Photo of the Author
So, to start, Vincent is a pen name. Can you talk a bit about why you have a pen name? And why Vincent?
I wanted a bit of privacy for my personal life versus my writing life. Vincent was an in-between name that I had chosen before I settled on my legal name. In terms of, like, transitioning, right? I think at the time, I really liked the idea of being a femme presenting person with the name Vincent. However, when I realized, like, you know what, I actually don’t really want to be femme presenting, though.
That’s why it’s more of like, oh, it’s my pen name, my writing name, because it served me at one point. You know, it was helpful at one point in my life where I was trying to figure out how I wanted to present myself gender-wise. It was a way for me to kind of explore who I was as a person, and that’s just since changed.
Yeah, I get that. It’s kind of nice to keep old versions of yourself with you as you keep walking through life.
Right, yeah. And when I asked my agent about it, she was like, “Oh, do you want to keep it for your horror stuff?” I was like, “Oh yeah, you’re right, actually.” So, I wasn’t like, you know, “Oh, shoot, now I’m stuck with Vincent.” I was like, “You know what? That’s fine, because I’m gonna change and grow as a person. And with that comes the fact that I’m gonna change and, you know, experiment with my own writing.” So whoever I end up later on, whatever pen name I use for romance, we’ll figure that out when we get there. I will probably definitely choose a different name, actually, for my paranormal romance that I’m writing. I am considering that. I’ll talk to my agent when I finish writing it.
Was there also ever this additional sense of not wanting to be seen or be in the spotlight?
Yeah, I generally wasn’t comfortable. A lot of authors do have different pen names for different genres, right? But I feel like as a Black person, you get less allowances for trying to do something different. I feel like white people definitely are able to kind of fuck around and be more mysterious and do all these other cool things, and then with Black people it’s like, “Nope, you gotta choose a name and stick with it forever,” and I just don’t like that.
What’s your immigrant story? Or your family’s?
So my parents were born in the Dominican Republic, and my mom specifically came to the U.S. when she was about 18. So my entire family has always been from the Dominican Republic. And it would be only just more recently in our generation, we came to the U.S., which is where I was born. But personally, I, myself, am trying to immigrate to Canada. So I’m about to get to know that life very quick. My wife is there, so it’s either she comes here or I go there. And I mean, here is not very friendly towards immigrants.
Vincent’s books: Burn Down, Rise Up (2022), We Don’t Swim Here (2023),
and We Came to Welcome You (2024)
You do so many different things (Pura Belpré award-winning horror author, podcaster, voice actor, screenwriter). As a creative person, would you primarily identify as an author?
Yea, it is so hard to really choose one. Like, I think the biggest part of me is definitely an author. Like, I definitely love writing books. I don’t think I will ever stop writing books.
I guess it’s almost like a Russian doll. And the core is author, and then outside is like screenwriter. And then another layer of me again is like, voice actor. I love voice acting, but it’s not something– I consider it as like, how much of my time would I sacrifice for this, you know? Like, I kind of prioritize based on that. And for being an author, I would sacrifice so much of my time. And I have done so and will do so again. So I know that’s my core.
Do you ever think that’ll change in the future? Because sometimes, personally, I feel like I go between phases of graphic designer and author and editor. Like, do you ever think you’ll get more into voice acting?
For me, I don’t think so. This is gonna sound so vain, but I really like voicing characters that I’ve written. Like, I think that’s why I’m not going out of my way to audition. Part of loving voice acting is that I’m mostly voice acting my own characters. Sometimes my friends do call me in to act as someone. I’m like, “Yeah, Yeah, sure, of course. I don’t need to be told twice,” right? But again, I’m not going out of my way to do this because I like something else so much more.
How do you structure your days to fit in writing? What’s a typical day like when you wake up?
My friend calls me at 5 a.m. She is a school bus driver, right? So she’s already very used to waking up at that time. But she calls me at 5 a.m as sort of like my own personal wake-up call.
Wait, that’s insane. So chic, like you have your own personal hotel concierge.
Yeah, it helps (laughs). It helps in two ways – one, I do want to wake up at five and it’s not like I don’t have an alarm. But two, the second part is if my friend goes out of her way to call me I’m like, “Well, now I have to get up because if I go back to sleep my friend is going to kick my ass.” You know, like, there’s some sort of peer pressure to get up and get going.
So, she calls me at 5 a.m. It takes me – I’m not gonna lie – it does take me like at least 30 minutes to really get up out of bed. I may make a batch of coffee, um, and once I have a nice hot cup of Bustelo. Like, I’m up. I’m not going back to bed. I take the coffee to bed. I have my laptop open. I just start writing for a couple of hours.
