Interview with Craig Dinsell

I am honored to host Craig Dinsell on the blog today.

Winning is Craig’s debut novel.

Hello Craig and welcome to my blog The Book Decoder. Please tell me and my readers about yourself.

Hi Rekha delighted to meet you and your readers.

Your debut novel Winning released recently. Tell us more about it.

Winning is set on an international canvas but mainly on Wall Street and London. On first sight the novel is about the ruthlessness of office and sexual politics: knives and chameleons, if you will. But at a deeper level Winning is about two people trying to find meaning and identity in a maelstrom of dysfunction. There are a couple of interesting backstories too. One set in the UK the other on the African content and the US. 

What is the inspiration behind Winning?

The plot line and characters are a fiction but a confection conjured out of the people and situations I encountered in C-suites of financial services over many years. I wanted to get people to think about what it means to gain the world but lose the soul at a time when everyone has their own version of the truth.

What was the most challenging part of writing Winning?

How to raise some serious issues and keep the novel fun. I tried to do this by creating really layered characters and a world which readers would recognize as authentic.  People and places that it would be interesting to spend an evening with. After a while the various characters wanted to pull the story in their own direction so pulling them back was quite difficult! I must say that David Haviland at Loudhailer Books, an independent publisher was tremendously helpful to me in all this. 

What are you currently working on?

Right now I am working on a novel about a bunch of really eccentric characters who embark on a bizarre road trip with disastrous consequences. Very funny I hope! And of course a book of poems. I have about eighty so it’s a matter of winnowing them down.

Has the pandemic/lockdown affected your writing schedule? If yes, how?

Well, like everyone  the days seem to merge, so setting up a routine and staying focused can be a bit of a problem!

What does a day in Craig Dinsell’s life look like?

Feeding the sheep, walking the dog, drinking tea, answering mail, the odd Zoom (sometimes quite odd!) avoiding writing, good grief, is it that time already… you know the kind of thing!