Hien Nguyen's Blog, page 2

2025 Dissolutions

Hello friends! I know the new year has already brought about a lot. I hope you’ve been taking care of yourself and engaging with your community as you’re able.

I’ve turned in copy edits and worked on some other writing projects since being back from my holiday break. But as I think about this next year, I think about one of our holiday excursions visiting the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. On top of just overall being a lovely time reading comics and feeling nostalgic, there were many little tidbits of Schulz’s creative process placed throughout the museum. I joke about not having any resolutions, and simply hoping to dissolve into the sea (cough, Our Wives Under the Sea?) But I do think dissolution is a helpful way for me to think about where I want to be next year. A lot of this last year was wonderful and exhausting. There are many things that objectively make life worse, and as much as I’m able, I’d love to shed those habits in 2025. So, behold my list of 2025 dissolutions:

Hien’s Dissolutions

Stop relying on motivation & inspiration. Not every word needs to be inspired. But the word does need to exist first.

Stop letting negative emotions alter the course of a project. Name them and let myself feel them, but remind myself that while all feelings are valid, not all feelings are right.

Eat, sleep, and socialize more. Bullying myself into working more won’t help anybody.

Engage in creativity that is not tied to my professional life

I terms of other writing news, I’ve turned in copy edits for TWIN TIDES 🥳 I’ve also submitted another project proposal to my agent so we will see where it goes 👀

Also, before the winter break I was also able to see my final cover. AHHHH! Cover and pre-order information is slated for March so keep your eyes peeled.

And finally, in terms of curating joy with writing, I’ve also been working on a game as part of a game writing class. It’s a diasporic space story 👀 I may reach out for some play testers sometime soon. If you’re interested, let me know!

Anyway, wishing you a lot of rest and good start to your year!

Cheers ❤️

Turning in My Book! & lessons in letting go

Hello all! Long time no chat. There have been just a few updates since we’ve last spoken, which I’ll provide lightening round summary below -

I attended the Roots. Wounds. Words. Storyteller of Color Writer’s Retreat in September. It was a beautiful and restorative time! But also, we got stuck on the mountain during Hurricane Helene and had to get helicopter evacuated off the mountain! Please consider donating to help Asheville rebuild if you are able to

I turned in the final(ish) draft of TWIN TIDES to my editor earlier this month 🥂 They are now going to copyedits

I am currently working on two projects, including my potential option Young Adult speculative thriller & my adult horror

  Finishing TWIN TIDES 〰️ Finishing TWIN TIDES 〰️ Finishing TWIN TIDES 〰️

Once again, being on deadline kicked my butt. In mid to late October I received my editor’s latest notes on edits for TWIN TIDES with a turnaround date of early November. This was to be the final draft before copy edits. I turned back my last somewhat big revision (mostly concerned with clarifying the plot and streamlining). After a few more back and forth edits, the final version was transferred to copy edits earlier this month. While these changes were less substantial than my last big round of edits, it did involve a lot of work daily in order to finish my changes on time.

There was also the looming pressure of knowing this was almost the last point in the publishing process I could make major changes. You as an author can still make big changes in copy edits, but the idea is that your manuscript should be in mostly its final form. A lot of the stress in this stage of the editorial process was simply letting go and trusting that this was in the best shape it could be. My partner, who is a professor in English Literature and focuses on Asian American literature did read this version of the draft and helped me A- make metaphors make sense and B- affirmed in his biased opinion that this is a good project and I should stop telling myself it is not.

It’s funny because I am not someone who set out to write “the book of my heart” and I was very much agnostic when it came to any changes to my manuscript (I didn’t feel particularly precious about anything). But the finality of turning in the draft was quite daunting for me. While TWIN TIDES may not be the “book of my heart” it is an ambitious project that fully represents what I want my writing career to look like. It is a multi-POV novel with epistolary elements — often highlighting the real historical context to the Vietnamese diaspora (and the real violence of the war). TWIN TIDES is very much an Asian American story at its core, while still very much being a story about teen girls getting into creepy shenanigans.

I drafted both my dedication, acknowledgements, and an author’s note exploring all of this. This book does mean so much to me, and I still can’t quite believe it will be out in the world next year.

Next steps?

I will be working throughout the next month on my next YA project, which is the potential option project I’ll be submitting to my current publisher. Options are often in publishing contracts, giving a publisher the right to see a project before it’s submitted widely. I don’t want to reveal too much yet, but my next YA is going to be a dark academia spin on Vietnamese mythology (big surprise there) and a cross between PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, MEAN GIRLS, and THE CRAFT 👀

The materials I hope to get squared away are the first three chapters (about 9,000 words) and a detailed synopsis.

