One of the great things I learned in my MFA program was how to read as a writer. In my very first class, the instructor told us (the students) that it didn’t matter whether we liked the books we were assigned to read. It was more important to learn how to figure out what was working, deconstruct what the writer did to make it work, and then steal that technique for our own prose. The program trained me so well that I have trouble turning the analyzing and deconstructing off. There are times when I’d like to read a book just for the pleasure of getting to know the characters and getting lost in a well crafted plot. I want to get back to being a reader and try to zone out the nagging voice behind me that points out clever craft tricks on the pages.

Reading Frank Zafiro’s short story collection Dead Even was one of those times when it was a possible to both get lost in the words on the page and enjoy picking apart the author’s technique. Zafiro put together the collection with the assumption that the readers were already familiar with his River City series. Those novels are written in third person and one of the things I so enjoyed in  Dead Even was spending time with familiar characters in first person. Katie MacLeod is by far my favorite character of Zafiro’s and the first story in the collection, “Last Day in Paradise,” is in Katie’s voice and takes place twelve years after Under a Raging Moon. There are two more stories about Katie, both told in third person, and each gives me a different perspective of her character than I got from the River City series.  

It’s great fun for readers to visit with old friends and finding out more about them, but it must also have been a blast for Zafiro to thoroughly explore his characters this way. I sometimes try out scenes from alternate points of view and then decide which one works best, but have never thought about exploring characters through both third and first person writing. Usually I pick one perspective and then stick with it for that character. Since reading Dead Even, I’ve been switching between first and third person during free writing sessions and love how it opens up new aspects of my characters that I wouldn’t have discovered if I’d stuck to just one voice. Read more »

Frank Zafiro is the author of the River City crime novels and also writes mainstream fiction under the name Frank Scalise, which is his actual name. Born and raised in Spokane, he joined the U.S. Army after high school graduation and served in Military Intelligence. He’s been a Spokane police officer since 1993 and has served as patrol officer, corporal, detective, sergeant and lieutenant. His current title is captain.

Zafiro has written seriously since he was thirteen, starting out with short stories and poetry. Last week I reviewed his River City series. If you didn’t read that post, let me summarize: I’m a big fan.  As Frank’s latest stalker groupie, I emailed him with a bunch of questions about his journey towards publication and being a writer while working full time.

Here are the questions and his answers. Enjoy!

When and why did you begin writing? 

When?  Well, like most writers, I began pretty early.  Maybe eight or so?  But by ten, I knew I wanted to be a writer, so that is the age I usually give in response to this question.  To be honest, I don’t ever remember I time where I didn’t want to be a writer.

Why? The same reason almost each of you write…because I’m a writer.  

I know that sounds like I’m being a smart alec, but I’m really not.  Much in the same way that a musician plays music or a carpenter works wood, I write because it is who I am.  I’d write even if I couldn’t get anyone to read what I’ve written.  I am a writer.  I write.  I suspect that most of the people reading this understand perfectly.  The rest probably think I’m being pretentious. Read more »