Zackary Richards is the author of the young adult novel Frostie the Deadman (Amazon; Barnes & Noble) Born in the Bronx, he started writing at age 10, discovered the guitar at 14, and became a professional musician in the vibrant Greenwich Village scene of the 1970s.He is currently shopping the YA novel Half Moon Falls and the adult science fiction work Noon. He lives in Lake George. Visit him at ZackaryRichards.com.How long have you been a member of the GFWG? 8 years.
How long were you writing before that? I started writing in 1993.
What is your primary interest as a writer? To communicate my ideas in a fashion that people find interesting and entertaining, but most importantly that they feel it was worth the time and the money they invested.
What or who influences your writing? Do you feel like your Bronx background bleeds through? My writing style is heavily influenced by Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain and Stephen King, because he never ceases to amaze me. As for my Bronx background, I’m sure some of it comes through, especially in the dialogue. Like they say, you can take the boy out of the Bronx but you can’t take the Bronx out of the boy.
What inspired Frostie the Deadman? My daughters built a snowman behind our house, but I was working in Albany. I left in the dark and got home in the dark and wasn’t able to see it until the weekend. By then it had melted and became this frightening, twisted gargoyle. The girls were disappointed but I started the book the next day.
How did you come to be with Nicholas K. Burns Publishing? Frostie won the Writers Voice award for YA Fiction and was being considered by Scholastic for publication. They turned it down because they weren’t interested in a stand alone (a book that cannot be turned into a series). The same day I received the rejection, Burns Publishing announced they were expanding into the YA market and were looking for manuscripts. I sent in Frostie and they loved it.
Walk us through the experience. How long before they agreed to publish you and the contract was signed? Nicholas Burns called me personally and said he was very enthusiastic about Frostie and wanted it for his new YA line. He sent me the contracts and after a few changes my lawyer insisted on, we had an agreement. After that they would send me the galleys with the corrections and changes they wanted and in two months we had a finished product. Nicholas personally oversaw the cover artwork, and I was very pleased with the results.
How long before your book was on the shelves? About five months after I signed the contracts (interviewer's note: this is extremely fast. The average is 18 months-2 years).
How many cities did you hit in your book tour? How many stores? Burns Publishing set it up and I hit just about every major city in New York except New York City itself. And about thirty five stores. I had a great time.
Give us your favorite story/anecdote from the tour? In Utica, a boy came up to me after the signing and said what he liked best about the book was that he felt he knew Josh and Winks (the central characters). He said they talked and acted like he did, and he wished they were real so he could hang out with them.
How did you come to be involved with SUNY Press? Strangely, through my performances as a singer/ songwriter. I was playing a club in Glens Falls and this older couple came up to me after the show, bought my CD, told me they loved my music and asked when my next CD was coming out. I explained I had stopped songwriting to focus on trying the get Half Moon Falls published. When I told them it was a YA novel they told me their son was a Lit professor at SUNY Albany and might like to see it. I called, we talked and he asked me to send it in.
You're very prolific. How often do you write? What is your writing schedule? I write every day, or at least try to. Still, I’ll throw out eight pages for every ten I write.
How long does it take you to finish a novel? My novels usually run about 600 pages. From start to finish about 18 months. (interviewer's note: YA Frostie was 222 pages).
We're going to leave you on this call to write more. Part II of this interview will be posted Tuesday, March 30th.
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