Tag Archives: short stories

How do I stop my romances becoming predictable?

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Della Galton

Here’s another question from a recent postbag at Writers’ Forum. This one comes up quite a bit.  We’re talking fictional ones by the way! Q A common cause for the rejection of short stories (I know, because I’ve received many!) is … Continue reading →

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Do all stories need conflict? and How do unknown writers get published?

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Della Galton

A couple more question from my post bag at Writers’ Forum 🙂 Q: Do all stories have to feature conflict, resolution and growth, with false hopes and disappointments along the way? I appreciate that a straightforward happy little narrative would … Continue reading →

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Tips on writing emotion

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Della Galton

Writers are in the business of selling emotion.  I don’t remember who said that, but it’s spot on. If a reader doesn’t emotionally connect with a character they won’t care about them and they won’t read on. So getting emotion … Continue reading →

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Short Story Writing Courses

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Della Galton

Just a couple of forthcoming courses to tell you about today. 10th – 12th April 2015 ‘Write a Short Story in a Weekend’ at the Royal Agricultural University – Cirencester (above) A step by step guide to writing a short … Continue reading →

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Wednesday Writing Spot – A Short Story Anthology – Guest Blog from Helen Yendall

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Della Galton

Today, I am talking to the lovely Helen Yendall about her venture into self publishing an anthology called Paperchase. And it’s a subject close to my heart, short stories. Isn’t it a fabulous cover. So without further ado… Q: Why … Continue reading →

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Happy Ever After – or is it? How do you get a good end?

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Della Galton

For me, endings have always been the most difficult thing to get right.  But a bad ending can ruin an otherwise excellent story. There are all sorts of bad endings. You probably recognise most of these. They don’t really need … Continue reading →

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Ten Stories NOT to send to Woman’s Weekly

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Della Galton

I was lucky enough to be teaching with the very lovely Gaynor Davies at Woman’s Weekly last Monday. Here are a list of stories she currently does NOT WANT because a) they have too many already or b) they’d been … Continue reading →

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, News, Short stories for magazines, Woman's Weekly, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments

What Do Your Short Story characters Look Like?

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Della Galton

Characterisation is the means by which you make your fictional characters appear to be real people. It is probably the most important part of any piece of fiction. If the reader doesn’t care about your character, he or she won’t … Continue reading →

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Writing for The Friend

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Della Galton

Last week I was lucky enough to listen to a talk – as well as have a chat with – Shirley Blair, Fiction ed of The People’s Friend.  Fascinating stuff.  Here are ten things you may or may not know … Continue reading →

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Writing a Winning Opening Paragraph. Three Top Tips.

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Della Galton

Last week I was lucky enough to be teaching at the Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick in Derbyshire. Beautiful place if you haven’t been there. One of my courses was about winning writing competitions. Just for fun we had an … Continue reading →

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