Up Close With: John Dingwall
Meet the wonderful writers and patrons behind LWS.
This week’s featured member is a Glaswegian with a taste for crime... But he’s a big softie, really. John Dingwall is a name you might know if you read The Times, the Mail on Sunday or the Scottish Daily Record; he’s been a journalist for many years after getting his start making fanzines straight out of high school. Now he’s turned his attention to fiction, and currently has his first novel out for querying with agents. What’s it all about? You’ll have to read on for more.
John Dingwall
- Journalist and music-lover who recently finished his first novel
- Based in Glasgow, Scotland
- Is aged “old enough to know to change the subject when asked”
What do you write?
I tend to write about dysfunctional families in crime or thriller settings. I have just finished a high concept alternative historical thriller with a double twist ending, inspired by classic conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s, such as Boys From Brazil and Marathon Man and, of course, Hitchcock. I’m heavily influenced by nostalgia, the golden age of Hollywood (my favourite movie is Casablanca for so many reasons ) and music.
What are you working on right now?
This week I am submitting my synopsis and novel extract to agents for representation.
Where and when do you write?
I start in the kitchen in the mornings with coffee on repeat along with London Writers Hour for company at 8am. Coffee shops are for research only and I research way too much — to the point that I sometimes wonder if it’s a form of procrastination. But I have learned a lot in doing so about stuff that has probably meant I’m red flagged by multiple law enforcement agencies worldwide.
I also write in my head — which is where my best ideas come from funnily enough — listening to music and letting ideas and dialogue creep in. But I have to be quick to get it on the page as I have a memory like a sieve as my mother and her mother used to say.
How do you write?
By computer. A Macbook Pro mainly and an iMac occasionally, though I bash the keys on both like they’re on an old fashioned typewriter. I worry about my finger bones.
Why do you write?
I’ve written since early childhood. My first published story was a 23-page Western for the primary school magazine. It was heavily edited by the teacher. Still traumatised.
I started a fanzine upon leaving school, interviewing famous bands by blagging my way backstage, which led to working for the music press and magazines then newspapers. So when not writing fiction I’m still writing tons of words for the likes of The Times, Mail on Sunday and Scottish Daily Record.
With fiction, I’m driven by the challenge — like creating a crossword or playing chess (the latter of which I really love), and making everything knit together without the reader knowing where you’re going. And also the pleasure of doing and partly because writing words is what I have always done for a living so fiction is an extension of that.
What inspires your creativity?
Music — particularly music that sparks ideas for whatever location or era I’m writing about. I’ll make up a massive playlist on Spotify. Some of my best ideas happen when I’m least expecting them because my mind wanders while listening. Also, great fiction, TV series and films both current and from the distant past. And things that seem to pop into my head for no reason at all.
What’s your favourite book?
Right now, The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Finish It.
What’s the one thing you would tell other/aspiring writers?
Study the craft, research and most of all write. Don’t make the same mistakes I do, but if you do learn from them.
How can we discover more about you and your work?
Twitter @johndingwall and a website coming as soon as I stop stalling the Go Daddy designers. I’m also easily findable on LinkedIn.
But don’t trust Google which claims I was born in Australia in 1940 and died in 2004, none of which is true by the way.
