Hello and welcome to my blog, Author Interviews. My name is Fiona Mcvie.

Let’s get you introduced to everyone, shall we? Tell us your name. What is your age?

  • Geoffrey R. Tigg and I’m 69

Fiona: Where are you from?

  • Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, but spent 4 years in Mexico City as a teenager.

Fiona: A little about your self (ie,  your education, family life, etc.).

  • Education:
    • Professional Engineer (Mechanical & Process) –University of Waterloo
    • Chartered Professional Accountant- CPA in Vancouver
    • Professional Logistics- Canadian Professional Logistics Institute -Toronto
    • Business Consultant- Institute for Independent Business International-New York
    • Leadership Vancouver- Board of Trade BC
    • National Association Service Management- University Southern California
    • Executive Management Development Program- John Deere Limited
  • Family:
    • Married, my wife is a retired teacher
    • My daughter is a registered nurse
  • Some other stuff:
    • Strong computer skills with both Microsoft and Apple platforms. Involved in computers since 1968, and worked on many leading edge projects for 40 years.
    • Past Board member of District of Surrey Parent Advisory Council- Newsletters
    • Past Emergency Materials Group Regional Chair for North Western USA
    • Past President of White Rock Art Society
    • Past registered consultant for BDC- Business Development Bank of Canada
    • Won CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) consultant in Colombia, South America
    • Owned and operated numerous private corporations and acted as CFO and CEO in various industries.
    • Artist in watercolour and oil mediums.
    • Novelist publishing 7 fiction and 1 non-fiction books.
    • I have working knowledge in Spanish.
    • I have travelled extensively

Fiona: Tell us your latest news.

  • I was on local and National news 6 times last spring during floods in interior BC. This was a direct reminder of the changing planet and the lack of control as an individual. Possibly a catalyst for my next novel- now in 1st phase of development.
  • Rejuvenated drive to expose my novels to a wider audience- recognizing that eBooks are becoming a wider reader choice. For those who love the feel of the paperback, I am providing the remainder of my book inventory to libraries, though now limited.

Fiona: When and why did you begin writing?

  • Writing for me took many forms, initially in business preparing many training and user manuals. As noted above, wrote and published the parent newsletter for the Surrey School District. Many of my past stories are on video, as I develop movies of my family life.
  • Finally I began to write my first paperback novel in 2012. I was asked by a business owner to write his story – a non-fiction story. After some consideration, and due to some of the information provided, I agreed to write the story as a fiction and manipulate facts and events.

Fiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

  • I guess I finally labelled myself as a novelist after my third novel- The Myth of Kukulkan.

Fiona: What inspired you to write your first book?

  • As noted above it was a request, but it was the challenge to see if I could actually do it!

Fiona: How did you come up with the title?

  • Well the title changed from initial story development to final manuscript. The initial name was ‘Power Play’ with the intention that was a title for internal business politics, but after some reflection, I thought many people would think it was about hockey, so, I changed it to ‘Abused Trust’.

Fiona: Do you have a specific writing style? Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

  • A style… well I have a process. After all, I’m a technical geek. I like to integrate facts and reality into my fiction plots and subplots. I want a reader to connect to story if they have had any experience in the local or topic of the story line. In many cases I must research and learn details. As an example my ‘Jamison Paxston’ series is about Texas Hold’em high stakes poker. I spent many hours learning and playing that game on the Internet- no real money risked though.

Fiona: How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

  • Every novel has base facts (I’d say over 70%)- most from my own personal experience and supplemented with minor details. Places I’ve been or lived, people or personalities I know, events I’ve lived or researched.

Fiona: To craft your works, do you have to travel? Before or during the process?

  • Stories are often a result of past travel. In one case though I travelled to the local after the novel was written. The facts were all from research but I wanted to go after. The novel- The Sliammon Escudo- features a young man leaving his First Nations Community- Sliammon- to go to the University of Victoria. (Where my daughter was studying to become a nurse at the time.)Sliammon is just north of Powell River on the West Coast of Canada. I did get the honour to meet Chief Williams when I visited the community!

