Max's Newsletter Archive

"Sousa's Lament"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Does technological change spell doom or opportunity for fiction authors, or is change just inevitable? (For Authors Newsletter - November 15, 2023)
"Ghost Stories"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Do you believe in Ghosts? (For Authors Newsletter - October 18, 2023)
"Whodunnit?"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
how you show who did what can reinforce and solidify point of view. The words you use to do this matter. (For Authors Newsletter - September 20, 2023)
"Strolling Through Genres"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Surveying a variety of genres (For Authors Newsletter - August 23, 2023)
"Characters and Plots and Themes, Oh my!"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What is a theme and how to you connect it to your story? (For Authors Newsletter - July 26, 2023)
"From the Other Side"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What happens after you send your story to an acquisitions editor? (For Authors Newsletter - June 28, 2023)
"The Manichean Fallacy"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Tools for constructing credible characters (For Authors Newsletter - May 31, 2023)
"No Book Is an Island"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The role of metatext in fiction (For Authors Newsletter - May 3, 2023)
"The Allegory of the Cave"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What is reality anyway, and how does it relate to fiction? (For Authors Newsletter - April 5, 2023)
"Time, realism, and surrealism"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Musings on time, dreams, and reality (For Authors Newsletter - March 8, 2023)
" A Grammarian's Panegyric Part 3"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Verbs give power and energy to sentences. Understanding their nuances is critical to effective writing. (For Authors Newsletter - February 8, 2023)
"A Grammarian's Panegyric Part 2"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Grammar and the mood of a verb (For Authors Newsletter - January 11, 2023)
"A Grammarian's Panegyric"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Passive voice and point of view (For Authors Newsletter - December 14, 2022)
"It's Axiomatic"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
My journey from mathematician to fiction author (For Authors Newsletter - November 16, 2022)
"Snark"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The hashtag snark is common in twitterature, but it's widespread in other forms of discourse, including literature. (For Authors Newsletter - October 19, 2022)
"To Trope Or Not To Trope"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What is a trope and why use them? (For Authors Newsletter - September 21, 2022)
"It Takes a Detective"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Some comments on detective fiction (For Authors Newsletter - August 24, 2022)
"Like, Totally!"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
English dialects and writing (For Authors Newsletter - July 27, 2022)
"Words Matter"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Not all words are equal. Choose active over passive, specific over vague, showing over telling. (For Authors Newsletter - June 29, 2022)
"Don't Touch the Phlebotinum"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Sometimes hand-waving can explain the unexplainable. (For Authors Newsletter - June 1, 2022)
"Planning Scenes"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Some essential questions to consider before writing a scene. (For Authors Newsletter - May 4, 2022)
"Waiting for What?"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Character Arcs (For Authors Newsletter - April 6, 2022)
"What Was HeThinking?"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
How do you show the internal thoughts of your point-of-view character? Reports? Italics? There's another way. (For Authors Newsletter - March 9, 2022)
"What's in a Name?"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Dos and Donts for Names (For Authors Newsletter - February 9, 2022)
"One, er, Seven Plots to Rule Them All"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
How many different plots are there, really? (For Authors Newsletter - January 12, 2022)
"Describing Characters"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Describing Characters without interrupting the story (For Authors Newsletter - December 15, 2021)
"Writing What Readers Don't Skip"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Info-dumps kill stories. Setting is important, but how do you describe the setting without an info-dump? (For Authors Newsletter - November 17, 2021)
"Meanings In Fiction"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Different levels of meaning in fiction (For Authors Newsletter - October 20, 2021)
"Patterns"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Patterns, even when subliminal, enhance reader experience. (For Authors Newsletter - September 22, 2021)
"Writers' Writing Rules"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Famous authors give advice on writing. (For Authors Newsletter - August 25, 2021)
"Easter Eggs"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Some fun Easter Eggs in popular media (For Authors Newsletter - July 28, 2021)
"Aha, She Thought..."  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Direct Discourse, Indirect Discourse, and Free Indirect Discourse (For Authors Newsletter - June 30, 2021)
"Making Scents"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Adding scents adds intimacy (For Authors Newsletter - June 2, 2021)
"Craft or Art?"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Writing effective fiction involves both artistic creativity and mastery of craft. (For Authors Newsletter - May 5, 2021)
"Annoying Writing Tasks"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Writing the Synopsis, teaser, and blurb (For Authors Newsletter - April 7, 2021)
"Brush Up Your Tense"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
When does the action in your story happen? (For Authors Newsletter - March 10, 2021)
"Sense or Nonsense"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
How can a sentence be both true and literal nonsense? (For Authors Newsletter - February 10, 2021)
"The Phatic Maxim"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Some conversations convey information; phatic conversation is information-free and serves to lubricate social exchange. (For Authors Newsletter - January 13, 2021)
"The Units of Fiction"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Understanding Scenes, Chapters, and Scene/Sequel Pairs. (For Authors Newsletter - December 16, 2020)
"Writing Groups"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What I've learned about Writing Groups (For Authors Newsletter - November 18, 2020)
"Anticipation"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The role of anticipation, suspense, and conflict in creating tension in fiction. (For Authors Newsletter - October 21, 2020)
"Movies and Fiction Writing"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
What Can We Learn from Watching Movies? (For Authors Newsletter - September 23, 2020)
"First Words"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Three simple rules for more effective opening paragraphs. (For Authors Newsletter - August 26, 2020)
"Folklore"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Folktales can inspire stories of all types. Using elements of folktales can help stories resonate with readers. (For Authors Newsletter - July 29, 2020)
"One Plot to Rule Them All"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The three-act structure is powerful, pervasive, and easy to apply once you understand it. (For Authors Newsletter - July 1, 2020)
"How To Write A Novel"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
You don't write your novel, you discover it. (For Authors Newsletter - June 3, 2020)
"Characters"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
Some techniques to make your characters more compelling (For Authors Newsletter - May 6, 2020)
"First Sentences and Author Voice"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The author's voice is the most important feature of an effective opening. (For Authors Newsletter - April 8, 2020)
"His, Hers, and Theirs"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The Singular They (For Authors Newsletter - March 11, 2020)
"Mystery or Suspense"  by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈
The difference between mystery and suspense. (Mystery Newsletter - January 2, 2019)