue that the dialogue was written by AI. Generic and lifeless.