Fiona: Who designed the covers?

  • I do the core design.

Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

  • The driver to subtly inform the reader about the place(s) and cultures imbedded in the story lines.

Fiona: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?  Who is your favourite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

  • Michael Connelly- similar work to my own.

Fiona: Outside of family members, name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

  • Vivian Davis. She proof read most novels and identified things to correct.

Fiona: Do you see writing as a career?

  • No- just one of my passions that I will do as the mood dictates.

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

  • Well, in retrospect, I guess I would say that for each book, not just the last one, I should have put the completed manuscript down for at least 3 weeks so the mind could recover from the writing and eventually see things that it overlooked during the lengthy editing phase. The mind just sees what is intended to be there not exactly what is on the paper. A break, I believe, breaks that cycle and things like continuity, spelling (much done by the computer doing spelling check and not selecting the correct word in context), and emotional balance.

Fiona: Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

  • When a novel is an extension to a prior book (ie Covert Acts is the part 2 extension of The Gamble) it is critical to ensure all the facts events, characters all align. That also includes making the story just as intense and interesting as the prior book- no obvious conclusions – keep the twists and turns going and the suspense.

 Fiona: If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

  • .well for the female (a police detective) it would be Catherine Willows. For the male lead for say the Paxston Series (gambler and business entrepreneur), it would be Leonardo Dicaprio.

Fiona: Any advice for other writers?

  • Well, I’m going to cover this in my blog, but there are a few things- be unique, become the story in mind, and do your prep and research before you begin to put words on a page.Be careful of literary trends and don’t get encouraged into producing scenes or work that isn’t your core style.
    • As an example, when writing The Myth of Kukulkan, the most popular novel was ‘Shades of Gray’ that had extensive sexual content, and books were flying off the shelves… so I thought heating up a few scenes with a hotter sexual content would be in style. Not really my style, but I did a few – not too explicit though. Still not sure I should have done that in retrospect, as the story really didn’t need it. Later novels don’t contain that and was one of the drivers to write The Sliammon Escudo, written for young adults with very toned down language.

Fiona: Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

  • I’m learning and getting better, I think. Each book, and the resulting feedback, or internal reflection of the published work, shows me the balance of my story line, emotions, language, complexity and readability.

 Fiona: What book are you reading now?

  • Mostlymarketing and social media guides. I’m a research and self taught geek first.

Fiona: Do you remember the first book you read?

  • Hardy Boys!

Fiona: What makes you laugh/cry?

  • Music

Fiona: Is there one person, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?

  • Celine Dion, as I often use her songs as motivation. I have imbedded some of her lyrics in my novels (draft) then withdrawn as I have no copyrights, but the story emotion for the scene stays.

Fiona: Do you have any hobbies?

  • I am an artist, I curl when I get the opportunity. I am an architectural renovator.I also produce movie videos of life events and have converted old VHS tape to video for friends- usually wedding and family event materials, and enhancedthem with photos and music. As an example I produced the short video trailers for each novel I wrote. These are on Utube.

 Fiona: What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?

  • In the past TV- ‘24’ and ‘The Sopranos’.
  • Older movies like ‘Catch me if you can’, ‘Entrapment’, ‘Enough’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ to note a few.

 Fiona: Favorite foods, colors,  music?

  • Foods- spicy Mexican, Thai
  • Colors- Sand, desert colors
  • Music- romantic, western, and tracks from the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s

 Fiona: Imagine a future where you no longer write. What would you do?

  • Produce more and volunteer for the community (likely not leadership role though)

 Fiona: You only have 24 hours to live how would you spend that time?

  • Watch my video movies of my life and family, spend some time with family, …

 Fiona: What do you want written on your head stone?

  • Born to take the challenge.

 Fiona: Do you have a blog or website readers can visit for updates, events and special offers?

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