Dialogue Doctor

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Hello Amazing Writer,

I hope this email finds you getting words on the page. I’m excited to share that I finished my final review of NRDS Season 2, a novel my writing partner JP and I have been working on for a few years. It will come out sometime this fall. It goes off the editor in August. I hope you are finding success as well with your work.

Today, I just wanted to share with you a few things I’ve been enjoying.

This week on the podcast “Good Hang”, Amy Poehler had an interesting conversation with author Anne Lamott. Lamott isn’t one of my favorites, but I did find her book Bird by Bird very well done and a good read. It’s interesting to hear Poehler (a great comedy writer) talk about the writing mindset with Lamott.

I love the podcast Good Hang. It is a “must listen to” each week for me. Poehler keeps the conversations positive and has on incredibly interesting people (mostly movie related).

If you want to check out the episode, you can find it here on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56H8dtzU7lM)

I read my first Sedaris book in 1997. I saw someone in college reading it and gave it a try. Since then, I’ve read everything he’s published. I’m a big fan. (Waring)

There is something about Sedaris’ quirky worldview that pulls me in and gently calls my to question how I see things. It’s not that Sedaris compels me to agree with him. He’s not a preacher with a mission. I think rather, his take is often so unique, direct, and honest, it makes me question whether I’m being honest with myself about how I see the world.

I haven’t loved his two previous books before this. They were well written, but I found them less relatable. It felt like he was entering his “rich grumpy old man” phase. His new one, The Land and Its People, I felt like was a return to the Sedaris I loved. He covers themes of aging, health, partnership, family, and trying to remain yourself in a very weird world. There is, for example, an essay in this book about David’s panic when his partner Hugh has surgery. He doesn’t panic because his partner is suffering. Rather, David is very concerned about who will be making his dinners if Hugh can’t walk. It’s hysterical.

If you are looking for an honest, refreshing, and quirky look at the world, check out Sedaris’s The Land and Its People.

My good friend, and Pod-Father to the Dialogue Doctor, J Thorn snuck a new book out while no one was looking. I had the privilege of editing an early version a long time ago. I’ve been reading the e-book and I’m loving it.

This book is an action-thriller about a reality TV show that goes horribly wrong. The characters and great and the twists and turns are fantastic. If you are looking for something to keep you turning the pages, check it out.

You can find it by clicking here. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6XTJ5XY)

We are just under a month away from our in-person conference this year. It is a weekend focused entirely on the craft of writing. Selfishly, I’m super pumped about the speakers we have lined up, because they are people I want to learn from.

We have a new location. The conference is going to be held at The William Fell Inn in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore. The neighborhood was established in 1760s, and the William Fell has been in operation since the 1800s.

The conference is Saturday and Sunday, August 22nd and 23rd.

There are only a few tickets left. (I think there is only one ticket left for the Sunday workshop and seven tickets for Saturday.) If you are planning on joining us, don’t wait! Grab your ticket.

You can find out more about the conference and get tickets at https://fictionmakers.live/

Finally, I’ve started the new free series on the Patreon. We are working through 18 weeks of challenges that will help you better understand the story you are working on. I’d love for you to jump in with us. If you want these coming to your email, you can subscribe to the Patreon for free.

Check out the first post here. (https://www.patreon.com/JeffElkins/posts/dd-story-week-1-…

That’s it for this week.

Happy writing everyone!

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Das ist ein Newsletter für Schriftsteller (Dialogue Doctor) mit Buchempfehlungen und einer Schreib-Konferenz in Baltimore. Keine Relevanz für unser Geschäft — vermutlich Fehlleitung oder Spam-Abonnement. Kann gelöscht oder abgemeldet werden.

Hello incredible writer,

This is just a quick reminder.

Today at 1 pm friend of the community, Joe Bunting from the Write Practice and I will be holding a FREE webinar to talk about developmental editing and the new AI editor Joe has been working on, Twig.

I’ve given Twig one of my books and two scenes I’m actively working on, and the feedback was impressive.

Come and join us at 1 pm (Eastern) today (Thursday) as we talk about Joe’s new tool.

