Vincent Phan Tran is a nomad, having lived in 10 states over the last 20 years. He now spends his mornings sweating his butt off to delay old age, his days getting stuff delivered, and his nights and weekends playing pretend. He’s also a huge foodie, therefore the need to sweat his butt off.

You can find him at:

www.vincentptran.com

Facebook: facebook.com/vincentphantran

Twitter: @VPTranAuthor

Instagram: vincentphantranauthor

Amazon: amazon.com/author/vincentptran

Author Interview (www.kat-mueller.com/vincent-phan-tran)

1. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? I’ve been interested since I was a child, but what finally got me off my butt and intentional was Stephen King’s book “On Writing”. Besides being a great read, it’s inspirational and got me putting pen to paper.

2. Are you a plotter or a pantser, and why? I started as a panster (all my favorite writers were), got nowhere fast, then switched. Best thing I ever learned was how to structure my stories end to end. Now I plot down to the scene level after doing character build ups and story premise. I’m FAR more productive when I can see the entire roadmap. It even lets me write scenes out of order based on my mood.

Doesn’t mean the story doesn’t find ways to surprise me…characters quicken and become people with their own minds, and they don’t always agree with where I think they should go. But that’s part of the magic I suppose.

3. What is the hardest part of writing? For me, starting my writing is like the first mile of a run. I’m achy, just starting to sweat, and slightly grumpy. But after that first mile, the endorphins kick in, runners high gets going, and I’m in the zone. Then, it’s all pleasure.

4. Does writing leave you energized or exhausted? Little bit of both. I’m absolutely “emptied” by the writing process…getting the words out on paper and shaping them draws essence. But, I’m always excited by what I see afterwards (even the bad stuff).

5. What do we need to know about your current work in progress/new release?

Halloween will see the release of JEBEDIAH’S CRIME, the first book in the Hinge Series. On a supernatural island in our present time, an aging bounty hunter is pitted against a supremely skilled champion of a powerful House over the life of a family. It’s an action-filled, pulse pounding introduction to a gritty, supernatural series filled with heartbreak and humor.

Early reviews have been great, and can be found at: vincentptran.com/reviews, Amazon, and Goodreads.

6. If you weren’t an author, what would your ideal career be? I’ve often wondered what being a print journalist would be like. It’s writing adjacent and I have this romanticized view of a crusading, truth seeking, pen is mightier than the sword figure chasing a life mission. PLEASE don’t ruin that with any reality checks.

7. Are there real life inspirations behind your characters? I suppose you could pick any of the larger than life figures like Genghis Khan, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee, etc and find a heavily fantasized bit of them in my characters. But for all those historians out there, these aren’t stories of how any of those people actually were or how things actually happened. They’re stories of how things should have been.

8. How do you get in touch with your inner villain to write an antagonist? I watched a CIA agent’s interview about terrorist groups around the world. Their core statement was “no one sees themselves as the bad guy.” So, I put myself in the mind frame of villains who themselves as the hero to their own stories. With a few exceptions, no one is all good, and no one is all bad. A lot of times, its perspective.

9. Do you have an interesting writing quirk? I don’t know if this is interesting or even a quirk, but my signal to start writing is putting on noise cancelling headsets and streaming movie soundtracks. I can’t have lyrics in the songs, but rolling instrumentals for emotional scenes and pounding soundtracks for action scenes gets me going every time.

Thank you so much to Vincent, and everyone, please check out his links and upcoming release! I’m very excited for it!

Kat Mueller