I’ll also probably be getting TWIN TIDES back from copy edits sometime before the holiday break, so will be taking time to work on those changes whenever they are returned to me. I don’t anticipate having time to work on it the rest of 2024, but my adult “eldest daughter revenge horror” is something I want to commit to finishing in the first few months of 2025. Wish me luck!

I hope you all have a good end to your year, and are able to take time to rest and take care of your community!

❤️ See you soon

Being on Deadline & Back Pain

I officially owe nothing for my manuscript! Everybody cheer for me 🎉

My debut novel, TWIN TIDES, sold on proposal, which meant a full manuscript did not exist at the time it sold. I’ve turned in my first major revisions, which took a lot more from me than I anticipated. It definitely was something tantamount to trial by fire. My book sold in February, I owed a first draft May, and I turned in revisions this month. Phew.

I had to ask for multiple extensions and was both dealing with feeling guilty and imposter’s syndrome, which is such a fun writer’s cocktail. Act I ended up being turned in first, with me turning around Act II and III, and doing line edits on Act I in the same span of time. My editor was flexible, which is great! But I do regret putting myself in this position because the rolling deadlines was a lot to manage. I am very happy to take a breather right now.

Just a girl & the office chair a very nice salesman shoved into the car for her

That said, it’s in! And I can only use this experience to shape how I approach deadline in the future. There were many late nights, and my back pain flare ups were having a field day. My partner just purchased a Herman Miller Aeron chair from an office liquidator for me, so I will update you on my thoughts. Hopefully it helps fix my posture and back pain issue. I have a full-time day job, which means with deadline I was at my computer for 12+ hours a day, everyday. The desk chair I had was a very basic Virginia Tech office chair that I commandeered from a group house in the DC area I lived in yearrrssss ago. It served me well, but was not a very good chair 😥

Next week I will be attending the Roots. Wounds. Words. Autumn Writers’ Retreat for Storytellers of Color, and I am so excited. I was slated to participate in the speculative fiction workshop; however, the program had to adjust and I am now pursuing independent study as a writers-in-residence. As someone with a non-creative day job, having space for just my writing is so important, as well as being in community with other writers of color. I’ll be carving out time to work on my adult horror project, which I’m called my eldest daughter revenge story and cult horror.

Another big update regarding the production schedule of TWIN TIDES is I saw cover sketches for my novel! It was so surreal and each of the sketches was stunning. I will definitely share more when I can 👀

I hope you all have been well and holding yourself in care! While I love writing, being on deadline did tax me in ways I wasn’t prepared for. Wishing you all much rest and healing as we dive into the end of the year ❤️

I’m Joining the Paper Trail Podcast!

Surprise! 🎉 I joined the Paper Trail podcast, which includes writers Candace Buford, Laekan Zea Kemp, and Diana Rodriguez Wallach.

Episode 13 is posted to both Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and it is the first episode in which I appear. I am so grateful to be in conversation with such amazing authors 💖 We yapped about our projects, news consumption, whether there should be a Glassdoor for publishers, and dive deep into whether or not all writing is political.

A little audiogram from my discussion of publishing highs and lows is above. If you give it a listen and/or subscribe, I would appreciate it so much! Episodes will generally be posted monthly, and some will even feature special guests 👀

The Flower Eater is a nominee!

Hi friends! I have been somewhat inactive due to being on deadline and moving cross-country (again 😅).

However, I wanted to pop in and share some exciting news. My fabulist short story, “The Flower Eater”, is a 2025 Best of Net nominee 😭😭

Fahmidan Journal’s 2025
Best of Net Nominees

I’m so grateful for the home “The Flower Eater” found with Fahmidan Journal, and also so thrilled to part of his amazing company.

 

This is especially important for me because I originally drafted “The Flower Eater” in 2021 while I processed my immense grief surrounding the spike of anti-Asian violence. I grew up internalizing the message that if you merely kept your head down, worked hard, and never made any waves, you could somehow protect yourself from violence. This, of course, isn’t true.

I wrote my weird little fabulist story about an incomprehensible monster and a girl growing to womanhood without necessarily intending it for publication, but I am so glad it found its home with Fahmidan.

You can read “The Flower Eater” and the other nominees on Fahmidan Journal’s website!

Many thanks to you and your support ❤️

Cover Design Shenanigans, WriteHive & Being a Grub

Long time no see! I turned in my first draft for TWIN TIDES early May, and many things (and also many not-things) have happened since then.

