Hien Nguyen Writes

 Hi friends! I hope you've been doing as well as you can in our chaotic little world. I've recently wrapped up another round of revision and sent off the updated manuscript to my agent. I'll be taking a bit of a writing break, but starting the process of outlining a new WIP (yes, yes, I know. I have like twenty million of them at the moment). I am most certainly a plotter, with some pantsing inclinations. If you are in the same boat, you might find my process of outlining useful. So, buckle in! If you are familiar with my revision method , you'll realize I can be... pretty heavy on the notes, hah.  A big caveat to say that the story arc that dominates Western storytelling is not  the only way to tell a story. I personally do use these templates when I craft my own stories for a few reasons: For better or worse, they are the most widely available online. There's a myriad of templates, texts, and resources explaining each arc and plot beats. There are also resources o...

 Hi friends! I'm back with a querying specific blog. This time I'm going to drill into how I approached a dual timeline when writing my query.  Dual timelines are tricky, especially since you have such limited space in your query letter to get through everything. For context purposes, I've briefly outlined my manuscript below: My Manuscript Timeline 1: Present day post-apocalypse, following Lucky Le Timeline 2: Childhood and leading up to the events of the apocalypse, following Lucky Le The timelines are alternated chapter by chapter equally until Act III, in which the timelines "merge" and then the rest of the story is told in Timeline 1 My work is a little simpler because of this. I only am following one character through both timelines and the timelines merge into one for the climax. You can find my query letter linked here .  You'll see that my query focused on Lucky as she was experiencing Timeline 1, and then alluded to events that happened in Timeline 2...

  Since I've been posting more content online and through my social media channels, I've recently signed up for a NetGalley account. It's always been a bit daunting for me (why would anybody care what I'm reading?) but I have a wonderful chance to read upcoming work and hype up my fellow writers, so decided to shoot my shot. I was approved for an ARC for GHOST MUSIC by An Yu and did blaze through it one afternoon-evening. If you are a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro, this will probably be a story you enjoy. It's a melancholy and surrealist exploration of grief, loneliness, and the existential pain of being human. It reminded me quite a bit of A VIEW OF PALE HILLS by Ishiguro (in both the way the story is rendered as well as some of the plot strokes and conflicts). The book is quiet, following simple scenes of domestic and family life described with little fanfare. Yu does a great job though of weaving in the smallest of details, ones that reveal much about the characters ...

 Hello friends! I am about a week into my revision and I wanted provide a brief update. After I received my edit letter from my agent, I printed the entire manuscript with her comments via Office Max for $40 (sorry trees, I really can't do a deep dive on the screen 😓.) Then I spent 4-5 days reading it and making notes. I have a bit  of an involved process including sticky notes, charts, and color coding which you can see me discuss  here . Then, I started going in and executing the revisions this past Monday. I'm on chapter 5 now, and things are going well. I had a few good breakthroughs around worldbuilding and some character relationships I needed to hash out. So far, nothing is going to be a major structural change but I'm definitely adding more depth and recasting some scenes that can be more effective. I also bulldozed through Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Which, yes, I am aware. I am WAYYYY late to the party. But it was so good? The kind of SFF that also rips yo...

Hello all! By now, my agent announcement is live, and I continue to be in shock over the whole thing. If you are looking for an in-depth "how I got my agent" post, you can find that here .  This week has been quite heavy, and oftentimes continuing with other things feels sad and strange. However, I've realized writing (about craft or my stories) has helped me focus my energy in moments of heartache. I hope you are holding yourself in care, and allowing yourself grace as your focus your energies in ways you feel are productive.  Today's post is focused on something a bit different. I did want to discuss my querying journey within the context of an "atypical" story.  The manuscript I got my agent with included: dual timelines/a non-chronological story structure  a prologue a tense  and  POV shift in the climax And, in addition to all those choices, this manuscript was: a literary/speculative genre blend a story that despite...

 This will be quite long, FYI. And I also want to highlight two caveats to this “how I got my agent” story: 1. In the grand scheme of things, I had an easy querying experience. This is my first completed manuscript, and I had been querying it for exactly 35 days before I had an offer of representation in hand. I fully recognize that timing and luck were on my side. 2. This story is also intimately tied with grief. I don’t share this to somehow try and make my querying experience seem tougher than it was. It wasn’t. I had an easy querying experience, and I was also grieving during it. Those are just two co-existing facts. If you don’t want to read about all the heavy grief stuff, I’ll share my stats below and you can skip the rest.  The Stats 51 total queries 13 full requests, 1 partial 26 query rejections 9.8% request rate before offer nudge/27.5% after 11 passes on the full/partial 11 CNRs on query, 1 on full 2 offers of rep I) My Writing History I am somewhere between ...

 Hello all! I hope you've been doing well :) As of March, I am officially querying the first manuscript I wrote with the intention of traditional publication. So far it's been okay. I know querying overall is super tough right now, so I've been setting expectations. I have a handful of requests and plenty  of rejections. In the end, if it doesn't work out but I can learn something from the process, I'll count it as a win. I am also changing the name I will be using as a writer from Hien Fox to Hien Nguyen. While making this switch during  querying isn't the smartest thing I've done, it does feel more authentic to me. I'll be forwarding my presence so hopefully  it isn't too confusing. Cheers and hope you are enjoying warmer weather if you're in the Northern Hemisphere!

