Posted on April 5, 2021 at 10:12 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Early on in Jeff Elkins’s writing career, he decided to analyze some ongoing bestsellers to see what characteristics they had in common.

When he focused on dialogue, he made a fascinating discovery: that it made up anywhere from 60 percent to 80 percent of the books.

This observation led him to theorize that as much as humans connect with stories, we connect as much — if not more so — with conversations. (It also, as he studied the craft of writing further, led him to join the Dialogue Doctor Podcast.)

So in his appearance on Joanna Penn’s Creative Penn podcast, Elkins shared the two biggest mistakes he sees writers make with dialogue and his advice on making dialogue both authentic and respectful of different voices.

You can read a transcript of the conversation or listen to it at The Creative Penn.

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Categories: Behind the scenes

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