In early June, I participated as both a moderator and panelist for the 2024 WriteHive Conference. It was a lovely experience, and WriteHive provides so many free resources for writers. The 2024 conference has not yet been released to the public, but I highly recommend checking out some of their resources online.

Otherwise, since turning in my draft, I’ve been trying to take a long break. Unfortunately, I did get kicked out of the NOVID club after 4 years. I did get much sicker than my partner, which was quite annoying. But I’ve taken a long rest and tried my best not to tax my body. I feel good now, but still trying not to push myself too hard (physically & mentally). We also suffered a major power outage here in the past few days after a freak storm 🫠

* booing heard aggressively in the background *

A very exciting book update is that I completed the questionnaire to send to the cover team for my debut novel. This all happened during the time I was sick, so I wasn’t fully able to bask in the excitement.

My editor reached out with a set of questions, which essentially asked for information on my book, aesthetic, and thematic things I wanted to be featured, as well as examples of cover art I liked. It was very surreal putting something together that will eventually turn into my physical book. I was a little extra and created a PDF in Canva answering all the questions and providing visual references 😅

A page from the PDF I sent to the cover team for TWIN TIDES

Otherwise, I’ve been what I’ve called ‘a grub’ - taking care of myself, rolling around and burrowing until I’m comfortable, resting, and eating good food. It sometimes is hard for me not to feel like rest is a waste and that I’m not using my time effectively. However, as someone who is pursuing traditional publishing and maintaining a day job, I’ve realized how much this ‘grub time’ is important.

I will hopefully have some exciting professional news to share soon. Cheers to burrowing in the dirt like a little larvae, and see you next time!

I have turned in ~ a draft ~

❗I have turned in my first draft to my editor ❗

Drumroll please. Last week I turned in my first draft to my editor. Because I sold TWIN TIDES on proposal, that meant my deadline was May 1 for the first draft. It was messy. I should have managed my time better. There are also a million things I already know I want to change. BUT for now, I’m going to take a breather. Ultimately I wrote 50k+ words in the span of a little over two months which is quite a lot for me. Other folks are speedy writers, and I am not 😅

    Add My Book? 👀

TWIN TIDES is on both Goodreads and StoryGraph now for you to add to your ‘Want to Read’ list. It would be very appreciated if you did! AI is having a moment right now and I do have a lot of ethical contentions with its current implementation. However, StoryGraph uses an AI feature to generate a preview for books, and I got a bit of a kick out of mine (since the book is not even close to publication):

  Upcoming Books by Writing Friends

My lovely author friend (and Avengers of Colour Mentee peer), Busayo Matuluko did a lovely shout out of TWIN TIDES and two other books from our mentee cohort over on TikTok. Her YA mystery, ‘TIL DEATH is also coming out in 2025 (cue screaming). You can also follow Busayo on Twitter here.

I’ve outlined where you can find information on all the books below. I’m so, so proud of my cohort and so excited. In 2021 we were all mentees together. We went through the query trenches together and are now getting published together. It’s still very surreal, and I can’t begin to convey just how meaningful these friends have been to me ❤️

The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow
Out August 6

A young adult fantasy

Add to Goodreads
Preorder here

A Banh Mi For Two by Trinity Nguyen

A sapphic YA romance
Out August 20

Add to Goodreads
Preorder here

And the Sky Bled by S. Hati
Out October 15

An adult fantasy

Add to Goodreads
Preorder here

  What’s Next?

I’ve filmed some panels for the WriteHive 2024 Conference, both as a moderator and panelist. We had such lovely conversations and I’m excited to share them with you. Registration is now live for marginalized writers, and will open more widely soon. It’s completely free, and a wonderful resource! It will take place June 7th to 9th, so definitely check it out!

Next Adult Novel Project

On top of playing Stardew Valley (cough, with the Astarion mod, cough) I’ve been planning my next adult project. My agent gave me the green light so I’m excited to dive into drafting that soon. Titled THE DEVIL’S MERIT, this will be an adult horror centering on a Perfect Eldest Daughter who goes on an isolated wellness retreat to escape a cheating husband and her demanding family. However, she finds herself trapped in a self-care horror show and must escape with her body (and soul) intact.

 

I hope you all are taking care of yourself and making time for rest. Chat with you next time! 💖

Matcha Fueled Sprints

Hello all! Thank you so much for your support after my announcement for TWIN TIDES. It’s all still so surreal and I continue feeling very blessed for all the support 💗

  Updates

My announcement with Publishers Weekly arrived!

