Ashley’s Reviews > In the Pines > Status Update

characters not talking like real people is my kryptonite!

I always am confused about it. Is knowing how people talk a skill? Can they not tell one thing is not like the other? Do they know people? Have they ever talked to anyone before??

i think some writers get confused by reading books where dialogue has a particular flair or style-- i think of like, the way Harrow talks in the locked tomb, or the way people in dark academia sometimes talk like they swallowed a thesaurus-- and they forget to read their own dialogue back to themselves aloud to see how it tracks. like whatever book i read recently where i was griping about how people don't think about themselves using their full name, lol. they're thinking about what they're doing as Writing (tm), not as creating a person and letting them tell a story.

Oof, that last sentence, yes. I think you're absolutely right. This book seems like it's trying VERY hard to impress someone.