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It struck me that this was good grist for The World's Magazine so I contacted his publisher. Herewith our conversation.
G21: I can't remember the last time I picked up a novel with a structural engineer as the protagonist or main character, let alone read one about the building industry. So that leads one to ask, why take a chance on such a different hero and industry with a first novel?
PETER VERINDER: I really wanted to write a story about something I knew fairly well because I believe that all good fiction is founded in fact -- I would like people to read my books and always feel that the plot and the various scenes are plausible. I can't stand stories were one is expected to make quantum jumps in credibility and feel this depreciates readers. I also felt that those writers who had tackled stories about the building and developments industries had not done so from a standpoint of personal knowledge and therefore had never been able to penetrate its multi-faceted layers or reveal the sort of characters that work within the industry and the type of things that can happen. In short, I thought this industry and the subject of ambition, with its many variations and application to all of the secondary characters, were fertile ground upon which to base a novel. The fact that this was my first novel didn't seem to enter my thinking, it was just a story that was inside me and needed to be told.
Why a structural engineer for the main character? For my point of view, the choice of the main character's profession was fairly natural and was somewhat symbolic of his ambition to succeed after circumstances forced him to start his working life as a High School dropout. Once he got out into the world, he realised that he needed an education to succeed and, given that he found himself in the construction industry where the pecking order goes tradesperson, technical person, and then professional, it was a natural progression that he climb through his own efforts from underling to what he perceived as top of the pack before he could take on the world. I feel that this choice of profession allowed me to also illustrate that his initial success in educating himself showed him just what a bit of ambition could do for a person and only whet his appetite for new and wider frontiers to conquer.
In addition, the profession is always complaining that it is perceived by the general public as a group of grey-suited boffins sitting in glass ivory towers designing skyscrapers -- I thought my choice of such a person would illustrate that engineers are not all the same. Having said that, my main character became an engineer as a result of an overwhelming desire to get an education as a natural extension to the field of work he was in; he was not your typical born-again engineer!
It's also partly because I believe that there is room for a suspense [genre] based around business with the seven deadly sins wrapped around it, a bit like John Grisham has done so well with lawyers and the law as his centrepiece. I only pray I can be half as successful.
G21: There are a number of very powerful women in the book, Maddie -- Marc's sister, Loren Wilmont and Elisa. Let's start with the one you probably get the most questions about, Loren. Did you take her characterization from women you've heard about?
PETER VERINDER: Loren's character has its origin as the antithesis of Elisa's character. It was important for me to develop a female character who could come into the main character's (Marc['s]) life in a whirlwind of attraction so that he could explore the personal side of his life as a counterpoint to his unnatural ambition-related pat[r]ician existence. Loren is a composite of women I had either heard about, read about or had observed. She was given an unhealthy ambition, but nevertheless, an ambition to use everything at her disposal as a woman to get what was important to her. I also developed her character based upon what I perceived a person from a dysfunctional family background would look and act like.
G21: Let's stay with Loren one moment longer. She's obviously a very dangerous individual. We learn this from more than one character and she plays a powerful role in the story. Why don't we know more about her direction at the conclusion of the saga?
PETER VERINDER: I like to leave my readers latitude to determine some of their own endings, as I feel that by the time they have reached the end of the book they have earned some "ownership" of certain characters and, to some extent, can decide for themselves what would have happened next. In Loren's case, her influence is still there towards the end of the book and is the reason behind Marc's last major hurdle. She has burnt all of her bridges and is now part of a different sort of dysfunctional family and will have to find a way to survive in that environment.
G21: As opposed to a plethora of significant and well-drawn female characters in the novel, Marc seems to be the only male character the reader gets to know well. Was this intentional?
PETER VERINDER: Yes. I wanted to keep the emphasis on the main character since it is his relentless ambition to first achieve and then find a life for himself that is the main ingredient of the story. It seems to me that many of the male characters he encounters are business acquaintances and therefore fairly transitory in his life -- this is also how I see things from a male's perspective in the dog-eat-dog world of business where, at best, superficial friendships grow between men and women whose focus primarily is on their own journey. The women in Marc's life, on the other hand, are of much more interest to him because each of them plays a part in his personal life directly and indirectly helping to shape his destiny.
G21: The implication here is that you consider business people a totally self-absorbed and manipulative lot who only form relationships to achieve their own ends. Is that part of the message you mean the book to convey about business folk and their ambition?
PETER VERINDER: Well maybe not all business people; I wouldn't want to be accused of generalising, but I do think that many so called high-fliers in professional positions and larger companies tend to fall into this category, as do some small business owners with big ideas. I really wanted to get across a simple message: that ambition is often a good thing in that it can save you from self-destruction or your own personal demons, but too much ambition is often very harmful and can readily rob you of other aspects of life.
G21: Most readers will be familiar with a builder, a developer, a realtor or a subcontractor at some point in their lives. As you note, some of these trades have less than savory reputations, yet most of the characters in Ambition come across as paragons. How do you explain this?
PETER VERINDER: The book is written from Marc Braddon's perspective and the various characters he deals with are seen through his eyes. He is a man uncorrupted by greed and is on his own personal mission and, as such, his positive attitude tends to attract similar-minded people. In my experience, most of the people in this sort of industry are "good" people, in that there are not too many gangster-types around, just ordinary working people trying to get paid for an honest day's work.
