Interview - Author Philip Fracassi

An award-winning author with writing in numerous anthologies and collections as well as his own solo work, author Philip Fracassi has achieved numerous accolades throughout his illustrious career. Now, in honor of the release of his latest effort Gothic, I talk with him about his early writing career, his process while writing, and the book itself.

Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?

Philip Fracassi: Hi, and thanks for having me.

Like most writers and readers of horror, I started at a young age reading the greats—Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, Peter Straub. I remember the first time I read Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and the jaw-dropping shock I felt at the ending. At that point in my life—call it early teens—I’d read mostly fantasy and science fiction, so that short story was a wake-up call. Once I got into reading straight horror, my fascination with the genre grew incrementally from there. Always exploring, always expanding what I thought possible with fiction.

Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?

PF: Unlike many horror writers, I’m not much of a film junkie. That said, when I wasn’t reading I was watching television, and I loved creature features as a kid—Godzilla and Ultra Man flicks—and watched my fair share of horror flicks from a very young age. Whatever was being hosted by Sir Graves Ghastly or The Ghoul that day. Movies that left a huge impression on me are Halloween, Alien, The Thing, even stuff that was supposedly for kids, like The Black Hole and Watership Down. Those movies scarred me in different, wonderful ways. I recall staying up late one night, alone in a darkened house while my family was away, watching a movie called Bobby on late-night cable, and I’ve never been more frightened by a movie in my life. The end of that film still gives me nightmares. I found out years later that Richard Matheson wrote the teleplay, which made it even more special in my memory.

Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influences from their style with your own voice in your work?

PF: I mentioned a few already, but the triumvirate of King-Koontz-Barker were hands-down the three guys I grew up with. Koontz was the nice, comfort food stories. Books like Watchers and Strangers were reread multiple times. King introduced me to a lot of sex and violence and darkness that fleshed out what I thought was possible in horror. Then Barker came along and knocked the doors off the place and essentially redefined the genre.

A lot of readers and reviewers have mentioned that my work seems heavily influenced by King, and while I’m not going to argue (he is a massive influence on my stories and prose) I feel like I’ve been able to find my own voice in my fiction, and tell stories in a unique way. There’s no greater compliment than when someone tells me that my stories have a distinct voice. I’ve never done pastiche or parody, and I take my writing style very seriously and work hard at it, so I like to think my style is all my own.

Me: What was the starting point of becoming a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?

PF: I have a very clear starting point.

When I was in 3rd grade, my class was given a creative writing assignment. We were all told to write our own stories and then read them to the class. It was as if a giant door in my little brain had been blown open and there was this entirely new world I was allowed to enter. That first story was a pastiche, a sort of further adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and my classmates went crazy for it. That was the point I fell in love with writing, and I’ve never—at no point in my life—stopped writing, or stopped wanting to be a professional author. So to say I’m living my lifelong dream right now is no exaggeration. Now it’s all about hard work and a few lucky breaks, but I hope it lasts forever.

Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focused on writing?

PF: I don’t really have a day-to-day process. My process is more project-to-project. Because I’m still primarily an indie writer, I need to wear a lot of hats if I want to keep my career chugging along. Being a professional writer is really like running your own business, and it’s a lot more than just putting words on paper. I spend a lot of my time promoting myself, whether it be through social media, interviews, podcasts, or events. I maintain my own website and update it practically every day. I create graphics and media and videos. I sign and ship books, bookplates; respond to emails and message queries. I strategize with my lit agent, my film agent, I deal with lawyers and producers, and editors.

And then, after all that’s under control, I find some time to write. If I’m not working on a big project, like a novel or a screenplay, I like to knock out a few short stories.

As far as the process is concerned, when I write a novel I always start with an outline and a summary. The summary for my current novel is almost thirty pages, and the outline is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown. I’m very much a plotter when it comes to my big projects. My short stories I’m freer with. I usually knock out a one or two-page summary of all the stuff that happens, then I write it. Not quite so extensive as a novel or screenplay.

As far as focus is concerned? No secret. I force myself to sit at my desk every day for 8-10 hours and I’m either writing or working on some of those things I mentioned above. Writing and being a professional writer is about discipline. I’ve always been a good self-starter, and I’m very driven, so it comes naturally to me, I guess.

Me: Having contributed to various anthologies early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to future projects?

PF: I think the number one takeaway learning experience from those anthologies is taking someone else’s idea and transforming it into something all your own. My first anthology invite was called Giraffes on the Moon (Dunhams Manor Press), and I remember Jordan Krall emailing me to say he wanted a story about, well, giraffes on the moon.

I clearly remember taking a mental step back and saying to myself: Okay, how do I take this insane idea and make it something that I’d want to put my name on.

I think pushing yourself to do something outside your comfort zone is always a great thing. That particular project may not be your best work or whatever, but it will definitely make you a better writer.

Me: What is the general process for getting involved in these projects?

PF: When I was first starting out I submitted stories like crazy. I used a program called Duotrope that helps you find markets and organize what you send where. It was incredibly helpful. Now that I’ve published a few things and have more awareness as an author, I tend to get the occasional invite to write a story for this or that, which is a much less complicated and stressful way to go about it! But that only came after several publications and some moderate success in the indie horror world. These days I only really write shorts if I’m commissioned to do so, otherwise, my focus is pretty much novels.

