An Interview with Zachary Chopchinski

By Megan Cutler | December 17, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Connecting with other authors has become my favorite part of publishing. The indie community is extremely supportive of writers at all levels of their career. They’re spectacularly creative individuals, both when it comes to story crafting and business management.

Today, I’m thrilled to host fellow indie Zachary Chopchinski, who has been a guiding light for me since we first connected on tumblr a few years ago. Zachary has an imagination that defies description. The worlds and creatures he creates are remarkable and varied. He writes young adult fantasy and I can’t recommend his work enough. But enough from me; I’m going to turn the floor over to Zach!

Tell us; what first drew you to writing? How did you get your start?

I have always been a bit of a writer. I guess what drew me to writing as a career would be my wife.

Did you / do you have a favorite book, the kind of book that you love to read over and over? (I collect my friends’ favorite books so I can read ’em!)

The Hobbit. This book has literally everything in it and I just can’t get enough of it.

The Hobbit is a good one – also one of my favorites! What has been your biggest challenge as a writer so far, and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge as a writer so far is getting my book out there and getting people to read my book. Sadly, I’m still fighting the good fight. I think we all will constantly be fighting this one, because trends change.

Ain’t that the truth! Out of all your stories, who has been your favorite character to write? Who comes easiest to you? (Are they the same?)

My favorite character to write is Ypsilon. She is basically a venue to pour all the bitchy things that I think at all times and I can just write them and have her say them. HAHA. The easiest character for me to write is Adal. I think Adal is basically me so I just think, what would I do or say in this situation?

Confession: I also LOVE Ypsilon! I’m familiar enough with your work to know you write some pretty kick-ass ladies! Was there anything in particular that inspired you to include these characters in your work?

I think it’s just that all the kick ass people that have had a huge influence on my life have been women, so when I think of strong characters that can handle anything, they are always girls.

That’s awesome! You also have a knack for writing weird, creepy creatures. Mind giving us some insight into how you come up with them?

I just think of the darkest most depraved shit I can think of and put it on paper. I watch a lot of horror movies, I mean A LOT. I’ve always had an affinity for horror and being scared.

You’re far braver than me; I’ve never been able to handle horror! Tell us about the boxset (and how we can acquire it, of course)!

The boxed set I’m in is called Wings of The Wicked: A Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection. My story in the set is called Arija and The Burning City and it is part of the Hall of Doors Series (each book in the series is a stand-alone novel so you can ready them in any order).

The theme of the boxed set is angels and demons and there are some really awesome stories in this set that I know you’ll want to read. The set contains 25 stories and costs only $0.99! AND if you order the set and send proof of purchase to laylav7@gmail.com, you can get an additional 14 books for FREE right now! That’s over $100 worth of books for less than a dollar! Here are the purchase links:

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook

Thank you! Do you have a favorite moment from this book you can share with us?

I actually really love this scene where Adal and Ypsilon are trying to fight their way out of this night club and Ypsilon is just being a salty bitch. I’ll share a little snippit with you.

“They’re on top of us,” he yelled back, his voice much too loud. “The explosion will kill us.”

“Badass-go-right?”

Adal stuck his fingers in his ears again, moving his jaw back and forth as he watched Ypsilon send a round into the head of another familiar. Her head bounced to whatever music she was listening to, the smile on her face making her look manic. This crazy bitch is enjoying herself.
A demon with what looked like bat wings and pin-prick bright yellow eyes lunged over the bar at him and he grabbed it by the back of the neck, repeatedly smashing its face into the bar until it stopped moving.

A succubus reached over the barrier and grabbed Ypsilon by her dreadlocks. “Oh, hell no!” Her voice was still muffled, and the ringing in Adal’s ears made it difficult for him to hear much else, but he was able to make out what she said. Ypsilon grabbed the demon’s hands and dropped to the floor. The weight of the fall pulled the woman over the bar top. “Don’t. Ever. Touch. My. Hair. Again,” she grunted between each stomp she gave to the woman’s face.

Adal jumped away from the bloodied woman as she flailed on the ground. “Holy shit.”

“Don’t worry about me, figure out what the exit plan is.”

“Isn’t a plan, really. I’m almost out of ammo.”

“Almost? What are you still doing with bullets? Kill some of these damn things. You think I’m beating them to death with my hands for fun?” Ypsilon asked, breaking another bottle over the bar and using it to slice the neck of the nearest beast.

“Kinda,” Adal replied, firing two more shots into the crowd.

I, for one, am giddy after reading this excerpt! Aside from the boxset, do you have any future projects you want us to know about?

Well I am currently taking a side step from the Hall of Doors series to work on a middle grade book called Layla’s Home for Wayward Authors. There will be more information about this one coming, hopefully next year. But don’t worry, I’ll be jumping right back into the Hall of Doors series to work on the next book called Ypsilon and The Plague Doctor, which is scheduled to come out in 2019. With this book, we will be stepping back into the World Machine where some very strange things are happening.

I can’t wait to see where you take this series! Before we go, where can we find you on the interwebs? (In case we want to stalk you.)

I would love for you to stalk me! You can join me here: