Tag Archives: tips on writing

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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Creating Suspense in Short Stories – Three Top Tips

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Della Galton

I used to believe that the art of writing suspense was mostly about technique – short sentences build tension and pace, longer sentences slow it down. But suspense means so much more than this. So what does the word suspense … Continue reading →

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Tips on Entering Writing Competitions – Wednesday Writing Spot

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Della Galton

I recently judged the H E Bates Short Story Competition, organised by the Northampton Writers Group. Morgen Bailey is the chair and for today’s Wednesday Writing Spot I’m delighted to welcome Morgen to my blog to give us her tips … Continue reading →

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Wednesday Writing Spot – New Year Resolutions for Writers – all under 1000 words

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Della Galton

One writing resolution a month. All of them under 1000 words. How hard can it be 🙂 January In 400 words – Begin with the words, ‘A dream I would like to achieve this year is…’  February In 100 words  … Continue reading →

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NaNoWriMo So Far

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Della Galton

If you’ve read this blog lately, you’ll know I’ve been doing the NaNoWriMo challenge, i.e. I signed up to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Well, actually, I’m a nano rebel. I decided it would be … Continue reading →

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Wednesday Writing Spot – Woman’s Weekly Live, Manchester

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Della Galton

By the time you read this I’ll be on my way to Manchester. I’m teaching short story workshops with Gaynor Davies and Jane Wenham Jones at the Woman’s Weekly Live Show.  Click on the link for more details of the … Continue reading →

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The Wednesday Writing Spot – Getting Ideas – Guest Post from Patsy Collins

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Della Galton

This week on the Wednesday Writing Spot, I am delighted to welcome writer, Patsy Collins, who is talking about where she gets her ideas from and her fabulous new short story collection, which is called Up The Garden Path. It’s … Continue reading →

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The Wednesday Writing Spot – Plotting the longer Short Story

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Della Galton

Plotting was the bane of my life when I started writing. It still trips me up now occasionally, particularly when I’m changing lengths, for example from 1000 to 2000 words. So here are some tips for writing the longer short … Continue reading →

Posted in plotting, Tips on writing, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing, Writing problems and solutions | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments