Zachary Bartels Interview

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?

A: I’ve been writing since high school. I actually volunteered to edit The Open Locker, our school’s literary magazine and then slipped six of my short stories into it. In college, I started writing screenplays, which turned into novels during my seminary years.

In addition to writing, I’m the pastor of an incredibly normal-sized church in the capital city of a mitten-shaped Midwestern state.

Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why?

A: I tend to write in a pretty specific genre which I’d call “supernatural action-suspense-comedy.” I’m also dabbling in nonfiction.

Q: How does your faith play into your writing?

A: It’s the core of it. My favorite thing about where I’ve landed so far (my agent, my publisher, etc.) is that I can be as explicitly Jesus-and-Gospel-filled as I want and I’m not going to freak anyone out. I do, however, try to work themes in subtly and write books that would be entertaining to nonbelievers. Based on feedback I’ve gotten, I’ve been semi-successful in that.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?

A: Well, they say write what you know, so I set my novel Playing Saint in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I lived for ten years. Then I set my next novel, The Last Con in Detroit, where we often visit . . . aaaaand 18^th Century Malta, Paris, and Rome, where I’ve never been. I’ve also set a novel in a modernized version of Samaria (the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament). So, I guess I write what I know until my muse hijacks the whole thing.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?

A: Many of my characters are kind of composites of lots of different people. The really gripping ones, however, are spawned full-form in my mind with no warning and no antecedents in real life.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release The Last Con?

A: It’s like Oceans Eleven meets The DaVinci Code meets a youth group inner-city missions trip. But with more going on.

The Last Con is the story of Fletcher Doyle a con man who just got out of prison and is now trying to patch things up with his wife and a daughter he barely knows. When he heads to inner-city Detroit on a missions trip to show just what a good guy he’s become, he finds himself dragged back in to the life, blackmailed into a series of cons and heists to get a hold of an ancient treasure and a holy relic.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?

A: I’ve always loved movies, TV, books (both fiction and true crime), etc. about con men and elaborate grifts. As an author, then, it’s only natural that I’d want to write a novel along these lines. And, of course, since it’s me, I had to mix in some church history, secret societies, and gun-toting priests.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: You are not your sins, your screw-ups, your hypocrisy, or your failures. If you are in Christ, you are a New Creation; that is your identity.

Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book.

A: I love how broken and internally torn they all are. I also love watching these fumbling guys slip into perfect Confidence as they carry out cons and heists. There’s something about a damaged/unsure protagonist and something even more compelling about a really competent protagonist. I love when they come together in the same person. (Whether it’s Don Draper, Michael Scott, or Jay Gatsby).

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A: My friend Ted Kluck and I just came out with The Gut Check Guide to Publishing which is kind of a brief primer on Indie and Traditional and when/how to pursue each. I’m also working on a sort of semi-sequel to Playing Saint and a novel about a paramedic who gets pulled into a centuries-old conspiracy in his quaint, seemingly idyllic tourist town.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?

A: I’d follow the footsteps of Christ, then the footsteps (and, like, the wake) of St. Paul.

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?

A: A month after I arrived at my church in 2005, I performed a rather hardcore corny rap at a church talent show, much to the utter confusion of most of my parishioners.

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

A: I honestly don’t know. Trying to come up with a decent answer for this question is one of the hardest things I’ve done this year. (Of course, the year’s only a couple days old and I’ve clearly failed at it.)

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?

A: Everywhere! 🙂  www.zacharybartels.com, From there, you can get to my Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.