I work from home, mostly. I’ll work from 9 to 5-ish. My day job is I’m a technical rep support. So whenever people have an issue with the software of the company that I work at, I go in and try and help them. And then, I will shower, I’ll make dinner, I’ll message my wife. We’re long distance still. So it’s usually by then, like, we’re thinking about, like, “Oh, which show are we going to watch for tonight?”
But I always make sure that the first thing I do in the morning is simply write. I can’t go too long without writing, otherwise I start daydreaming about writing. Like, “You know what? It’s gonna be so great when I can finally fucking write that scene.”
Do you feel like you write from a place of therapy? Like, for me, when I’m irritable or not doing well emotionally I know it’s because I haven’t been doing my therapy, aka writing.
Interesting. I think if I’m irritated, for me, it’s a productivity thing. Like, I could be writing right now. Like, I’m pissed, but I could be writing and getting the energy out and eventually I feel better. But like, I don’t– I’m not writing because I’m like, “This is my therapy.” I’m writing because I’m like, “You know what? If I gotta be pissed, let me be pissed and productive.” And by the end of it, I’m not even pissed anymore. I was just productive.
Mmmhmm…What’s your sign?
Pisces.
Same. Big three?
There’s a Scorpio somewhere in there. I want to say that the sun sign is definitely Pisces. The moon sign is probably Scorpio. And I think the rising is either Capricorn or Cancer. I’m pretty sure it’s Capricorn. Pretty sure.
Oh Capricorn is making sense (laughs).
Okay, going back to your childhood now…Why do you write? Where do you think that drive comes from?
I think I’ve been writing horror because it’s just the thing that I’ve been interested in. But I’m also someone that wants to be somewhat practical in whether it’s feasible because I have some whacked out ideas that I’m like– publishing will never touch this. So that’s gonna be like a personal project for down the line. I keep it locked and loaded for some other time in my life.
But so I’m realistic in that I know publishing likes these types of stories. So I will find whatever is in the zeitgeist, I will try and find something to like about it. I want to be able to write and, you know, have my writing be enjoyed. So I have to figure out what people are in the mood for and then try to do my own version of that. And maybe, you know it, some people will really like it. Others probably won’t. But that’s just kind of how it is for an author.
I like that you took that question in a very Capricorn way (laughs).
(laughs) What?! How did I–
Because I was like, “Why do you write?” Like from your childhood core. And you went directly to, like, the profitability and capitalism. I meant like the personal emotional place you create from.
I mean, like, here’s the thing. There’s, like... I feel like there are three types of authors these days, right? One, there is the author that has the one story that they’ve been wanting to write forever. And they’re not gonna let anyone tell them otherwise. And usually those types of authors either self-publish or don’t put it out there anymore. Or (and this doesn’t happen often) everyone is paying it absolute dust, it gets picked up by one person, and then suddenly it’s like, everywhere, right?
And then there are the authors who are like, I’m just gonna write for whatever the industry says. So, I’m like that. It’s easiest for me. Like, I don’t have to work too hard. I don’t have to, like, beg for attention. But for newer authors, this can kind of put you into the mid-list category. Because everyone’s kind of trying to write according to some trend.
And then there’s like the third type of author that’s going to try and find a happy middle ground between those two.
So, I’m not going to stick to the one thing that I love. Like, I know I love it and that’s great for me. But like, if I want to at least have this book somewhere in the world, I have to somewhat compromise, I guess. Not too much, but it has to be just enough, where it gets the actual story out.
Yeah, and you’ve written so much in such a short amount of time. You love writing. So it makes sense that your process would be you going “Okay, what can I do to game the system so that I can write more because I like to write.”
Yeah, yeah. And my process is changing, if I’m being honest. I’ve been, in the last couple of years, buying a lot more craft books that I read and study.
Did you go to school for writing?
No. I went to school to be pre-med.
Right, so I feel like you’re very self taught in a lot of things. With craft books and stuff like that, how do you structure that self-learning for yourself?
Honestly, I don’t even really structure it, if I’m being honest. It kind of comes and goes. I think part of it is I’m autistic, so I do have moments where I hyper-focus on something. Like, right now I’m certified to use a Ham radio because you need to get a license. I got up to the second license. Like, I was just hyper-focused for a weekend and I got it done.
I feel like that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard. Specifically radio. Like, lesbians always have radios for some reason.
