Remember, the key rule for any dialogue is Short and Sweet. This isn't a
matter of taste, this a rule of story-telling.. The best fanfic authors
don't do it, and neither do any published writers.

That's quite a statement.  Have you considered that:

Shakespeare a published writer.

D. H. Lawrence is a published writer.

James Conrad is a published writer.

Henry James and Charles Dickens are published writers.

Granted, none of them are living, but I can easily find living authors who
are also published writers, who write dialogue that violates your "rule of
storytelling".

What you really need to do, Guy, is purchase a copy of Strunk & White's The
Elements Of Style and use that as the basis for your arguments.  This is a
book that you can take very much to heart; especially rules like number 17,
"Omit Needless Words", which says, and I quote:

"Vigorous writing is concise.  A sentence should contain no unnecessary
words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences ,for the same reason that a
drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he
avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word
tell."

I really think some of the points in this book are what you're driving at,
but you continually destroy your own arguments by making stupid blanket
statements.  There are virtually no "rules of storytelling" that every
published author uses.  Perhaps one of the only true rules of storytelling
is "tell a good story", and I'm afraid not every published author follows
even that one.  ^_^  You ought to take a class in debate or something, just
so you can learn how to present your arguments successfully.  Often, I feel
your arguments have some merit but fail on presentation alone.

I do encourage everyone else to keep a copy of Strunk and White's The
Elements Of Style handy when writing.  It is not by any means the definative
book on how to write, but the short list of rules inside are very good
advice.

Mind you, some people can't stand the thing.  That only proves that not
everyone operates by the same rules.  ^_~

Miko!

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather a scornful tone, "it
means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many
different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's
all."

(Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass)

Nausicaa@sprynet.com   Belldandy@angelic.com
Anime rpg at http://come.to/akane/
Fan Fiction at http://listen.to/bell/