Interview with Della Galton - How to Write and Sell Short Stories

Ever dreamt of writing short stories and making money from it - today we speak to Author of

Della says "I'm living the dream even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life,” she says with a smile.  “I live with my husband and three dogs in a 16th century cottage, and I spend all day doing what I love best. Writing stories!”

Della had her first short story published in 1987 and decided to make her hobby into a full time profession in 2000. “At the time I had a busy managerial job at our local water company and I was cramming writing into evenings and weekends, which meant there wasn’t much time for anything else. I loved my job, but writing was calling me. I just woke up one day and thought, it’s now or never.  I thought I'll always regret it if I don’t at least try to make a full time living from writing.”

"I haven't looked back" says Della.  She has now sold over a thousand stories to mainstream women’s magazines including Woman’s Weekly and Take a Break, and some of her work is even published abroad “I also began to teach creative writing in 2000,” she tells me. “I was a little worried about paying the mortgage on writing alone.  And recently it struck me that it would be really good to combine my teaching and writing skills and write a book that would help others get into print.”  
   
Her new book - How to Write and Sell Short Stories was the result. It is published by Accent Press and will be on sale from October 20th. “I knew from my classes that there are lots of women (and men) out there who wanted to write short stories so this seemed like a great way of inspiring them.”  
           
Della’s book is aimed at both beginners and more experienced writers and these are some of the questions she promises to answer.
What is the secret of selling short stories? What’s the difference between an idea and a plot? How do you create a sympathetic character? And can men successfully write for women’s magazines?  The answer to that last one is yes, apparently. Della’s 21 year old stepson, Adam, sold his first short story to a magazine when he was just 14.

There are also chapters on everything from writing humour, writing crime, writing ghost stories, and for the more daring, writing the erotic short story.  How to Write and Sell Short Stories is packed full of advice, given in an easy to read, down to earth style.  Della also includes tips from other experts in the field of short story writing.  She is an experienced tutor and hopes that her book will inspire others to live their dream and see their short stories in print. “If I can do it, anyone can,” she says.

Available from Amazon