Click here to save your seat. (https://twig.io/live/dialogue-doctor-jeff-elkins)

Hope to see you there.

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Hello Amazing Writer,

The free webinar with Joe Bunting today was great. Joe gave a presentation about developmental editing, and then he and I looked at the new AI editor he is building called Twig. It was a really fun conversation.

Several of you reached out to me and told me you were sad you couldn’t attend.

Well, I’ve got good news.

We recorded it.

Click here to listen. (https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/ibMXNclH6Mm_Y9y7Gs-cGLXy… (It may make you register with Zoom first.)

In the webinar, I talk about how I gave the program two of my old books and I went through the feedback it gave me. You can see that feedback by clicking here (https://edits.twig.io/edit/IxITmDKsgZEETEvqPPPEnK) and here (https://edits.twig.io/edit/IKBP4dVwGeomcrm9SnFxbd/chapter… .

Joe and the Twig team have been really kind and given us a 50% discount on book edits with the tool.

To get the discount, you can enter the site with: https://twig.io?via=jeff

Or you can go to https://twig.io/ and use the discount code JEFFROCKS26

The discount only lasts until Monday at Midnight (Eastern time zone).

If you aren’t ready to submit your manuscript yet, this code also works for buying credits with the program.

I talk about this in the webinar, but one of the reasons I like the tool is that it doesn’t write anything for you. It reads your manuscript and then, based on 27 different parameters, provides you feedback that you can act on.

Go check it out. And let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Jeff

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Hey incredible writer,

Happy Monday! Hooray with the hip hip and all that fanfare for the new week.

Okay. Full transparency. I’ve been sitting at this desk since around 6:15 am. You see, I woke up at 4:45 this morning with a horrible nightmare. In the dream, I was sitting in the kitchen when my son came to me and said, “Hey, dad. My girlfriend wanted to read one of your novels. So she went to Amazon. And she tried to find you. And she doesn’t think you are on there.” In the dream, I raced to my laptop, searched for my name, and discovered I’d been removed!

That was when I lurched awake. And of course, immediately ran to my laptop to check my author’s page. Good news. It was just a bad dream. I still exist on the Zon.

But, there was no going back to sleep after that, so I went to work. And I’ve been here so long, that it now feels like Tuesday. So, I thought I’d send you some thing.

This week on the podcast, we did something fun. I was joined by Tom Hollbrook and we fought to the death over which was better: THE ODYSSEY or that spiderman thing that came out around the same time.

Just kidding. We did argue, but mostly we talked about the craft behind the two stories. And it was a really good discussion. You can find it where ever you listen to podcasts.

Or Watch Us on YouTube Here (https://youtu.be/zYRmQBkF0yY)

Bonus points if you go into the comments on YouTube and say I’m right and Tom’s wrong. But don’t tell Tom I told you to do this. And Tom, don’t read this.

We are four days away from the Fiction Makers conference and (last I checked) we have 3 tickets left for Saturday. If you are in the Baltimore area and can make it to the William Fell Inn in Fells Point, I’d love for you to join us.

Click Here to Learn More (https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thedialoguedoctor/210…

I’ve continued with my free series I’ve been calling “The Dialogue Doctor Story Diagnosis.” This week I focused on developing and editing character voices. Each week, I’m look at a different aspect of your story and talking about how you can bend it to your will. It’s free. Go and check it out.

See the Series Here (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2297450?view=expanded)

That’s it for this week.

I hope your dreams tonight are nicer than mine were.

Happy writing!

Jeff

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Hello incredible writer,

Today marks 11 days since I first hit “publish” on my first novel in KDP. To commemorate the occasion, I wrote a poem.

I’ve been reading a lot of Emily Dickenson lately. Did you know the Emily Dickenson Museum posts one of her 1800 poems every day on Instagram? What? It’s crazy. This is what social media if for! But, I digress.

Enjoy the poem.

The words are all me.

The photo is Chat GPT.

Because I’m worse at art than poetry.

