By Della Galton
Accent Press
Review by Sylvia Ann Minns
Moving On: From Short Story to Novel is written in Della’s informative and easy to understand style that she also applied to her book ‘How to Write and Sell Short Stories’ published in 2009.
Della is a successful and experienced author whether it be short story or novel writing including fiction and non fiction besides being the monthly magazine ‘Writing Forum’s’ Agony Aunt.
In this new non-fiction book Della bridges the gap between short and long fiction writing which has hindered many successful short story writers aspiring to extend to writing a novel. Besides being a very informative read the book is easy to dip into for quick referencing. Each of the twenty four chapters are further subdivided explaining the many differences between short and long fiction. Also one chapter has advice and tips from other successful novel writers.
The book includes developing an idea, plotting, creating great characters, the importance of pace and dialogue to move the story on and finding the most appropriate title. It then goes onto editing, writing a synopsis or blurb, finding an agent or publisher, whether or not to have the manuscript critiqued, marketing and publicity. Finally a short chapter on rejection which is probably the most daunting aspect that a writer might fear. Della reassures the reader that this is something every writer dreads and gives advice about how to deal with it.
We often hear the expression ‘everybody has a novel inside them’ and most would-be novel writers are daunted by the sheer number of words required to fit between the front and back covers. This can often be felt if a writer has already been successful with short story writing – but, armed with this book, anything could be possible.
