On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Robert K Bentley wrote:

    When writing firsthand, bad writing is an almost necessary form 

of characterization.  If Kunou were to think in slang and sentence  
fragments, and still speak in the King's English, that'd say something.

  Not necessarily bad writing, but in-character writing.
  In dialogue, you can use sentence fragments, runons, slang, and whatever 
else the character would say.  If all the characters sound the same, it 
messes up the story (unless they're all _supposed_ to sound the same).
  And yeah, having a character thinking one way and talking another  
_definitely_ shows something.

thought, followed by a sentence. [ "That's right," he turned around and 
put down the sword. ]  I've seen Bentley do that a lot in his stories.

    "That's right," he said. He turned around and put down the sword. 
or
    "That's right," he said then turned around and put down the sword.

Or:  "That's right."  He turned around and put down the sword.

(I think someone already posted that, but I wanted to agree. ^_^)

-joyce, Disciple of Kasumi
who does not even pretend to begin to start to come close to knowing the 
 slightest bit of anything about writing, but who likes to put in her 2 
 cents anyway about what works for her
Joey-kun no iianzuke!