INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Listen to the way people talk to one another and use those conversations and patterns in your dialogue to make it sound authentic. You'll notice that people talk differently when they're with different people, so make sure that you include that when you're writing dialogue. Disregard parts of the conversation that will not translate well when written down. For example, every "hello" and "goodbye" does not need to be written. Some of your dialogue might start with a "Did you do 'this'?" or "Why did you do 'this'?" Keep a notebook to record small pieces of real-world dialogue that stand out to you. To get a good feel for the balance that you need in your dialogue between realistic speech and book speech you need to read good dialogue in books and in movies. Look at books and scripts and see what works and what doesn't and try to figure out why. Look for writers whose dialogue rings true to your ear, regardless of what other readers or critics may say. If you need a starting point, you might check out the work of Douglas Adams, Toni Morrison, and Judy Blume, who are known for their realistic, layered, and vivid dialogue. Checking out and practicing writing dialogue for screenplays and radio plays is really useful in developing dialogue, since those are both very dependent on dialogue. Douglas Adams, from the above writers, got his start writing radio plays, which is one reason for his fantastic dialogue. You will need to completely understand your characters before you can make them talk. You'll need to know things like whether they're taciturn and monosyllabic, or whether they love to use lots of big words to impress people, and so on. You don't need to write every character detail into your work, but you should know them yourself. Things like age, gender, education level, region where they're from, tone of voice, will all make a difference in how a character talks. For example, a poor American teen girl is going to talk very differently from a rich, old, British guy. Give each character a distinct voice. Not all of your characters are going to use the same vocabulary, tone or method of speech. Make sure each character sounds different. Stilted dialogue might not completely kill a story, but it can definitely jerk a reader out of the story, which as a writer, is something you're trying not to do. Occasionally stilted dialogue does work, but only with the most specific kind of story. Stilted dialogue is dialogue that only works on the obvious levels and in language no one would use. For example: "Hello, Jane, you look sad today," said Charles. "Yes, Charles, I am sad today. Would you like to know why?" "Yes, Jane, I would like to know why you are sad today." "I am sad because my dog is sick and it reminds me of the death of my father two years ago under mysterious circumstances." How the dialogue above should have gone: "Jane, is something wrong?" asked Charles. Jane shrugged, keeping her gaze fixed on something out the window. "My dog's sick. They don't know what's wrong." "That's terrible, but, Jane...well, he is old. Maybe that's all it is." Her hands clenched on the windowsill. "It's just, it's just, you'd think the doctors would know." "You mean the vet?" Charles frowned. "Yeah. Whatever." The reason the second one works better, is that it doesn't come right out and say that Jane is thinking of her deceased father, but it does lean towards that interpretation, especially with her using the word "doctors" instead of "vet." It also flows better. An example where stilted dialogue works is Lord of the Rings, where the characters' conversations can get very grand and eloquent (and unrealistic). This is a good choice for a book that's written in the style of old epics, like Beowulf or The Mabinogion.

SUMMARY: Pay attention to actual conversations. Read good dialogue. Develop your characters fully. Learn to avoid stilted dialogue.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Separate an egg yolk from the white, and put it into a small bowl. Add the cold water and the vanilla extract. Mix briskly with a fork or mini whisk until the yolks break and turn smooth, then set aside. You can use all-purpose flour, but cake flour will give you even better results. Stir them briskly together using a fork or whisk until they are evenly combined. Cut the butter into -inch (0.64 centimeter) thick slices first, then combine it with the flour mixture. You can do this using a pastry blender, two crisscrossing knives, or in a food processor. The crumbs should be no larger than small peas. For best results, use cold butter straight from the fridge. Combine the two using a fork or rubber spatula. Do not overwork the dough, or the butter will become too soft. Once the dough has come together, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and gently pat it into a 6-inch (15.24 centimeters) wide disk. Wrap it up with some plastic wrap, and put it into the fridge for at least 30 to 60 minutes or overnight. The dough must be cold before you roll it out. Every so often, lift the dough and turn it by a quarter. Dust the dough with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Gently pat the dough against the bottom and the sides of the pan. Trim off any excess, overhanging dough until it is inch (1.91 centimeters) above the rim. This will prevent any shrinking. Try to use a fluted tart tin with a removable bottom. If you absolutely cannot find one, you can use a regular tart tin; you just won't be able to take the tart out of the tin at all. The pierced holes will prevent the dough from fluffing up during baking. Again, the dough must be properly chilled before you bake it; it would have softened up considerably during all that rolling. Alternatively, you can line the crust with tin foil or parchment paper just before baking, and fill it with pie weights, uncooked rice, or dried, uncooked beans. Preheat the oven to 350F (177C), and make sure that the baking rack is in the bottom third of the oven. Once the oven is hot enough, place the crust inside and bake it for 25 minutes, or until it turns golden brown. Once the crust is completely baked, take it out of the oven and place it onto a wire rack to cool off. Do not remove the crust from the tin.

SUMMARY:
Combine the egg yolk, water, and vanilla extract, then set it aside. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Blend the egg mixture into the flour mixture until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a thick disk, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 30 to 60 minutes. Roll the dough out into a 12-inch (30.48 centimeters) wide circle. Transfer the dough into a 9-inch (24.77 centimeters) tart tin with a removable bottom. Pierce the bottom of the crust a few times with a fork, then refrigerate it until it turns firm, again, about 30 minutes. Bake the crust in a preheated oven at 350F (177C) for 25 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool.