[@Vilageidiotx] I find dialogue tricky sometimes and what you mentioned does really help. Its one of those aspects that can often change a pace of a story if there's too much padding.

Something I get a bit stuck on is how to write proper punctuation. For instance I only learnt recently when to properly use the "semicolon;" but I still see different ways for writing and uses of commas and such.

Eg:
"Hello there," said Jim. 
Vs
"Hello there." said Jim.

I know some of it is trivial, but using punctuation correctly can improve your post quality by opening up how to write in different ways.