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Interview with Frank Zafiro

Q. How long have you been writing?

A. Since I was 11 or so. I was pretty serious about it by the time I was thirteen. I remember getting a 'C' in my Intro to Physical Science class because I was working on a story in class instead of doing something with the Bunson burner or some crystals or whatever it was.

Q. What inspired you to begin writing?

A. I can't say anything inspired me. It just seemed to be as natural an act as walking, talking, eating and sleeping. I couldn't imagine not writing, even though there have been stretches in my life where I haven't been writing fiction.

I think what drives me to write is the same thing that drives most writers--the need to tell a story, to share that passion.

Q. You mentioned stretches in your life when you haven’t written. Were you taking a break from writing during those stretches, or did life get in the way?

A. Life got in the way of writing fiction. I went back to college in 1996. History was my major, which entailed a great deal of reading and writing papers. After I graduated in 1998, I got married later that summer. After that adjustment settled in, I got promoted to corporal in 1999. Then in January of 2001, I got promoted to detective (my favorite job). Then, in November of 2002, I was promoted to sergeant. Along the way, my youngest son was born, too. So life definitely got in the way of writing fiction during that time frame--I was learning a lot of new jobs.

Q. What types of books do you most like to read?

A. I write crime fiction, so I read a lot of that genre. I used to read fantasy as a kid, but by twenty or so, I was burned out on that. I did recently pick up G.R.R. Martin's fantasy series, which is a very gritty one, and liked that. The original "Dune" is a classic to me, though I never could get into any of the sequels. I loved all the "classic" fantasy books--Tolkien, Lewis, Zelazny's Amber series and so forth. I also like to stretch a little bit and read some poetry on occasion (though I get most of my poetry fix from well-written songs) or literary fiction (most of which I find pretentious). On the non-fiction side, the vast majority of what I read is History.

Q. Do you have any favorite crime fiction authors?

A. Dennis Lehane, Ed McBain, and Lawrence Block are three I like quite a bit. There are a great number out there that I am still exploring, one book at a time. I also make a point to read a lot of work from writers I know.

Q. Who published your first short story?

A. A small magazine aptly called "Unknowns" published my story "Backroads" in May of 1989. "Backroads." Hmmmm, talk about pretentious! The next story (and first true sale) came in October of 1989. Wide Open Magazine published "Bill's Son" and paid me $15. Still today, that check hangs uncashed next to the desk where I write.

Q. How did that first acceptance impact your writing career?

A. It gave me confidence. Wide Open Magazine was the fourth place I sent "Bill's Son" after three previous rejections. I had pages and pages of rejection entries in my submission log prior to this acceptance and the one for "Backroads." Sure, both were small time magazines, but they had editorial standards and one of them paid. It didn't necessarily make me believe I could make a living at this, but it did make me believe I could be successful. That helped a lot in 2004 when I came back around to writing fiction again. I was able to endure rejections for the better part of a year, knowing that there would be a home for each story if I just kept writing and submitting.

Q. For those of us interested in reading your very first published story, where can we find it?

A. I honestly have no idea...I have one copy of the magazine, a small press issue from 1989. I wouldn't know where to find another. A revised in 2006 version of "Bill's Son" is available, though. It is a 99 cent download on the Wolfmont Publishing website. It is also available in the chapbook Short Tales for Your Enjoyment I.

Q. Do you find that you receive fewer rejection letters as your writing credits increase?

A. Maybe a little. I'm not sure if that is because I've become a little bit better writer or if I've become a little smarter about matching the story to the market. I still get plenty of them, though. In fact, during the process of this interview, I got one from an online literary magazine that has published my work before.

Q. How many hours per day do you devote to writing?

A. It really varies. Writing is serious business to me, but "real life" intrudes. Between work and family obligations, I find myself writing in irregular chunks of time. I'm very project-driven. If I am working on a novel, I pound away for hours at a time, several times a week. If I am in between projects, I might only dabble a little here and there. If I were doing this as my job, I'd have a set schedule, but life doesn't afford me that opportunity right now.

That was the long answer. Short answer? If I averaged it out, my guess would be an hour a day.

Q. For those who don’t know, can you tell us a little about your day job?

A. Sure. Since 1993, I've been a police officer for a city in the Pacific Northwest. I've worked in uniform patrol, as a corporal, a detective and am now a sergeant. As a sergeant, I've worked in patrol and for the last three years, I've supervised the volunteer unit. It consists of about 110 volunteers who work directly for our agency. Some fantastic people. In January, I'm transferring back to the detective unit to supervise about eleven detectives there (and hopefully work a case or three myself).

Q. Do you incorporate much of your work into your writing?

A. Yes and no. A lot of it seeps in, even though I try not to use specifics. I try to capture the flavor and tone of my experiences without simply regurgitating war stories. However, I am surprised sometimes at what things slip in unbidden.

Q. Can you tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know (hidden talent, childhood achievement, etc)?

A. I play guitar. Badly. Mostly, I strum and struggle. I sing, too. To say I sing "badly" would be a compliment. Sum it up by saying that I really like to play guitar and sing, but no one else likes it when I do! I don't care, though, because I enjoy it and I don't inflict it on anyone, so it works out.

