Interview with Vincent Zandri

A chat with the New York Times and USA Today Award-winning Thriller author

Editor’s Note:

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Crime Thriller author,

Vincent Zandri

. With over 100 novels and novellas to his credit, Zandri has won several awards including the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) Shamus Award and the International Thriller Writers (ITW) Award for Best Original Paperback Novel.

He is an adventurer, world traveler, and prolific writer with a killer work ethic in league with many of the best pulp writers of yesteryear.

- Frank Theodat

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Thanks for spending time with us, Vincent! 

Frank Theodat: How long have you been writing fiction? When did you first decide that the writer’s life was for you?

Vincent Zandri: I’ve been writing fiction more of less since I could write. I had two older sisters but they didn’t interact with me all that much because I was so much younger. Our house abutted farmland, which was great because I could get out of bed at dawn and go exploring. In any case, the point is that I was sort of an only child with no real friends between the ages of 0-7. So I would make up my own worlds and stories. 

One day I’d be a crusader, another a cowboy, and the next, Sgt. Rock (I loved Sgt. Rock comics and still do). I was fascinated with the new testament and the Passion according to John, because it was so dramatic and even frightening. My parents became concerned when they found me trying to reenact the crucifixion.  

FT: I first discovered you on your YouTube Channel “Vincent Zandri’s The Writer’s Life!” where you give a pretty open and blunt behind-the-scenes look at your career. 

What were some of your biggest challenges when you were first starting out? How did those experiences shape you or your writing?

VZ: I was groomed for a commercial construction business that my dad and grandfather owned at the time. He would put me on job sites when I was as young as 5 years old if he was in charge of looking after me. It meant I slept in plenty of construction trailers. I worked as a laborer on some of the shittest jobs possible and suffered some injuries that sent me to the ER, including impaling my right foot on a six-penny nail. There’s the Passion story coming true!

By the time I graduated college, which was one big party for me (I also played drums in a punk rock band), I’d experienced an entire career in construction.  I had started writing for real by then on a manual typewriter, but sucked. 

When I  graduated I did what was expected of me and showed up at the office. I honestly wanted to like it but I hated it. I spent most of my time trying to figure out ways to escape. 

Then I found out the local paper, The Times Union, was looking for sports stringers. I signed on, and without going into detail, the rest is sort of history. I was 25 or 26,  had a toddler and a wife, and I told her I was leaving the business the first chance I got. She’s an artist so she understood and supported me. 

But when I revealed my plans to the whole family, the shit really hit the fan.  

FT: Many of our readers are writers or aspiring professional writers. What advice would you give them to help with productivity and publishing?

VZ: Like anything else, you gotta want it. You have to be driven. You have to be talented. You have to be willing to sacrifice everything and anything. Even if it means your significant other. 

All the great pulp and noir writers wrote 7 days per week, come hell or flood. They also wrote a lot of shit at first until they broke through the barrier and became good at their trade. They then stayed hungry and made lots of money. 

I recall one of my professors at Vermont College where I earned my MFA in Writing signing one of his novels for me. He wrote, “Take care of your writing…the most important thing.” I never forgot that.  

FT: How would you describe your writing process? 

VZ: I hate to be so blunt but you sit your ass in the chair (or if you’re like Hemingway you stand), and you write. What works for me is I write first thing in the morning while drinking coffee. Throughout the day, I’ll work in four or five, fifteen or twenty minute writing sprints and then take time to do other things like workout, ski, fish, nap, eat, etc. and by the end of the day, I’ve put in around 2K to 3K words that I can sell. 

I always write a clean first draft and leave it at that. In the early days I used to edit and polish the piss out of my work. That’s why it didn’t sell that well. Now I’m experienced enough that the first draft is the best. Just clean up the typos. 

FT: You and I both take inspiration from the writers of the pulp fiction magazines. You’ve discussed in some of your videos about how we’ve returned to the era of the pulps (fast, one draft writing, being prolific, etc). Why do you think pulp is back? 

VZ: We live in an era where words = cash. The more words you write and publish, the more you will be rewarded. Just like the pulp era. The eBook has become the new cheap pulp paper alternative. 

We’re on the verge of Depression in this country. Average folks are finding it harder and harder to put food on the table and pay rent. It means escapism is back with readers gobbling up action/adventure stories that take them to far away lands, haunting hard-boiled mysteries, thrilling suspense stories, science fiction and dystopian fiction worlds, and of course, steamy romance. 

FT: As a fan of Hard boiled and Noir fiction, which authors inspired you the most? Which of their books have you enjoyed?

VZ: I was initially turned on to the genre by Robert B. Parker and the Spenser series. When I was with Delacorte for my first mid-six figure deal when I was barely 33, they kindly gifted me his entire Spencer library which was swell. 

But the writer who put me over the top was Jim Crumley. Hammett, Jim Thompson, and James M. Cain were and remain huge influences. A more contemporary favorite is Charlie Houston. 

FT: What are some of your interests outside of writing? Any hobbies or interests?

VZ: These days not a whole lot since I’m writing every day. But I love adventure travel, the more difficult and dangerous the better. I spend around three months overseas every year. 

I also love to ski, fly fish, and read. Every day I cross-train for two hours. Love good food and a good roadhouse bar also, although I can’t drink like I used to, which is probably for the better. 

FT: What are your plans for the future regarding your career? Any new books on the horizon?

VZ: About two years ago, I sat down and developed a business plan that I’ve been sticking to. It combines my YouTube Channel, The Writer’s Life, with a Substack page of the same name (I also have a Kindle Vella series attached to The Writer’s life), with writing at pulp speed under my own label, Bear Media. 

I committed to writing a novel per month, plus a novella or a couple of short stories. I also publish with Down & Out Books and Suspense Publishing which makes me a hybrid, I guess. 

New Books include but are not limited to:

The Plumber, A Steve Jobz PI Thriller

After Life: A Meta Man Thriller Collection

Notorious Moonlight 

Moonlight Runs

Moonlight Gets Schooled

Chase Baker and the Quest for the Holy Grail

Chase Baker and the Pyramid of Madness. 

On deck are: 

The Moonlight Falcon 

Max Gator

American Crimes

Divorce by Moonlight

Moonlight Scarface 

The Ex-Con

Chase Baker and the Hunt for Nazi Gold

Her Darkest Secret

The Body: A Jack Marconi PI Thriller

The Blackmailer: A Steve Jobz PI Thriller

And much more…

FT: Where can people find you online, buy your book, and support the work you’re doing?

VZ: Easy peasy…just go to the brand-new WWW.VINZANDRI.COM

Thanks for having me, Frank!