Me: How did you settle on the plot for your new novel Gothic?

PF: I’m not 100% sure where the idea came from. I think I wanted to write a “cursed object” story, and I am such a big fan of Sam Raimi and, specifically Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell, and I liked the idea of doing something sort of wild and a little bit campy. I think in its first iteration, a writer found a secret manuscript hidden in a desk, but that seemed dull, so I went a bit further and had the desk itself as the delivery mechanism, and it pretty much all grew from there.

Me: Was there any special significance to making the character of Tyson Parks a writer?

PF: I knew I wanted to write, while not necessarily an “old school” novel, a novel that was an homage of sorts to old school novels. I really wanted the book to be a tribute to those great writers from the 80s and 90s who formed my perception of what horror is and what horror can be.

What makes it more interesting is how the horror field has expanded since then. The massive—and much-needed—influx of diversity and voices from so many different walks of life have made horror so much better, and so much more interesting and vital.

So in many ways, Tyson is this throwback character who finds himself navigating this new world, while also descending into madness. So I could really only think of him as a writer, and that’s where that comes from.

Me: Was there any part of your real self injected into the characters?

PF: Never. And Always. That’s the truth. No, horror writers aren’t serial killers and we don’t (necessarily) commune with demons or spirits, and we don’t think or do the stuff our characters think or do.

BUT.

I think there’s always a part of us that is fused into the psychology of each and every one of our characters. How could it not be? Anyone who says differently, in my opinion, is either lying, ignorant, or issuing a statement based on wishful thinking.

All of us have a darkness inside, it’s what we do with that darkness that defines who we are.

Me: Playing with traditional themes of madness, perversion of power, and greed, how did you employ these factors in this kind of story?

PF: Essentially, I’m taking preexisting tropes and bending them to my will. There’s nothing new about cursed objects. Nothing new about Faustian agreements, or the old New York writer hoping for another heyday. But what I tried to do was mash all these things together in a unique, modern way, that would create a fun, scary, thrill ride for readers. So while there are strong themes of morality and greed (and yes, madness), the ultimate point is for readers to have fun.

I think it’s okay for books to still entertain, right?

Me: Once it was finally written, what was the process for having it published?

PF: Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot to it. At the time the book was completed, my agent was already hip-deep in trying to sell a couple other novels of mine—one of which sold to Tor Nightfire, and the other is awaiting an offer (fingers crossed)—so I knew it would be a while before we could take it to market.

It just so happened that around this time Kevin Lucia announced he was taking the reins at a new division of (the legendary press) Cemetery Dance, home to Stephen King’s deluxe editions and every other great horror legend under the sun. Kevin was revving up a trade division of CD, and being that I had this novel that I thought would be a perfect fit for the CD brand and that it would be a year or more before taking it out with a wide net, I made the decision to offer it to Kevin. And, luckily for me, he read it and loved it and away we go...

Me: How did moving from short stories to full-length novels challenge your writing skills?

PF: Well, I’d written a few novels before my foray into horror, so it wasn’t a completely alien concept to me. But like everything else in my fiction writing, I’ve definitely ramped up the output over the last 6-7 years. The biggest reason for moving into novels was financial, to be totally honest. If I wanted to make a career out of being a writer, I wouldn’t be able to sustain that by writing nothing but short fiction. So I turned to novels once I secured an agent and once I felt I’d gained enough experience that I knew what I was getting into from a publisher's perspective.

That said, I’m still learning every day, and continue to absorb the business side of things like a desperate sponge. But the bottom line is novels pay the bills, and short fiction is more of a side gig that I still greatly enjoy.

Me: How do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?

PF: Out of necessity. The way I approach writing is a combination of passion, discipline, and endurance. For me, this is my job. So I’m at my desk every morning and I work through the night. So creative energy is not some elusive sweet cloud I hold a straw up to and draw strength or wisdom, it’s a necessity born of a desire to create. I think one of the things that hold many writers back is this ethereal concept that they have to wait for some creativity god to poke them in the head and say GO, when the reality is it all comes down to hard work, just like digging ditches or building houses, you’ve got to show up and do the work and hope that the good days outweigh the bad days. There’s no secret sauce or magical spell. It’s “ass in chair,” as Joe Lansdale often says.

That all said, great ways to generate creative juices is to read, read, read. Read WIDELY. Read non-fiction and science fiction and literary fiction and push yourself to read things you might normally not read – poetry and science. Books about bacteria or Vikings. Explore the worlds that are sitting on your shelves and you’ll be shocked at how many ideas they generate in your imagination.

Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!

PF: I’m always working on something new, that’s one of the keys to productivity and (to some degree) output. I spent most of 2022 editing four different novels that have all either come out or are slated to come out, and that can be incredibly (frustratingly) time-consuming.

But I just finished an original novella for a new story collection called NO ONE IS SAFE, coming out in October 2023 from Lethe Press. I turned in a short story commission a couple days ago, and am now fully immersed in a new novel called BROTHERS that’s coming out from Tor Nightfire in 2024. The novel will be eating up most of my time until the summer, but I hope to spend the second part of the year writing a new novel and knocking out a few short story ideas I have brewing.

Thanks so much for having me!