Fred Pelzer lives in Chicago with his family. He has been described as "not cool enough to smoke a cigarette." During a workshop, a writing teacher informed him "I can't tell if you're actually a good writer or just good at reading out loud." He once confused Australia with New Zealand on an episode of Scriptnotes. For a time he published under the name "F.D. Pelzer" in the hopes that it would make him sound smarter. He has been kicked in the head multiple times.

His short stories have been published at a variety of literary magazines, and a collection of his stories, Static, was published by the University of Indianapolis's Etchings Press. His plays have seen stage productions in Chicago and Pittsburgh. He created and executive produced the webseries Losers, overseeing production and writing most of a 27-episode series. He was a co-writer on the pilot for the Firework TV series Behold. He's worked as a script consultant and screenplay contest reader. He also co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the found footage horror podcast “Cooking the Books”.

He has previously held the positions of Executive Producer for Cloud Gate Productions, Artistic Director for Redeye Theatre Project, Managing Editor for On Spec, and Fiction Editor for Wyvern Lit.