Banter

Banter is the noun for playful, rapid, witty exchange, and the craft treatments are precise: Writer's Digest describes witty banter as "the kind of quick and clever, rapid-fire dialogue that often ignites sparks of curiosity," most often between a pair the story is pulling together. Harlequin's editors fix the register: "Banter should be playful, teasing and (often) flirty." The tease is "the cornerstone of witty banter," and it depends on affection, since the characters "must like each other for the tease to land as witty banter." Pacing is the other half: "witty banter runs like water," which in practice means cutting dialogue tags and first names so the lines touch.

Banter is characterization at speed: it "can add comedic relief to tense moments, reveal chemistry between characters, establish conflict, and build sensual tension." It runs on the gap between the said and the meant, the audible surface of subtext; the sentence mechanics are how to write dialogue.