Writing dialogue that sounds like people

Dialogue reads as stiff when every character answers the question they were asked. Real conversations are full of deflection, interruption and people pursuing their own subject.

Cut the greetings and the arrivals. Start the exchange at the point where something is actually at stake and let the reader catch up.

Give each speaker one thing they want from the scene. When those two wants differ, the dialogue writes much of itself.

Finally, trust 'said'. Attribution should disappear; when a line needs an adverb to land, the line is usually the problem.