Bookpleasures.com welcomesas our guest, Gary D. McGugan author of Three Weeks Less A Day, The Multima Scheme and Unrelenting Peril.

Gary is here today to discuss the third novel in the Multima series, Unrelenting Peril. 

Good day Gary and thanks once again to participate in our interview.

Norm: Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? 

Gary: Thanks, Norm. It’s good to be here. So far, I’ve never encountered writer’s block from a creative perspective. It seems my brain generates a steady flow of productive ideas!

Occasionally, challenges crop up. Unforeseen issues might relate to inconsistencies or plot complications that usually occur if I twist direction to increase suspense without thinking through all the implications to a story. When this happens, the only remedy is to rework one or more passages to touch up the problem. 

Norm: Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?

Gary: So far, there hasn’t been a review issue that impacted my perspective. To influence a change, it would depend on the issue highlighted. For example, let’s say a reviewer thoughtfully suggests a story would benefit from more dialogue. I’ll self-assess the value of more dialogue and might well decide to consciously work more into subsequent stories. If a criticism relates to foul language or sexual encounters, my perspective probably wouldn’t change dramatically. Why? Because swearing and sex are parts of everyday life in our real world and usually need to be part of fiction for a story to become believable. That said, I take care to use coarse language and descriptive sex appropriately. 

Norm: What do you believe are the elements of a good corporate thriller?

Gary: A good corporate thriller needs an intriguing plot, well-defined characters, a conflict that is easy to understand, and lots of action. 

Norm: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Gary: John Grisham or Wilbur Smith. Grisham because I can learn from his success creating superb stories in the legal world in much the way I create intriguing stories in the corporate world. There are similarities. Wilbur Smith has the skill to describe places and events in Africa so powerfully that sometimes I almost feel I was there! 

Norm: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book, Unrelenting Peril?

Gary: I really like the story in Unrelenting Peril, and I think most readers enjoy the evolution of my characters as the plot becomes more complicated. I think most readers find the ending very satisfying. I strike a balance between an outcome most are cheering for with discovery of real flaws in character or judgment like most of us have at some juncture in our lives. 

Norm: What is your secret in keeping the intensity of the plot throughout the narrative of Unrelenting Peril?

Gary: As a reader, I enjoy intensity. I think it’s crucial to enjoyment and satisfaction. When I’m writing, I try to read and re-read every paragraph not from my writer’s perspective but from what I think might be the perspective of my readers.

Norm: You include some very detailed dialogues in Unrelenting Peril. Where did that dialogue come from?

Gary: My forty-year experience working at senior levels of multinational corporations provided a window into how executives think and talk.

I had more than 10,000 entries in my Outlook Contacts when I retired from corporate life. Of course, business people have very different personalities and react to circumstances in unique and individual ways.

Similar challenges to those I create in Unrelenting Peril occur in corporations more often than many people realize. As a writer, I may take some license with tone and vocabulary to make the dialogue more dramatic, but the essence of my conversations are not foreign to the environment. 

Norm: Do you agree that to have good drama there must be an emotional charge that usually comes from the individual squaring off against antagonists either out in the world or within himself or herself? If so, please elaborate and how does it fit into Unrelenting Peril?

Gary:  I think the drama in Unrelenting Peril is a direct result of the number of conflicts I create. The Organization, the FBI, individual characters, and the newly introduced companies all create friction in ways that are both plausible and yet hard to believe at the same time. I think most readers will have trouble putting the story down once they start. 

Norm: How much real-life do you put into your fiction? Is there much “you” in there?

Gary: Under the right circumstances, I suppose there might be a little bit of me in almost all the characters. I guess it will be a reader’s mission to try to discover which might be me and which are purely figments of an overactive imagination! 

Norm: How wide-spread do you believe is the infiltration of criminal entities into legitimate business?

Gary: I think criminal entities have infiltrated -- and may actually control – a significant number of both privately owned and publicly traded companies. And I think that’s true in Canada, the United States, and in many countries around the world. I also think these elements have an insatiable appetite and continuously try to expand their influence. 

Norm: Have you personally experienced this infiltration? If so, how did you react?

Gary: Yes. Every business I worked with required potential customers to make some form of application to qualify for our product or service. Such applications required extensive information from applicants, and the companies I worked for investigated the information received thoroughly. If we discovered a whiff of influence or involvement by unsavory characters, we avoided the business opportunity. 

Norm: What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

Gary: I encourage prospective writers to read extensively. Explore different genres. Try new authors. Study the methods and techniques of writers whose work they enjoy. I also recommend future authors join a structured community of writers to meet frequently, discuss challenges, observe what other writers are doing, and learn continuously. With those fundamental strategies, I think most aspiring writers will find a path to realize their ambitions. 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Unrelenting Peril?

Gary: To learn more about Unrelenting Peril, the previous suspenseful novels in the Multima Corporation trilogy, or me, readers should visit my WEBSITE. There’s lots of information about my books, personal appearances, independent reviews and profiles, my monthly blog, and information about coming novels. 

Norm: Will there be any more sequels in the Multima series?

Gary: Unrelenting Peril completes the Multima Corporation trilogy. However, I’ll release a new novel in 2020. It will have different approach – one without Multima Corporation as the backdrop. But I’m borrowing a couple interesting characters from the three novels of corporate intrigue, and I’ll cast them on a very different path. I think readers will enjoy where they’re headed.

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors

FOLLOW HERE TO READ NORM'S REVIEW OF UNRELENTING PERIL