I think the quality of dialogue depends on the story, but I agree it wasn't one of his strengths. Given his background as a poet and an outsider, perhaps he was more comfortable with elevated verse rather than everyday speech. I certainly prefer his effortlessly eloquent, larger-than-life dialogue in such ancient fantasies as "The Dark Eidolon" and "The Last Hieroglyph", whereas the dialogue of his science-fictions and modern settings usually feel less believable, less natural, and even somewhat funny (though maybe this was intentional in some places, since many of his science-fictions were satirical). Even so, I enjoy this latter form of speech. It's weirdly memorable how these rough explorers and hard-working laymen can so casually combine poetic metaphors and mythical references with common slang and rustic dialect! I'd love to meet these characters just to see how colorfully strange they'd sound in a conversation.
Quote:Knygatin
I think his dialogue is far superior to speech we hear in real life.
Especially online!
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 5 Aug 20 | 04:04PM by Hespire.