Happy Publishing Birthday to me

i think we can all see

that none of them came easy

filled with doubt and fear

i put out words with laughs and tears

onto pages read by millions of peers?

nowhere near

Poor representations of the images in my head

never quite there

true portrayal rare

but still, I continue to dare

Regardless of accuracy, the byproduct the same

a new spine with my name

a new book on the shelf

each one now a menacing elf

applauding my success

while mocking the incompleteness

all finished

but not

abandoned to the digital wasteland

too early canned?

invested in as long as I could stand

So Happy Publishing Birthday to me

my contributions to literature, I think we can all agree

grow wild like an unplanned garden of weeds

my mind and heart having taken seed

filling the bed with pride and joy

and unmet expectations

and painful hopes

and present fears

and future worries

and whispered prayers

and sleepless nights

and obsessed-over reviews

and unearned stars

and beautiful readers

and words

and dreams

all the dreams

all my dreams

and all the other things that publishing can guarantee.

Happy Publishing Birthday to me

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It was an amazing weekend.

The Ficition Makers Conference just happened, and wow. Everything was perfect.

It started with drinks Friday night at V-No Wine bar. Ten of us showed up. We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about our writing. Authors came from all over. Some flew up from Texas, some drove in from Virginia, some came from Colorado. One incredible author even flew in from Australia for the weekend.

Saturday kicked off the talks. They were all amazing.

Each speaker gives us tools we could use right away.

* JP Rindfleisch IX introduced us into a new way to think about the internal change of our characters,

* Leslye Penelope broke down world building for us and showed us how to use our worlds to serve our stories,

* Ines Johnson helped us understand the power of writing to tropes,

* Laura Humm taught us how to avoid putting unnecessary burden on the reader,

* Sean Paul Murphy gave us insights into writing screenplays from his four decades in the business,

* and I talked about bad advice we get on writing emotion.

It was an incredible day filled with awesome insights, tips, and new ways of seeing our story.

And I have some great news!

If you missed it, you can buy videos of all the talks for $79.

Click Here to Buy Videos of the Talks (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded)

I should say, they are $79 now. In a week, I’m going to raise the price to $99. So, grab them while you can. (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded)

On Sunday we changed direction. We met up at R House, a food emporium in Baltimore, and broke into small groups.

There were three stations: one focused on external change, one focused on internal change, and one focused on characterization. Each station lasted 90 minutes and participants rotated through them in groups of three.

In the small groups, writers that were there got to talk through their story with the Dialogue Doctor coaches. It was awesome to be able to focus on what each person was working on.

The weekend was such a huge success, we’ve decided we are going to do it again next year. If you want to grab your ticket early at a super-early-bird rate, find out more by clicking here (https://buytickets.at/thedialoguedoctor/2376322) .

Click Here to Register for Next Year (https://buytickets.at/thedialoguedoctor/2376322)

I’m really proud of the conference. It was a fantastic weekend. I can’t wait to do it again!

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It was an amazing weekend.

The Ficition Makers Conference just happened, and wow. Everything was perfect.

It started with drinks Friday night at V-No Wine bar. Ten of us showed up. We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about our writing. Authors came from all over. Some flew up from Texas, some drove in from Virginia, some came from Colorado. One incredible author even flew in from Australia for the weekend.

Saturday kicked off the talks. They were all amazing.

Each speaker gives us tools we could use right away.

* JP Rindfleisch IX introduced us into a new way to think about the internal change of our characters,

* Leslye Penelope broke down world building for us and showed us how to use our worlds to serve our stories,

* Ines Johnson helped us understand the power of writing to tropes,

* Laura Humm taught us how to avoid putting unnecessary burden on the reader,

* Sean Paul Murphy gave us insights into writing screenplays from his four decades in the business,

* and I talked about bad advice we get on writing emotion.

It was an incredible day filled with awesome insights, tips, and new ways of seeing our story.

And I have some great news!

If you missed it, you can buy videos of all the talks for $79.

Click Here to Buy Videos of the Talks (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded)

I should say, they are $79 now. In a week, I’m going to raise the price to $99. So, grab them while you can. (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded)

On Sunday we changed direction. We met up at R House, a food emporium in Baltimore, and broke into small groups.

There were three stations: one focused on external change, one focused on internal change, and one focused on characterization. Each station lasted 90 minutes and participants rotated through them in groups of three.

