/lit/ - Literature

>>13216500
Take it step by step.

Character 1 does something.
Character 2 reacts to it.
Character 1 reacts to that reaction.
Repeat.

For example, Mat is going to trade sex for drugs from Kai, but he's uncomfortable with it. So how would Mat choose to this? Well, the easiest way for him to get in contact with Kai is through their mutual friend, but Mat doesn't want anyone to know he's sucking cock for E so he's gonna have to do it some other way. He doesn't have Kai's phone number. But they both live in the same university dorm, so Mat waits until he knows that Kai is in his dorm, and then just goes and knocks on the door.

Now, Mat is a cocky piece of shit that finds Kai pretty disgusting and pathetic. So he's gonna be rude. He's also not very smart, so he's not gonna be able to show restraint even though he needs Kai on side. When I first wrote this scene I wrote Mat too smart - I wrote him like someone who knows how to negotiate. That's not true to Mat - he has no idea how to negotiate. Instead he just makes arrogant demands and expects the world to deliver for him, and then gets punchy when it doesn't.

So, Mat knocks on the door and says something demeaning to Kai straight up when Kai answers it because that's how an arrogant person reacts to someone they don't like, and Mat is too dumb to realise it's not a good idea to piss off someone you want to do a deal with.
Kai has already forgotten who Mat is because they only interacted for a few minutes three weeks ago and Mat is worth less than garbage to Kai He doesn't respond well to some random stranger interrupting him and starts firing back his own insults because he's not good at human interaction.
This only makes Mat angrier and they start yelling at each other. Because Mat is an arrogant bully and because Kai is an arrogant ""intellectual"" too smart for his own good it quickly escalates. Mat lays hands on Kai because Mat is a big tough guy and when Kai only mocks him instead of being frightened his only response is to step up the violence because he's too dumb to restrain himself, too arrogant to allow slights against his pride to go unanswered, has come from a pretty rough life and is comfortable with violence.
Kai backs down at this point because he's not comfortable with violence. Now that the pissing match is over and Mat feels like he's getting the respect he deserves he moves on to business. Mat sets out his non-negotiable terms because in his mind he isn't negotiating.
But because Kai is smart and wants to offload product and get free sex he pretends to let Mat control the situation while getting what he wants.
Proceed to sex scene.

I don't know how helpful this is for you, but the key to writing good interaction for me is to give your characters a strong voice. Exaggerate their character - not to the point of parody, but to the point where it is clear what is motivating them to do the things they are doing.

>>12435327
My pick, btw.