Q. What first inspired you to write?
SG. I’ve always been a reader. I used to read at least thirty books per year. When I started writing in 2014, there weren’t many authors with a background like mine. I sometimes felt that the action scenes written by some of these authors—although fun to read—weren’t realistic. I naively believed that I could easily do better. It didn’t take long for me to realize how difficult it was to write a novel…
Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
SG. Usually, the plot comes to me first. Then the characters.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
SG. Not really…But I can lose track of time when I write. I often write for 16 to 18 hours in a row in the weeks before my deadline.
Q. What compelled you to choose and settle on the genre you now write in?
SG. This is what I know. This is what I used to do for a living. I’d have a hard time writing science fiction or romance novels.
Q. Are you working on something now or have a new release coming up? If so tell us about it.
SG. I’m presently working on THE LAST GUARDIAN, which will be published in October 2023, and then I’ll start on BLACKBRIAR #2, the second book I’m writing for the Robert Ludlum estate.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
SG. When I left the RCMP.
Q. Do you think we will see, in our lifetime, the total demise of paper books?
SG. Absolutely not!
Q. What makes a writer great?
SG. Somebody who, while I’m reading his/her book, can give me a solid 6 to 8 hours of pure entertainment.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
SG. My process is to first write a 4,000- to 5,000-word outline. The outline can take me months to write. This is usually when I’ll go on a research trip or two. Then I write the book, which can take me between 45 and 90 days to do. I then submit the manuscript to my editor—rarely with no more than five minutes to spare before my deadline!! We then go through a few rounds of developmental and copy edits before the book moves to the publicity and marketing departments. I then start the outline for my next book on contract.
Q. How have your life experiences influenced your writing?
SG. Yes, they certainly did. I think my life experiences are my most important assets as a writer. Having served in the military as an infantry officer and then as a federal agent, my work experience gives me the necessary credibility to write in this genre.
Q. What’s your downtime look like?
SG. We spend most of our weekends during the school year at our cottage in Mont-Tremblant. I enjoy skiing, mountain biking and hiking with my family. We travel a lot, too. We’ll spend several weeks in the Bahamas, but we’ll also go to Europe at least once or twice for a couple of weeks. Our family also enjoys yachting.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre?
SG. No, and I don’t think I could pull it off.
Q. Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)
SG. Failure and adversity are the greatest teachers.
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BOOKS BY TRISHA SUGAREK
Not a day goes by that I’m not presented with a word that I don’t know the definition of. I think it’s because I read so much and that exposes me to other authors’ vocabularies. 
Simon Gervais is a former infantry officer and federal agent. He spent twenty years in the military and in law enforcement, specializing in protective operations and counterterrorism. His assignments took him all over Europe and the Middle East. He left the RCMP in 2014 to pursue writing full-time.
windows with direct views on the mountains, is grandiose. It’s by far my favorite room in the house. It just feels right. And that’s especially true during the fall and winter season. The second is on the terrace of our beach house in the Bahamas. There’s something very special about writing a novel while enjoying the ocean breeze.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you? (cont.)
Q. Are you working on something now or have a new release coming up? If so tell us about it.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters?
of Western North Carolina. I grew up, like Caroline, the main character of the novel, spending my summers and weekends there. One summer, my father was cleaning out an attic we didn’t know we had, and he uncovered a box full of old photos. They were from the 1930s and before. Presumably, they were the people who had built the cabin and lived there. I was fascinated by those black and white images of these men and women who lived in that same place where I spent so much time yet had such different lives from mine. Later I would turn my historical research skills onto those families and the entire Hickory Nut Gorge region. Eventually, I made up a fictional family, the Quinns, and their fictional lives intertwined with real history, which became the fodder for this book.
Q. What makes a writer great?