What makes some of the characters Marc encounters worse than others is their desire to beat him to the punch or take from him what he has achieved under the guise of giving him a helping hand. In the book, I wanted to highlight that people are rarely evil, just driven by different forms of ambition.
G21: Your descriptions of Sydney are quite loving. You almost made this reader want to move there! Yet, rather than go with an Australian publisher, you released the novel through American Books. Reasons?
PETER VERINDER: Firstly, I confirm that I love living in Sydney. The place is a feast for your eyes and has the most spectacular harbour and water views at almost every turn, and all of our waterways are accessable to anybody.
That said, I was discouraged about what I read about getting published in Australia while writing the manuscript. For a first time author, the suggested print runs were small and it seemed to me that few publishers were prepared to get out there and promote new local writers. There is also an element in the media in my country of if you're good enough you should succeed overseas before you will be recognised in Australia. Coupled with this was the fact that I found a freelance editor in the USA who worked with me on polishing up the initial manuscript.
When it came time to look for a publisher, I trawled the internet and came across American Book Publishing who were prepared to take unsolicited manuscripts. They accepted my manuscript but warned that they accept only a fraction of submissions and that their assessment process would take several weeks. They came back to me within ten days with an offer to publish, making my decision to publish first in the USA very easy.
G21: So how has the first-time publishing experience been, thus far? Is American Books out there promoting your book? Have you had any second thoughts about not going with an Australian press?
PETER VERINDER: This is an inte resting question ... I have been more frustrated with the overall publishing process than I would have imagined [because] it is so difficult to get a book noticed these days. When you put so much effort into your writing, you naively expect to get a similar return, but I suppose you have to accept that there are a lot of other books out there competing for attention.
Ambition has only just been released in the past month, but American Book Publishing (ABP) are helping me to promote the book with a website and marketing support. However, one gets to quickly realise that in today's world so much of the promotion falls back on the author. That's why it is so important to give interviews to magazines such as yours who can make readers aware of my book.
I fully intend publishing in Australia with a local publisher, as my publishing contract with ABP relates only to [the] mainland USA -- as well [as] any sales generated via the internet made by them or Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the like.
While I would like to eventually release the book in Australia through an Aussie publisher, I would only do so after it has had time to gain exposure in the USA because I see the USA as such an important market for my book and books in general.
G21: There are a number of elements to this book that one would usually associate with a "Romance" novel, if you'll forgive the pigeon-holing: the emphasis on finding "The One," the emphasis on domestic bliss, the focus on a man and woman getting complete fulfillment within their union. Yet, the jacket suggests that it be considered a "Suspense-Thriller." Do you agree with either of these characterizations of your book?
PETER VERINDER: It is always difficult to put a book into one of the pre-ordained categories offered by publishers. Maybe something between Suspense/Romance/Thriller would be more accurate, as I believe that there is an element of each in the book. Maybe there is more suspense and tension than thrilling car chases and a little more emphasis on romance than one might expect, but that is just how the story came out. Most stories have an element of romance for the leading characters somewhere in the plot. I suppose this reflects the way we are all built. No matter what, we all seek fulfilment at the personal level so, in my view, it is reasonable that stories pick up on this powerful human desire, which also allows so many interesting plot twists.
G21: What can we expect next from the pen of Peter Verinder?
PETER VERINDER: I am currently writing another book based around loyalty in the corporate world. I want to explore that concept at all of its levels and believe that I have the makings of a great story, which is set in the boardroom and on the frontiers of a multi-national mining conglomerate. You can expect single word titles like Ambition, Loyalty, and Avarice from me as I explore these subjects from my particular knowledge base.
G21: Interesting choice of titles and/or traits. It's said every writer puts a lot of himself in his work. How much of yourself and your world view would you say Marc Braddon reflects? And how much does this progression of titles reflect your own experience in the business world?
PETER VERINDER: Marc probably reflects a lot more of my thinking and experience than I care to admit and this book is probably closer to my own views of the world than any of my subsequent books will be, as I now hold the view that man does not live by bread alone. I guess I do put a lot of my own views into my characters because I want their actions and dialogue to ring true. I suppose you could say that I like to hear my characters say things I know are credible or that could have been expected in the situations in which they find themselves.
Yeah, I think to some extent my proposed titles will reflect my experiences of the business world, but I will resist [the] urge to payout on anyone who has done the wrong thing by me and hopefully focus only on fashioning a fictional story around a caricature or version of these experiences to protect the innocent. [Mischievous laugh]
G21: If you were advising a new Australian writer, just starting out in his career, what would be your three top pieces of advice?
PETER VERINDER: Find a good idea for a book based upon your own particular knowledge and experiences and exploit these to weave a worthwhile general interest story.
Keep polishing your ideas and the manuscript and don't easily discard your writings or your original ideas. Persist with it until you get it right because by polishing your manuscript you are essentially re-writing sections of the story, which is often better than throwing all that work away and starting over again.
Find an freelance editor who will work with you to polish your manuscript before you try to find a publisher.
G21: Thanks for being with us, Peter.
© 2004, GENERATOR 21.
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