In the small groups, writers that were there got to talk through their story with the Dialogue Doctor coaches. It was awesome to be able to focus on what each person was working on.

The weekend was such a huge success, we’ve decided we are going to do it again next year. If you want to grab your ticket early at a super-early-bird rate, find out more by clicking here (https://buytickets.at/thedialoguedoctor/2376322) .

Click Here to Register for Next Year (https://buytickets.at/thedialoguedoctor/2376322)

I’m really proud of the conference. It was a fantastic weekend. I can’t wait to do it again!

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Hello incredible writer,

It’s been one of those days where I’m getting a ton of stuff done. So much, that it feels like it should be noon, but it’s only 10:30 am. I guess that’s what happens when you start at O-Dark-Thirty in the morning. LOL.

I hope you are chunking thing off your to-do list too.

I’ve got four things for you today that I think you might want to check out.

https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded

First, we’ve been getting really awesome feedback from the attendees of the conference last week. They’ve rated all the talks 10 out of 10.

If you weren’t able to come, it’s not too late. You can still hear the talks.

You can buy access to all six talks for $79 (or you can buy individual talks for $45 each). I’m going to raise the price next week because the talks are worth 10 times that, but for now I want to keep them affordable.

Click here to get access. (https://www.patreon.com/collection/2343349?view=expanded)

Also, the conference went so well, we’ve put up tickets for next year. Check them out here. (https://app.tickettailor.com/event/es_2376322/share-event)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMkwiIjL1VA-qdr…

Thing number two.

One of JP’s superpowers is kicking authors in the ass and getting us to get moving on our dreams. I know because he did it to me this weekend.

He wants to bring that superpower to the Dialogue Doctor in November. There’s only space for six writers, so if you are interested, don’t wait.

Click here to learn more and sign up. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMkwiIjL1VA-qdr…

https://youtu.be/QcDm1pVbvGQ

This week on the podcast, I sat down with a brand new writer and we talked through issues she was having with her character. Writing a dark or difficult character can be really hard. You want the reader to take an emotional journey with the character, but how do you get them to do that when the character is horrible, or annoying, or frustrating, or a giant ball of bad decisions. We work it out together in this episode. Click here if you are interested. (https://youtu.be/QcDm1pVbvGQ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS7AdPfFH2c&list=PLDnpWFQ…

I had a cool opportunity recently. Matty Dalrymple invited me to be a part of her substack live. We talked about trying to sell back lists and jumping into new arenas. You can check out the conversation here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS7AdPfFH2c&list=PLDnpWFQ… .

That’s it for this week!

More soon,

Jeff

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Hello incredible writer,

Usually I have an opening paragraph about the time of year or something in my life I think you might relate to, but there is a lot going on and I think we should just get to it.

So, nothing fun this time.

All business.

This week on the podcast, JP and I got together to talk about the Enneagram and how to use it to build personalities for your characters. It was a fun conversation and I was able to completely convert JP to the Enneagram cult.

Okay. That last part is a small exaggeration.

But the conversation is fun and we go deep into character design.

Click Here to Watch the Episode (https://youtu.be/jLzt1MXxVE4)

Speaking of JP, one of his amazing gifts is kicking writers in the butt until they do what they promised themselves they were going to do.

For example, he and I were at the Fiction Makers Conference together. We had a whole day with one another before the conference started, and he did an amazing job of verbally kicking my butt until I figured my crap out. It is truly a gift.

He’s decided to lend this group to a small group of writers this November. He’ll help you make some goals and then help you stick to them so you can have an insanely productive November this year.

There are limited seats, so don’t wait to apply. JP will be making selections in early October.

Click Here to Sign Up (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMkwiIjL1VA-qdr…

Final thing…

I’m giving away free sessions to use as podcast episode. There are 15 slots. I did my best to spread them out so any time zone can find a slot that works.

Please only take one.

And grab them fast, they tend to go quick.

Click Here to Claim a Spot (https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040A48ADA92AA13-65906761…

That's it for this week!

Thanks,

Jeff

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12 Days from the release of my next book.

This if the first novel I’ve published since March of 2023. It feels really weird that it has been that long.

