For the dramatist who writes to be heard rather than read, dialogue is of course vitally important.
But it is amazing the number of writers who imagine that because they can converse, they can write convincing dialogue.
Dramatic dialogue is not written conversation, as any reality tape recording will prove.
Conversation relies on gestures and visual hints, together with pauses for reflection and long periods of silence.
Though the dramatist can include such reinforcement to increase the reality of his work, prolonged usage will prove excruciating to the audience.
The art of successful dramatic dialogue is in the balance between the transmission of information and the dramatic effect it has.
Every piece of dialogue must have a purpose.
Does it move the plot forward? Does it explain a character's motivation? Or the relationship between two characters? Characters in a drama cannot just chat, they must drive the drama forward in some fashion.
It is important too, that each character has a distinctive voice which differentiates him from the rest of the cast.
These differences can come in many forms, accents, vocabulary range, pitch of voice, all valuable markers for the audience.
Vital in radio writing, they are also useful in visual media because the audience can 'log on' to a character if he adequately delivers a well-written line.
"The name's Bond, James Bond," carries authority and self-assurance even when delivered with Sean Connery's Scottish slur.
Or perhaps because of it.
So how does the writer learn to write good dialogue? Of course he must listen, but with a writer's ear, and reading his written work is never going to be an adequate trial to assess the worth of his dialogue.
It must be read aloud, preferably into a tape recorder and listened to with an objective ear.
Get your partner to join in the fun and enjoy the experience.
You might not be actors but you'll get a better sense of how it's going to sound to an audience.
Eventually your ear will adjust and you can forego the pleasure of casting your beloved as a mass murderer, but until such time listening to your own work is a useful tool.
Try not to trip up actors with over-complex dialogue, they are simple folk and should be helped at all costs.
Most importantly know the style of the people you are writing, the cockney barrow boy speaks much differently from the Montana cowboy but you must avoid clichés.
Try having the cockney say 'Howdy'.
Accents and dialects are useful but you can test the value of the dialogue by trying it in different styles.
I was once paid to translate an English play into Scots dialect.
This mainly consisted of turning 'your' into 'yer' but the Scots actors insisted on it as it made their job easier.
In listening to other people's speech patterns try to make a judgment call on the situation you are eavesdropping.
Are these two lovers, Or two drunks about o come to blows? Mastering dialogue puts you in the driving seat with opportunities in stage work, radio, TV and cinema.
Remember the great lines, the great bits of dialogue you have heard.
What made them work? Who said them? Where? Why? If you can comfortably speak your own lines to a stranger without cringing, you're getting there.