Write On! interviews author P.C. Dinan
For 30 years, Paula Dinan shaped compelling narratives at the heart of the UK television industry. As a Lead Editor and Story Consultant, her work contributed to award-winning prime-time factual, drama, and high-end animation projects. A graduate of the National Film and Television School (NFTS), she has now transitioned her storytelling skills from the screen to the page.
Her debut novel, Ilved Trust: Germ$ is a David and Goliath action thriller inspired by real events and marks the first instalment in a high-octane series. A recent graduate of the acclaimed Faber Academy ‘Writing A Novel’ course, she now lives and writes in Bristol, where she is currently completing her next novel, the first in a series of philosophical thrillers.
WO: How would you describe your writing to someone new to it?
PD: That’s a great question, because my writing style adapts to the story I’m telling. I’m currently building two distinct series, each with a different feel, as I’m fascinated by how different story architectures create different experiences for the reader.
The Ilved Trust series is an intricately plotted, propulsive thriller for readers who love the high-stakes conspiracies of The Night Manager and the relentless energy of the Bourne films. Architecturally, it’s a classic ensemble thriller told in the third person with a large cast and multiple concurrent plotlines to create a sense of global scale.
My second series, which is not yet released, is a more philosophical, upmarket thriller. It explores a more subtle, psychological plot using an intimate, first-person narrative, where the story unfolds in a non-linear way, with the protagonist’s own backstory of trauma and healing revealed through flashbacks intricately woven into the present-day action. It’s for readers who enjoyed the blend of a transformative quest in Eat, Pray, Love with the high-concept suspense of The Midnight Library.
But despite these structural differences, a powerful stylistic and thematic throughline connects them. My background in television gives my writing a cinematic feel and most importantly, I write stories driven by a truthful search for justice and the honest, raw emotional journeys of ordinary people. That’s why in Ilved Trust, the hero Joe Porter is a world-class sailor, not a trained spy or ex-policeman. He doesn’t have preordained responses, so he has to learn and adapt, taking the reader on that journey with him.
WO: Can you tell us a bit about your latest book, Ilved Trust: Germ$?
PD: Absolutely. Ilved Trust: Germ$ is the first book in a planned series. The story follows Joe Porter, an internationally reputed sailor, who is devastated when his sister’s death is ruled a suicide. Convinced she was murdered, his search for the truth plunges him into the heart of a terrifying covert operation spanning five continents.
He finds himself up against a true Hydra of an organisation — a vast corporatocracy, an elite one per cent hidden in plain sight. As an international entity, they operate beyond all rules or laws, and their goal is chilling: coercive population control on a global scale.
Suddenly, Joe isn’t just seeking justice; he’s being hunted by this powerful shadow, and the only weapons he has are his sailor’s wits and his diverse, international network of friends. The next two books are in early development, so Joe’s fight is just beginning.
WO. What inspired you to write in the first place, and what inspires you now?
PD: My career was built on telling other people’s stories, piecing together a narrative jigsaw from hundreds of hours of material. But I always had a story of my own bubbling away. Ilved Trust was a long-term passion project, a story I researched and wrote in stolen moments alongside a 50-hour work week, inspired by real, often chilling, world events and driven by a desire to write hard-hitting, truthful and universally resonant stories.
That long process inspired me to make a change. I knew I couldn’t spend another decade going it alone in the cold, so my inspiration now is the desire to transition fully into being a writer. It’s about a commitment to truly immerse myself in the craft of novel writing and to dedicate myself to the rigorous daily routine a novel demands. It’s about finally giving my own stories the full-time attention they deserve.
And to then give the stories the attention I hope for them means finding the best possible path to bring them to readers. My approach to publishing is as adaptive as my writing style. For the Ilved Trust series, with its fast pace and clear genre focus, self-publishing gave me the creative freedom to tell the story exactly as I saw it — to live or die by my own sword, so to speak. For my philosophical, upmarket series, the needs are different; the path to its specific audience might be better served through a more traditional route. For me, it’s not about one path being better than the other; it’s about choosing the right strategy — whether indie or traditional — that best serves the genre, style, and reach of each individual book.
