I
nterview by Henry Roy
Most people think of thrillers as action packed, tech filled stories with high speed chases and shootouts. Insincerity is obviously a thriller, though a dark, unusually sexy one, where duplicity among the characters is the high speed chase for readers to keep up with. Did you create all the social conspiracies in this book, or are any based on experience?
I created them all, that is all it takes, a level of imagination. I think we ‘research’ all the time if we are observant.
The idea for Insincerity, did it hit you all at once, or grow from a fertile seed of thought?
It grew organically like most of my novels. I start with an outline and idea and allow the characters to tell the story.
Share with us a dark moment you experienced during the writing of this book. Share a sexual one.
The moment I decided to let The Pimp send Tammy her sister’s ear with the earring she gave her for her last birthday before he killed her, still in the iced lobe.
Picking up a strange and beautiful woman in a bar after writing a scene.
The brilliant nature of your writing obviously stems from extensive education. What fields of study spill over into your craft of writing?
I think that if you read a lot, if you have read a lot, and that was Faulkner’s advice, it atomically fitters into it. But writing is quite different to academic education and all that it allows.
The place where the voodoo happens – describe your writing space.
Wherever I lay down my laptop.
You’re at a book signing, in a lovely small town library with a long queue of readers waiting to meet you. A lady in a pretty dress with tasteful jewelry approaches and asks about a certain character in Insincerity. Wants to know why they… Tell us the character’s name, describe them, and what did they do?
Why Karen Sincere met and slept with Julius Gold. Because he is sexually irresistible.
***
Richard Godwin is the critically acclaimed author of Apostle Rising, Mr. Glamour, One Lost Summer, Noir City, Meaningful Conversations, Confessions Of A Hit Man, Paranoia And The Destiny Programme, Wrong Crowd, Savage Highway, Ersatz World, The Pure And The Hated, Disembodied, Buffalo And Sour Mash, and Locked In Cages.
His stories have been published in numerous paying magazines and over 34 anthologies, among them an anthology of his stories, Piquant: Tales Of The Mustard Man, The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime and The Mammoth Book Of Best British Mystery, alongside Lee Child.
He was born in London and lectured in English and American literature at the University of London.
About the interviewer: Henry Roi is the PR Manager at Crime Wave Press and Near to the Knuckle. You can find him creating content for talented writers @crimewavepress and @ScatterOfAshes. http://www.crimewavepress.com, http://gritfiction.co.uk