On-the-nose Dialogue. I can safely say every writer struggles or has struggled with this. On-the-nose dialogue is a term primarily used around screenwriters. It means that the given dialogue has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. We don't want to see your characters lollygagging and prancing around on unicorns.
If the dialogue you have isn't helping characters advance the plot, sorry, but it's absolutely useless.
Here's an example:
"Hi?"
"Hey," Laura said.
"How are you doing?" He asked.
"Great, you?" She looked up at him.
"Fine," he shuffled his feet nervously. "I don't think the plan is working."
"What do you expect me to do?"
And there you go, you finally get to the point. All good and well, right? Because at least you finally do get to the discussion of something that connects to the plot.
No.
Get to the point, cut out all the normal-day dialogue, and make minimal drifts from the point. But you want to mimic realistic, believable speech, right? No, you don't. Sorry to break it to you, but this is fiction. And it stand for reason that fiction is fiction. Unless it really matters how well Laura is doing, it doesn't matter. This would be a hopefully more helpful example of strong dialogue:
"Laura," Michael beckoned from he corner. She looked up at him. "The plan isn't working," anxiety singed his voice.
"What do you expect me to do?"
Quick exchange of dialogue automatically seem more thrilling to read. They are best used when actually relating to the plot. But if only one character is associated with more story-connected information, make sure he gets the spotlight.
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