WO: Recently Write On! explored the theme of ‘(R)Evolution’ comparing natural, gradual changes with swift and radical ones. Do you view your own writing as having gently evolved over time? Or do you enjoy switching it up and trying new things regularly?
PD: That theme of ‘(R)Evolution’ resonates with me so deeply, because I feel like I’m living through both at the same time.
My work shaping stories for the screen has been a slow, sustained evolution: a deep immersion in the cutting rooms, where I’ve honed the craft of structure, pacing and finding the emotional core of a narrative. It was a gradual process of learning how stories are built, piece by piece. My love for writing has always been there, simmering beneath the surface, but the day job came first.
Recently, I’ve started a swift and radical revolution in my own life. I’m not yet a full-time writer, but I’ve made the conscious choice to commit to that dream. For me, this has meant investing in my craft in a new way. It was a revolutionary leap to commit to that formal learning alongside my editing work. That decision completely transformed my process, allowing me to write a book in 12 months that might have otherwise taken many years.
So, I’m in the middle of a natural evolution from one career in storytelling to another — from shaping other people’s content to creating my own. I think I bring that same duality to my writing, too. I love building a meticulously planned, gently evolving plot, but I live for those swift moments within the story — the twist, the reveal, or a character’s sudden choice— that changes everything in an instant.
WO: What one piece of advice would you give an aspiring writer?
PD: My advice is really two-fold: first, persevere, and second, commit to the craft.
On perseverance, there’s a famous quote from Thomas Edison: Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up. It took me ten years to finish my first novel while working a full-time job. There were hundreds of moments I could have stopped, but you have to trust the process. Ilved Trust is a story I fully believe in, and I’m so proud of having gone the distance with it because it was a story I simply had to tell. For me, the success was in finishing it. The best reward after that has been hearing from readers that it’s a page-turner they couldn’t put down, reading with one hand on the book and the other on Google!
But that perseverance is fuelled by the craft itself. As an editor, I learned to iterate, iterate, iterate. My philosophy is to polish the prose until the writing becomes invisible, like clean glass in a window, so the reader feels they are right there in the room. The key to that is knowing your characters inside out: their flaws, their motivations, their ‘why.’ When you understand them, the reader will believe them. I’ve spent so long with the characters in Ilved Trust that, even now, while I’m flirting with a new series, I feel they’re all hanging out in a ‘green room,’ ready to jump back on stage the moment the spotlight returns.
WO: Can you tell us anything about future projects?
PD: My long-term dream is to have three distinct thriller series running concurrently. I know some authors prefer to stay in one world at a time, but my professional background has taught me the value of distance. I find stepping away from one project to work on another incredibly beneficial; it never lets the story go off the boil.
I think of my projects as a kind of dance card. The first is the Ilved Trust series — a high-energy tango of a commercial thriller. The second, which I’m in late draft with, is a more philosophical, upmarket thriller — a slower, more intricate waltz. And the third is a sharp, modern jive, featuring a ‘righteous grifter’ who is also a deeply unreliable narrator — which is a new and exciting challenge I’m currently developing.
The real joy of the process for me is giving each one my full attention, learning their unique steps and perfecting the timing until that specific routine feels complete, before I accept the hand of the next partner. It’s a wonderful way to keep the creative process fresh and exciting and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to dance with them all.
WO: Lastly, if you could choose one fictional animal/creature to be a pet or companion, who would it be and why?
PD: That’s a lovely question. It would have to be the Indian Roller — a bird common across South Asia that features in my second series and has become a very personal symbol for me. When the Roller is perched and still, it appears quite plain; a study in unassuming browns. But when it takes to the air, the magic happens. In flight, it reveals its true colours: a shocking, brilliant flash of turquoise and violet hidden in its wings.
For me, that’s a perfect metaphor for my creative journey, especially coming to writing novels after a long career elsewhere. For years, I was perched. But taking the leap to write my own stories feels like unfurling my wings for the first time.
You can find out more about Paula Dinan at her website www.pcdinan.com
Her debut thriller, Ilved Trust: Germ$ is available to buy in hardcover, paperback and eBook from Amazon https://amzn.eu/d/6iHcQuY and is also included in Kindle Unlimited https://amzn.eu/d/7pCuMgy
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