—-out. it’s one thing to write in a bit of witty repartee or bantering, but another thing entirely to have every single conversation based solely on that. friends, even best friends, ought to be capable of talking to each other without worrying about sounding funny or sarcastic every time. characters won’t be this way either, unless it’s in their canon, and when you force these “funny conversations” it really waters down everything you’re trying to show in that scene. not everyone makes each witty reply they could – the point of being witty is all in the timing. hitting every punch line 150% of the time gets real old, real fast. 

and if you genuinely hate someone (harry & tom, for example) you won’t always want to be funny. sharp replies only work when the time’s right. especially when you’re staring down the wand of someone of GREATER power & experience – it can be intimidating. terrifying. even if you try to make some wise cracks, sometimes they’ll fall short. 

there’s nothing more disappointing than a story with great potential but cheesy dialogue – if you’re aiming to write about a group of friends (the DA, another example) it’s best to realize they’ll go through GOOD & BAD times together. it’s sticking together through both that helps in forming such strong bonds between the members. and not everyone’s gonna get along every second of every day. we’re human, individually we’ll have our bad or off days, and we’ll take it out on others. or we won’t feel up to talking like we usually do. or we’ll have our pet peeves, some we honestly can’t get the fuck over & after bottling up too long, it’ll pour over. eventually. but being friends means knowing there’s more to each of you than petty arguments.