This is a big one.

* It’s 580+ pages

* 66 chapters

* 145,000+ words

Here are five things I love about the story:

* The big bad is a billionaire named Norman who is trying to live forever by downloading his consciousness into AIs.

* The Norman’s are talking heads on large computer tablets that hang around the necks of interns the Norman’s call “Meat Suits”.

* One of the NRDS falls in love with a mop and takes great pride in his janitorial services.

* We introduce a world of psychics in a big way.

* We dig deep into Bryce’s family and how the NRDS function at a national level.

I honestly believe this is the best comedy I’ve written, and mixing the laughs with horror is fun.

If you haven’t read part 1, it’s time to start!

What are you waiting for?

You can get part 1 here. (https://www.amazon.com/NRDS-National-Recently-Deceased-Se…

And just for fun, here is a sample chapter from the new book (picked at random)…

Chapter 4

Family Affair

- Bryce -

“Now arriving at L’Enfant Plaza,” the automated voice chimed on the metro loudspeaker.

Bryce lingered on the last words before closing his tattered old book and tucking it into his satchel. It was a copy of The Coming of God by Jürgen Moltmann, written in the author’s native German. While he didn’t necessarily agree with Moltmann’s eschatological beliefs, his take on the finality of death and the reconstruction of a deceased person’s best qualities through the Divine’s memory was fascinating.

He pulled himself up from his seat and headed to the doors of the mostly empty subway car. Leaving before the sun rose had been the right call, especially from the neighborhood he’d selected. He’d even had time to stop and grab an espresso, something he’d always rushed to do when he lived here before.

The sweet, oily scent of fast food, undercut by the sharp hit of garbage, made Bryce wince as it wafted in through the subway doors. Bryce stepped out onto L’Enfant Plaza and popped his earbuds in, drowning out the sounds of the city and replacing them with Alicia Keys playing piano.

After a ten-minute walk, he stood outside the Museum and Library Services building. He walked along the right side of the building, following a small path until he came to a single, unmarked door that any passerby would ignore. He pulled the door open and waved at the security guard in a black suit and silver badge standing next to a floor-to-ceiling glass cylinder.

The guard nodded and pointed to a small gray bin in front of him. “Morning. Badge, if you have one. Keep your arms tucked in as you step into the tube.”

Bryce nodded to the second security guard, a ghost in an older version of the security officer’s uniform, before dropping his badge in the bin. He stepped into the tube as the ghost vanished. The glass closed around him, sealing off all the outside sounds, and he shut his eyes, enjoying this moment of complete isolation.

Faint whirs echoed in the tube, followed by a hint of acrid metallic ozone. He’d been through enough of these to know which sounds checked for possessions, hitchhikers, and other spectral anomalies.

Ethan had spent so much of the evening talking to their unwanted houseguest. Bryce wouldn’t change a single thing about Ethan, but Bryce’s moment of solitude in this tube reminded him how much he missed silence. Ethan had been at it long after River had convinced one of the Sams to share a joint and passed out. At least the ghost took only a little convincing to leave the bedroom, granting Bryce a low drone of whispers while Ethan spent the better part of the evening trying to pull any useful information from the spirit.

Ethan was curled up on the couch by the time Bryce woke up, and he didn’t have the heart to wake him. He’d have plenty of other opportunities to see NRDS HQ, Bryce told himself as he wrapped a blanket around Ethan, opportunities where Ethan would be rested and able to enjoy himself.

The tube slid open, and a voice rang out from a speaker above him. “You’re all clear. Welcome to HQ, Agent Filmore.”

Bryce grabbed his badge from the bin and eyed the camera hanging from the ceiling. He had never been denied access, nor had he seen someone denied access, but now he wondered what fate the tube had in store for someone unlucky. Did the floor fall out into some kind of dungeon? Or would it jettison them up, through the roof, launching them into the sky like some cannon?

The elevator doors slid open, and an all-too-familiar man, standing at six-foot-five-and-a-half with massive shoulders sculpted from years as a defender for the Harvard lacrosse team, stood in front of him. He was everything Bryce was not, everything his parents loved. Bryce’s older brother, Bradford “the B