Hi all. Long time no chat. I have a few bits of news. If you've been following me (for which I am immensely grateful!) you know I had been working on my first major manuscript (an adult grounded speculative/upmarket project). This project is what landed me my AoC mentorship and received a lil' bit of love during Diversity Pitch. I had planned to finish revisions by the end of this year and start querying early 2022. It is a project that is deeply personal for me. Strangely enough, in uncanny and uncomfortable ways, it has ended up running parallel to my real life. In the novel, the protagonist must confront her mother's departed spirit in the climax. Almost a month ago exactly, I lost my mother unexpectedly. I am doing alright, or as much as one can given the circumstances. However, considering the nature of the story and my IRL grief, I am going to be taking a step back from that project for now. It hurts my heart a little bit, but the story will find its place in the worl...

 So. Funny story. Do you recall when I said I was going to take a long mental break from my manuscript and maybe query this fall? I finished my manuscript with one major revision (mostly of major structure and the addition of some scenes) in September. I felt a bit meh  about it. Well, last week I received news that my submission to Avengers of Colour was accepted and June Hur had selected me as her mentee. I thought I was mistaken for a second after receiving the e-mail.  But, here we are. So, the "long break" plan is scrapped and I will be instead undergoing some serious revision with the aim of querying this year. It's scary and exciting. I'm grateful, for both the mentorship and the little community it's already conjured.  For now, I'm reviewing some work for my critique partners. Then, hopefully, I'll be diving deep into revisions. Wish me luck! 😬

 Hi there :) It's been a while. I've actually been working on my first complete novel manuscript. As per usual, I vacillate in how I feel about it. BUT the important thing is: the manuscript is complete. I'll be taking a mental break from the work for a while before going back to do another revision. The goal is  to query sometime in fall, but we will see how I feel. I have my next project planned, which is very exciting and hoping that will be my NaNo project this year. Shoutout to my 7th grade class for being correct. It only took 17 years but that's okay. Anyhoo, cheers!

 Hello there! I hope you have been taking care of yourself and holding community close.  The past few weeks have been sad and draining, to say the least. I found myself vacillating between a lot of emotions after the attacks in Atlanta, and obviously, couldn't find my focus. So, there aren't many writing updates for this post. I have started my spring herbs and restructured my writing/work space-both to feel less cluttered. An added benefit is my plants are in a better location (my partner also gets more of his bookshelf space back, which he is very excited about). Nurturing plants make me feel closer to the earth and its creatures, somehow.  Smol baby perilla plant, which actually gets a shoutout in an upcoming flash fiction piece. Two of them seem to be dominating, let's hope after a second division they have more root space.  Tropical corner, which gets to bathe in filtered south-facing light all day

 Hello there! Some exciting things have happened since my last post: Insignia Stories posted one of my accepted drabbles for Women in Horror Month I received an acceptance for one of the pieces of short fiction I submitted last month! The date is still TBA, but will be posted in April :) I didn't write nearly as much this last month as I had hoped, but I did take time to read more short fiction from both small presses and some of the larger speculative magazines. There's a lot of fun work out there. One of my favorite stories was "The Bahrain Underground Bazaar" by Nadia Afifi, which was published in the November/December 2020 Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It was the perfect example of speculative stories that force you to sit with the feelings it conjures for a long time afterward. I also have started taking Vietnamese lessons with an iTalki teacher. I grew up speaking the language with my parents, but like many diaspora kids, the language I speak feels ...

 Hello there!  I started off 2021 feeling more or less pumped up about my goals. Of course, the truth of existence is a little more complicated (especially during a pandemic). I haven't really written or read very much in the past several weeks.  I did manage to convince myself that playing JRPGs (Trails of Cold Steel specifically) on the Playstation was a worthy study in storytelling. This may be obvious to everybody, but I'm noticing a trend of child soldiers in a lot of games 😬  However, I did manage to: Get my ass in gear in the last week, revise and submit a piece of flash fiction to an online magazine. Shout out to my partner, the many friends, and readers on Scribophile who helped with this endeavor!  I made the expensive and mildly impulsive decision to purchase an indoor exercise bike (no, not the one that produced a horror short as an advertisement) which ended up being very productive since my days have largely been on the couch or my desk chair....

 Hello!  2020 was obviously an outrageous and rough year, so reflecting seems like a strange exercise. However, it ended up being the year I finally put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) and completed NaNoWriMo, and committed to being a "writer" (whatever that means).  I wrote from middle to high school and dreamt about being a writer. After I graduated, I mostly dropped creative writing. I would pick up random projects but never surpass a few thousand words. My active imagination remained, but I was resolved to fade into a boring adulthood, convinced writing would never be part of my life.  It took a while, but here we are. I've started this blog and a website to hold myself accountable (even though that feels like I'm really putting the cart before the horse, lol).  Goals for 2021 Write and submit a few short stories for publication Start research/writing for my Southeast Asian fantasy epic Take some fiction and creative writing classes Read a lot more boo...