Nicola Dinan: On Trusting the Process to Find Writing Success
Nicola Dinan grew up in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and now calls London home. She trained and practiced as a lawyer before leaving the law to focus on writing. Bellies is her first novel, for which she was shortlisted for the Mo Siewcharran Prize.
She is a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing-a-Novel course. Her work has appeared in Huck Magazine, i-D, Paper Magazine, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere. Follow her on Instagram.
Nicola Dinan
Stuart Simpson – Penguin Random House
In this post, Nicola talks about how vignettes led to her debut novel, why writers should trust their own process, and more.
Name: Nicola Dinan
Literary agent: Monica Macswan (Aitken Alexander Associates)
Book title: Bellies
Publisher: Hanover Square Press (US), Doubleday (UK)
Release date: August 1, 2023 (US), June 29, 2023 (UK)
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: Tom—newly out, awkward, and in his ex-girlfriend’s old dress—meets dazzling playwright Ming at a university drag night, quickly falling in love. After moving to London to start the next chapter of their lives, Ming comes out as trans, propelling them into an unknowable future.
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What prompted you to write this book?
Bellies was initially a short story called ‘early morning single bed,’ which hasn’t (and will never!) see the light of day. It features the same two protagonists, Tom and Ming, with vignettes of their early-20s relationship, ending with the tensions arising from Ming’s transition.
I liked the story, and it was accepted for publication by a couple of journals, but I always pulled out because it never felt right. The story just felt too big to squeeze into a few thousand words. My gut was telling me that it had to be a book, but on some level I felt unqualified to do write one: I hadn’t had short stories accepted by Big Name Journals, neither had I won any prizes, and my institution-rotted brain thought this meant I couldn’t take the step I needed to.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I finally put pen to paper in August 2020—in the thick of the pandemic. I felt a real urgency when writing it. The idea had been percolating for what felt like an eternity, and I felt desperate to purge the words! I finished the first draft in March 2021, found my agent six months later, and signed the book deal in early 2022.
The start, mid-point, and endpoint of the novel stayed the same, but everything in between took a shape I didn’t expect. I’m a terrible planner—I only map out the bare minimum, which I’m grateful for. It leaves a lot of room for a piece of work to evolve. While Tom and Ming remain at the center of Bellies, there’s a true constellation of characters, each with their own journey and perspectives on the book’s themes—transness, queerness, race, class.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Books take a really long time to publish! Getting a book deal—while wonderful and exciting—can feel like reaching the finish line, only to realize you’re at the start of another race. It’s flown by, though, and has given me space to work on other projects, like my second novel!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’m much better at novels than I ever was at short stories. It threw that nonsense about being “qualified enough” out the window.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers access a more human perspective to what it means to be trans and to transition. Mainstream narratives of transition are often cosmetic, rather than focusing on the emotional realities of transitioning: the complex way in which it can affect relationships—familial, romantic, or otherwise. Bellies is told from Tom’s perspective as well as Ming’s, and the narrative doesn’t ogle at Ming’s body, or focus on those details of her transition. I think setting it up like that makes transitioning feel a little more universal: We all experience upheaval, moments where our world and lives fall apart and come together all at once.
I also hope Bellies makes readers think. The novel poses challenging questions around what we owe to our partners, how to care for others, the responsibility artists have to those around them, to name a few. These end up being a large source of conflict between the characters in Bellies. Sadly—as in life!—there are never simple answers to these questions, which is a painful reality to accept, particularly when you so want to believe that someone else has done you wrong.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Stop comparing! I almost feel nervous answering these questions, because I know how I would’ve poured over another author’s timelines and process just a couple of years ago.
It’s interesting to learn the roadmap to other people’s accomplishments, but it can be unhealthy—the brain often searches for evidence that we’re doing things wrong. Believe in your own process.
While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.