Q. Do you have any marketing tips you’d like to share with aspiring writers?

A. I do. Find a cheap place to get business cards that don't look cheap (Vista Print is what I use). Carry them at all times. Give them away to everybody. You have to always be in marketing mode. At the same time, don't push too hard--it turns people off. If you soft sell, most people are interested and will check out your website.

A website? What, you don't have one? Get one. It's cheap and easy...and it allows people to check you out on their own time and on their own terms.

The best advice I can give is something that I've learned in the short time I've been marketing my work. It is two-fold advice. One, you have to be willing to talk about yourself. Not in the self-serving "I am great" sort of way, but you have to be positive and be willing to talk up your work. If you have passion about the work, that'll come through and it is infectious. Two, be nice. Sounds simple, but the fact is that if you're nice, people will like you. If they like you, they might buy your book. And even if they don't, wouldn't you agree that we need more 'nice' in this world?

Besides, there's always karma to consider, baby.

Q. Very sound advice. Do you have a writing schedule?

A. I don't. It's whenever and as often as I can.

Q. Can you describe a typical day in the life of Frank Zafiro?

A. It’s nothing exciting, truthfully. I get up, go to work, work and come home. If my kids are with me, I spend some time with them, help with the homework or make sure the chores get done. I answer some email, do any admin work (getting a book ready to mail, submitting a story, whatever) and then try to squeeze in a little writing. I play a lot of hockey, so I might end up having a game later in the evening. I read a bit before hitting the sack and doing it all over again.

Q. How did you get into playing hockey?

A. When I was overseas in the Army, I worked in intelligence. One of the places I was stationed also housed Canadian Army units. A French-Canadian named Michel Richer lent me some tapes his family had sent him of Montreal Canadiens games and I liked them quite a bit.

Once I got out of the service and came home, a good friend of mine that I went through the police academy with took me to a game and I was hooked. The speed, power, grace and skill just left me awe-struck. The character it takes to play the game and the true team aspect also appealed to me.

After watching it for a few years, I decided to give it a try. I started playing recreational league in 1998 and I played hockey about as well as I play guitar. But I did get better (something that I'm not sure is happening with the guitar) and have been playing ever since. About two years ago, I started playing goaltender and that has been a whole other adventure.

Q. We’ve all heard that one should write what one knows. You’re a cop and you play hockey. Do you find it especially easy to write crime stories involving hockey?

A. Well, I've included hockey as the backdrop in one short story ("Five for Fighting and a Murder Misconduct" -- July/August 2006 issue of FMAM) and one yet unpublished novel begins at a hockey game, but other than that I haven't mixed the two.

I do have a first draft complete of a hockey novel, but it isn't crime fiction.

The idea of writing what you know is a good one. What people might discover when they do this, though, is that they know more than they thought

Q. Do you work on one story at a time, or multiple?

A. It depends. If I'm working on a novel, I try to work only on that novel, simply because a novel is much more complex than a short story. Usually I work on short stories one at a time, too, but that doesn't include editing--just first drafts. And if something hot strikes me in the middle of something else and I think I need to get it down on paper, I will. There are no rules except "write it down."

Q. Do you plot your novels and short stories, or do you let your characters take over and decide what happens next?

A. It varies. With short stories, sometimes the ending pops into my head first. In those cases, I have to plot backwards to get there. In other instances, a question just pops into my head and I go with it. For example, my story "Rescuing Isaac" (Thuglit #6, March 2006) was inspired by glancing over at the county jail and the question popped into my head, "How would someone break out of jail nowadays?" That was followed up by, "Why would they?" I wrote the story to answer that question.

With novels, I start out with a loose outline but if the characters take it elsewhere, I go with it.

Q. What’s your personal favorite Frank Zafiro story?

A. That is a tough one, because there is a piece of me in every story. I pour a lot of my own emotion into every one of them. Sometimes the emotion is exaggerated or curtailed in order to fit the story, but the emotion is still there.

Favorite story, huh? That's like asking me my favorite Springsteen song. Well, if you put my feet to the fire, right now I'd have to say that my favorite is a short story called, "The Worst Door."

Q. What is it about that story that makes it your favorite?

A. It is short and succinct. It contains some powerful images and emotions. The main character, Detective Finch, tries to hold those emotions in check, but the reader will sense them churning below the surface.

Plus, it is an intensely personal story, as I have something in common with Finch.

This story is one that was published online, so anyone who goes to my site and checks under SHORT STORIES can link to the eZine that published it and read the story for free. There's about twenty or so of my short stories like that. The others are in print magazines or anthologies.

Q. I’ve read that story--very well done! I agree wholeheartedly about the powerful images and emotions. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it. For those wanting to track down your printed stories, in what magazines and anthologies can they find them?

A. Probably the easiest place to start is my website. Under the menu, you can select SHORT STORIES, which details each published story and includes when and where it was published. There's a link for each story to the magazine, anthology or online magazine. In some cases, the story is available online to read for free.