(laughing) Yeah, yeah, honestly. But I’m just really lucky that the writing hyperfixation has never left me. I think if it ever did, we are in trouble. My finances are for sure in trouble.
Vincent with their newest book You Should’ve Been Nicer to My Mom (2026)
I’ve only read 2 of your books so far, but exploring history seems to be a theme in them. In “Burn Down, Rise Up” its the history of redlining and neglect and the fires in the Bronx in the 70s. In your new book, there’s a personal family history and also history of religion and anti-Blackness in Dominican Republic that’s touched on. How do you do this research and how does looking to the past inform your work?
When I write a story, I have a hard time sort of visualizing certain things, right? Like, I could never do fantasy because I don’t know how to visualize any of that shit well enough to portray it. If I were to try and come up with a completely new creature, I would not be able to do it. I simply cannot.
So I use history as more of a springing off board. Like, a way to get references to whatever story I want to kind of write. And it also helps that much of history is still very political, because it’s filled with a few people making choices for larger groups of other people. I have a lot of opinions and emotions about politics and the history of the States and my people and stuff. And so I think about, like, what exactly is the exact feeling? I try to start from there. What exactly is the core of the story that I want to talk about?
For Burn Down, Rise Up, my first novel, the core was I wanted to write a ghost story set in the Bronx. That was it. There was no other, like, larger thing. So then I started thinking, “Okay, ghost stories… Why does it have to be a ghost story?” And my answer for that is, “Because anytime there is a ghost story, it’s always a vengeful ghost.” And I feel like don’t nobody have more reason to be mad than a Black person, right? There should be like, waaaay more hauntings. So I had to worldbuild. And the 70s were a very recent time period where things were very chaotic.
And so that’s kind of like how I did We Don’t Swim Here, where again, I was like, “You know what? I really like Candyman.” If we were creating urban legends based off of very specific traumas that Black people have faced, we have Candyman for lynching. I feel that another iteration of Candyman would be a young girl who died in a swimming pool. Because white people would rather shut down all the pools and fill them with chemicals than be able to swim with Black people.
That’s how I kind of, like, carve it out. It essentially feels like I’m starting with a bit of clay, right? Like, I have just the basic idea, and then I start shaping it based off of saying, “Okay, logically this would happen, or logically that would happen.” And I try to work with it. To me, a lot of people think, “Oh, it’s very creative.” And I’m like, no, there’s a step-by-step process.
I feel like as a Dominican immigrant in another country it’s weird because you’re both proud of your identity but don’t want to perpetuate nationalism. Because if you know anything about Dominican history…there’s a lot not to be proud of. I think you and I are most intimately aware of the intense anti-Haitianism that is ever-present in the Dominican Republic, mostly recently being expressed with an ongoing national deportation campaign.
Why is that something you chose to include in your latest book, You Should’ve Been Nicer to My Mom, through the treatment of the character Naomi? I don’t see a lot of Dominican-American writers contend with this as an ugly truth about being Dominican.
So I wanted to put a label on what, not just Dominicans, but sometimes it’s also just very generally what Latinos do. But I included the anti-Haitianism, because I’ll notice that other Dominicans will touch on the colorism, right? There’s colorism everywhere. And so Dominicans are at least okay with mentioning like, “Oh yeah, everything’s so colorist or whatever.” But I specifically label it anti-Haitianism, because that is, at least to me, the root of where the colorism comes from.
People assume that if you are darker skinned, that you must be Haitian, or your parents must be Haitian. Like, there is this strong feeling of, you know, like, really pretending like you’re not on the same fucking island. I think that people try to muddy it by not saying that it’s specifically anti-Haitian. So it, yeah, it’s very, very much like me trying to acknowledge that, like, no, you guys, you guys got some work to fucking do. Like, this is a little bit insane. So I just choose to explore it that way because, like you said, like, I don’t really see that often enough.
Right, and then on top of that you touch on religious themes. Especially one where a character has a scandal where she runs over a mother with a car while getting an abortion and all anyone cares about is the abortion part. Which was so real, to me. And another hot topic since the Dominican Republic has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world and a total ban on abortion that the government actually just renewed last year despite protests. Why did you include that storyline as well, which would probably piss a lot of people off?
I grew up very Pentecostal Christian. So it was less about like, because I definitely did not know it was that super illegal in DR. That’s crazy to find that after the fact. But I included it mostly because of her very strong religious background. Culturally, on a religious level, it’s like the worst thing you can do. As, like, the daughter of the pastor, there’s always a stigma attached to it. The worst thing that a young woman could do as the daughter of a pastor would be to get an abortion. Above everything else, she could murder 30 people, but as long as she never had an abortion, then, like, it’s fine.
