Read your dialog (at least) out loud

Your writing will sound more natural if you practice reading it out loud, preferably with an audience. You'll quickly catch on to what sounds too stuffy, to which sentences are too convoluted for the listener to follow.

This is especially important for dialog. If someone's going to say it, it must sound the way someone WOULD say it. You can get away with certain words in written speech which are hard to use clearly in spoken speech. But in general, write it the way you'd say it.

-- Rachel Holmen