There's also an ANTHOLOGIES page on my website, detailing the anthologies I've been lucky enough to be part of. I've had stories in three so far--Seven by Seven, By the Chimney with Care and The EX Factor. Three more should be out by February 2007 -- My Little Book of the Dead, Map of Murder and Never Safe.

Readers can get any of these at any bookstore (if they don't carry it, they can order it), Amazon or other online bookseller, directly from the publisher or directly from me. I'll gladly sign anyone's copy...with a big, dopey grin on my face while I do so.

Q. Can you tell us about your book, Under a Raging Moon?

A. Love to! It is part procedural, part thriller. A serial robber is loose in River City, hitting convenience stores and getting more and more violent as he goes. The book focuses on the patrol officers as they try to stop him. But meanwhile, the rest of the city doesn't just put itself on hold and the officers have to respond to those calls as well. And, of course, they have private lives that get in the way, too...all of this kinda swirls around together as things lead to an action-packed finish.

One of the things I like about this book is that it focuses on patrol officers. Most books and movies focus on the homicide detective or the private detective (admittedly, many of my stories do, too). Patrol officers are neglected in the field of crime fiction (with apologies to Waumbaugh) but this is where the nuts and bolts of police work occur. It is raw, it is visceral, it is dynamic and challenging...and the men and women who serve in uniform patrol have to be up to that challenge. That's why I wanted to feature them in this novel.

The sequel (due out in September 2007) features patrol and detectives, and many of my stories also feature detectives, but this book is strictly patrol.

Q. Patrol is quite often--and accurately--referred to as the “backbone” of a department, but as you point out, they are a neglected section. It’s refreshing to see them get some positive exposure. Were any of the characters in your book inspired by actual officers with whom you’ve worked?

A. One was, yes. Of course, I should qualify that--the character was based on an idealized version of the guy as I knew him in about 1995...but there are a lot of characteristics that are pretty similar. When I asked his permission before the book was published (when I still had time to re-write the character if necessary), he told me he was flattered and honored.

There are a couple of homages in the book as well--the records clerk and the dispatcher. And there are definitely characteristics that I've seen in the people that I work with, but only the one officer was modeled on a real person.

Who? Well, those who work at my agency usually guess it correctly. The rest of you will just have to wonder.

Q. Every review I’ve read on your book was positive. Congratulations for that. Do you think reviews help attract readers to your book?

A. I think so, but it certainly depends on the review and on the reader. A fluff piece without a lot of specifics isn't going to hurt but it won't help as much as a review that is more specific. One that is full of superlatives and sounds like it was written by the author's mother doesn't have the same impact, either.

Still, good reviews tell the reader that the book is probably good and if most or all of the reviews you read about a book from a variety of sources say it's good, it is probably worth a read.

Q. How does one go about ordering a signed copy of your book?

A. You can get a copy anywhere you can order a book (Amazon, any bricks-and-mortar store, directly from the publisher, Wolfmont ) but you can get a signed copy from me. My website is http://www.frankzafiro.com and my email is frankzafiro@msn.com.

The nice thing about the website is that not only can you get to know more about River City and my work, but you can read the first chapter of the novel for free. This is a feature I intend to offer for each successive book. It gives the reader a chance to decide if s/he likes my style of writing and if the story is intriguing or not. This way the reader makes an informed choice to buy the book and is more likely to enjoy it.

Q. This first novel is part of a series, right?

A. Yes, it is the first book in the River City series. In addition to the novels, most of my short stories are River City short stories, written in the same setting and utilizing the same character pool. There is a lot of overlap within the River City timeline.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the upcoming books in the series; when they’ll be available, titles, where they can be purchased, etc.?

A. The next book is called "Heroes Often Fail." It will be published by Koboca Publishing in September 2007. The first chapter of this book is available at the end of "Under A Raging Moon" as a teaser. It will feature patrol and will also introduce a pair of detectives--John Tower and Ray Browning.

Koboca Publishing is currently planning to publish the rest of the series, too. Some of them I have already written and some have been mapped out in broad strokes, but we're talking about another six that I have lined up right now. I'm sure that others will develop as we proceed. Right now, the plan seems to be one per year. "Beneath A Weeping Sky" should come along in 2008, if all goes as planned.

Q. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. It’s been a pleasure and I’m sure the folks reading will enjoy learning more about you and your works. Any parting comments for your fans and fellow writers?

A. Thanks for interviewing me, BJ. I just want to say that I am very pleased to have become acquainted with some of the writers and readers within the mystery community. It amazes me how giving most writers are and how supportive of one another. It is truly a great thing.

And if there is anyone reading this that considers him/herself a "fan," then I want to say THANK YOU! In fact, if you've ever taken the time to read a book or story that I wrote, THANK YOU! In doing so, you have helped me realize a lifelong dream and I am forever in your debt.

If you haven't read anything I've written...well, what's stopping you? [wink]. You don't even have to leave this eZine to do so.