On Writing Emotion: A Masterclass with the Dialogue Doctor

Stop hoping your story makes readers feel something, and learn to bring the story in your imagination to life on the page. 

Great stories don’t just happen on the page. They happen inside the reader.

Readers fall in love. They worry. They laugh. They ache. They lean forward because they have to know what happens next. And long after they’ve forgotten the details of the plot, they remember how the story made them feel.

But writers are often given frustratingly vague advice about emotion:

• Make the reader care.
• Raise the stakes.
• Add more tension.
• Make this moment hit harder.
• Show don't tell.

Okay…but how?

That’s what The On Writing Emotion Masterclass with the Dialogue Doctor is designed to answer.

Over three days and eight hours of live instruction, Dialogue Doctor Jeff Elkins will teach you a practical system for understanding, diagnosing, and deliberately shaping the emotional experience of your reader. This isn't about simply making your characters "more emotional."

It's about learning to control the emotional journey happening between your story and your reader.

What We'll Cover

For every concept, Jeff will:

• Explain how the emotional mechanism works,
• Show you practical tools for manipulating it,
• Break down examples from master works,
• And help you see how you can apply the technique to your own writing.

Friday, December 4 | 3:00–5:00 PM (Eastern)

We'll begin by building the foundation.

• What does it actually mean to create an emotional journey for a reader?
• Why should it be one of the central concerns of your storytelling?
• What is a Vehicle Character and why are they important?

Once we've established the core definitions and concepts, we will dig into the first two methods for controlling a reader's emotional journey...

• The Emotional Trajectory - the pattern of the reader's emotional journey
• The Emotional Vector - the emotions a reader will visit during their journey

Saturday, December 5 | 2:00–5:00 PM

On Saturday, we'll dig into three powerful ways you can control the reader's emotional journey.

• Emotional Alignment - how the reader connects to the Vehicle
• Emotional Altitude - making the story distant or grounded
• Emotion Saturation - manipulating the depth of the reader's emotion

Sunday, December 6 | 2:00–5:00 PM

On Sunday, we'll go even deeper into the readers emotional journey and look at: 

• Emotional Velocity - manipulating the speed of change
• Emotional Pressure - increasing or decreasing the reader's anxiety
• (NEW) Emotional Momentum - controlling the speed of the reader's emotional journey

This Masterclass Is for Writers Who…

• Have ever written a scene that should feel powerful…but somehow isn't.
• Have been told something "isn't landing" without knowing how to fix it.
• Keep revising the same emotional moment hoping another rewrite will finally make it work.
• Want readers to feel tension, joy, grief, fear, anticipation, connection, or relief...but aren't sure which craft choices actually create those responses.
• Or simply want a deeper understanding of why great writing affects readers the way it does.

You don't need another checklist telling you to "raise the stakes." You need tools that help you understand how to make the reader feel what you want them to feel at every turn of your story.

That's what we'll spend eight hours learning together.

All sessions will be recorded and participants will get copies of the recordings. 

Event Details

The On Writing Emotion Masterclass with the Dialogue Doctor

Friday, December 4
3:00 PM–5:00 PM

Saturday, December 5
2:00 PM–5:00 PM

Sunday, December 6
2:00 PM–5:00 PM

Total Instruction: 8 hours

Registration: $150

If you attended the previous Engineering Emotion Masterclass in February of 2026, you're invited back for this expanded version at a special returning-attendee price ($50). Look for a special coupon code from Jeff in your email.