I love writing dialogue, but that's irrelevant. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you write dialogue. First, dialogue is an illusion of real conversation. So leave out the "uhs" and "wells" and other unnecessary, clunky words. Also, use contractions and put names at the end of the sentence. Here's a before and after example:
Before:
"Well, Sue, it looks like you are in trouble now."
"Jack, I don't, well, I don't think you know what you are talking about."
After:
"Looks like you're in trouble now, Sue."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Jack."
After, if Sue and Jack are from New Jersey:
"You're in fuckin' trouble, Susie-Q."
"You're an asshole, Jacko."
The best way to test dialogue is to read it out loud and trust your ear or ears if you have two.
The second point about dialogue is that it must have a purpose. Dialogue is not filler. It's not there to make your fiction longer. Dialogue needs to convey information which contributes to moving the plot along and/or to develop the character. Dialogue is not exposition. If you need to give background info via dialogue, do it carefully and don't have the character go on and on and on.
The third point is that each character must sound unique. Each character must have a different voice. I don't mean that one character speaks with a gravelly voice, and another one has a squeaky voice. I mean that the way characters put words together, the way characters express themselves are all different. Listen to a small group of people talking and you'll hear that everyone speaks differently. If you can't hear that, then please reconsider your fiction writing aspirations.
The last point is: Beware of writing in dialect. Unless you write dialect extremely well, avoid it. I'm sure I'll get lots of grief about the two lines of dialogue I used above which I think are actually more slang than dialect. But I was born and raised in New Jersey, so I can take some liberties. Are ya gonna argue with me about that or what?
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