What’s really funny, though, is that, even though this is genuinely about my family, there are so many people who tell me, like, “Oh, my God, it’s like you took my journal,” or whatever. I’m like, what? And it’s like, how many of us are living like this? Why are we living like this, guys?
There’s a question from Black Women Writers at Work that always stood out to me: Do you see yourself as a shaper of public opinion? Basically, what is your responsibility as a writer? I ask because I was surprised that you have this afterward in the book where you basically tell the reader how you interpret your own story, which I feel like is not as common. Some authors want to leave things up for interpretation.
I think my role is to be thoughtful when I do so. My goal, at least my personal goal, is to have people rethinking the way something is in society. So, you know, obviously I write a lot about history and what we can learn from history through various horror scenarios. But I want people to really think about, like, how does this affect my life or affect someone’s life? Because, again, a lot of my stories have to do with certain real world -isms that people do not want to explore. Because maybe they think it’s boring, or they think it should be obvious. But like, it clearly is still an issue.
I feel like you kind of approach marketing in a way that I find fascinating, as author. Because it’s like the bane of my existence, but you’re a tiktok star. You’re very tapped into the algorithms and I feel like you treat it almost like a game or a puzzle.
Nah. (laughs)
Okay! (laughs)
No, I don’t know, I wish I were better at marketing. But the thing is, I burn out so fast on social media that I basically have to psych myself up for the months leading up to any sort of release. And I’m like, okay, I gotta do a video here. I gotta make a TikTok here. Like, it’s solid planning ahead of time. Because if I have to wait until it’s time to do it, it probably will never happen. So I’ve had to adjust how I approach marketing, the longer I’m forced to do it.
The first two years, I was very hands off because I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. I didn’t know what was normal or not. Third year, I think I was experimenting a little bit more. I was getting on TikTok, at least. And now, with this last one, it’s fine.
I’m someone that really likes skits that people make on TikTok, I think they’re really funny and unique. So, yeah, I got super into that. Coming up with ideas on how to write skits. So we’ll see how I utilize that moving forward. I’m always learning.
But it is so crazy to me that, like, I’ll just be minding my business on Tumblr and then a friend will tag me like, “Hey boss, your TikTok ended up here again.” I’m like, “Bro, WHAT?” It’s crazy.
Do you have a favorite Dominican word? Or Dominicanism?
Oh my God. I feel like malcriada. I really like that specific Dominican word, and I try to use it like I’m using it in my next book, but as someone’s chosen name. I just really like that word. I love the idea of being a bitch like... just ill mannered. Yeah, I love that.
(laughs) I really like a well placed “bueeenno…” I think it does the same thing as a Black American “well…” when you’re filling a silence. It’s like the same intonation.
Oh, I’m going to go ahead and laugh, that’s funny. Yeah. (laughs)
Do you have a favorite monster in media?
Favorite monster in media? Oh my God…I know I have one. I know I have to have one. But because The Vampire Lestat is out, all I can think of is vampires. I know there’s another. It’ll come to me. But for right now, I’ll say that vampires are honorable mention.
Yeah, I mean forever and always vampires–
Aliens! Aliens. I love aliens. I love the concept.
I feel like aliens are so broad though.
No, yeah, that’s why. You can take it in many different directions. The actual Aliens film, I know it is technically also horror, but I look at it purely as sci-fi versus–
Obsessed with the Aliens franchise. I love them all.
Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, no. I love seeing how they build off of previous lore and what new direction they’re trying to take it in.
Okay last question, in the future, 20 years from now, what’s your perfect day? Where do you see yourself?
20 years from now, I will have published my upteenth novel. Written or put out maybe a couple of movies. Let’s say three movies I either wrote or wrote and directed one of them. I would love to try my hand at directing. I think I once saw this behind the scenes of Jordan Peele when he was making Nope and, like, seeing how they recreated the alien stomach. I was just like, “Wow, this is just a tube.” You’re just like, “Oh, shit.”
And I guess it would be like a day of writing and I’m taking breaks to go watch a show with my wife who doesn’t have to work because I got it like that. I’m at ease and financially I’m doing great. Hopefully in a house in Canada. That would be nice.
Connect with the Authors
Vincent Tirado
🔗 Website
📸 Instagram
🦋Bluesky
Camille Gomera-Tavarez
🔗 Website
📸 Instagram