My short story, The Flower Eater, was published in Fahmidan Journal Issue 17.

It’s a surrealist/fabulist story that follows a girl to womanhood, and the mysterious monster haunting her.

I also read for the launch party, which you can view on my TikTok here.

TW: References to sexual coercion, racism, and violence

My flash fiction piece, The Living City, was published in Speculative City Issue 14: Megacity.

It’s a science fantasy fable about a sentient landmass contemplating its own mortality.

  Personal News Round-up

I’ve recently become obsessed with matcha lattes as my writing drink of choice, hence the title of this blog post/newsletter. I am, on occasion, fairly easy to influence (which seems on brand as two of my projects include influencers). A video popped up around how ordering higher quality matcha powder from Japanese companies issn’t actually too expensive to get shipped overseas. Channeling my mother and her insatiable desire to get Good Deals TM: I ordered a 50 pack of the sweetened powder and it’s been Matcha Central ever sense.

I am not sponsored in any capacity (although, cough, will gladly accept it) but if you are curious, the brand I purchased was Marukyu Koyamaen.

I’ve also recently purchased and built my own mechanical keyboards. This was also based on being influenced (please don’t look at me like that) but I do have to say, the satisfying noise of typing means I have been writing much more in the past few weeks. I’ve also realized, as someone whose primary job is Desk (both my day job and my writing job), that I quite enjoy doing work with my hands (e.g. assembling a keyboard and hearing the satisfying clicks of pieces falling into place). The new writing/workspace is quite cozy if I do say so myself.

  Writing Updates

TWIN TIDES (Young Adult Horror) Progress

My current draft to my editor is due early May, and I have been in a writing hole the past few weeks. I’m slated to finish by mid-April, which gives me some time to do a pass to smooth everything together before sending it off.

Things are feeling much more real now that deadline is approaching and announcements have been made. Wish me luck!

I’ve been making some outlining progress as well on the adult horror project I have planned, THE DEVIL’S MERIT, which follows a perfect eldest daughter grappling with a wellness horror show. It’s definitely the most ambitious (and creepy) project I’ve attempted so far. It’s based off of the Viet ghost stories of Quy Nhap Trang, ghosts who possess the body of the dead.

Art Credit: Duy Van

  Game Writing

My husband and I decided to start our planned videogame project, Poppy Isn’t Here (PIH) for a themed horror game jam. We had actually signed up for the last game jam, intending to make PIH for it.

However, the theme ended up not being a fit. However, this time around, it’s perfect (the theme being: Eldritch Abominations). Since we had only ever done brainstorming work, it actually works well with a game jam format. The rules are that any substantive game development can happen during the jam (however, planning or gathering game assets is fine beforehand).

I had started some early storyboard work and have been working on the game script since the jam started. I have a bare bones version done, but a lot more needs to be expanded or clarified. My husband is working on the basic environment and getting the inventory and dialogue system worked out.

 

I wish you a good solar eclipse season! I am right in the path of totality and plan to get a lot of writing done this weekend as folks flood into our town 😅 stay safe, hydrated, and happy reading/writing!

*whispers* I’m going to be published!

I am so excited to finally be able to share the news with you 🎉 My debut young adult horror, TWIN TIDES is going to be published by Delacorte Press Fall 2025!

I’ve been pretty obnoxious and have alluded to ✨ vague ✨news on all of my socials, so thank you so much for putting up with my shenanigans. I still can’t quite believe it.

I want to name how lucky my publishing journey has been. I say this not to discount my work, or the work of those rallying behind me, but to recognize how much publishing relies on these ‘lightning-in-a-bottle’ moments. I’m lucky that my lightning strikes have happened just at the right times.

Firstly, I’m so grateful that my editor, Bria Ragin, who found potential in my messy, grieving girls. I conceived of this project so long ago, and to see it come to life as my debut is still unbelievable. I also owe many thanks to my agent, Katelyn Detweiler who helped shaped the early versions of this project and was amenable to the many additions I wanted to make (cough multiple POVs and epistolary aspects). 😅

A few special shoutouts to the many friends (and my husband, who just celebrated a birthday. Cheers to 33, my love!) who took a look at versions of this project and cheered me on. I could not have done it without you. This little community of mine is by far the best thing to come out of my writing journey.

I owe a lot of gratitude to younger me, as well. From roleplaying on Neopets forums, writing Narnia fan fiction (specifically William Moseley as Peter, ahem), to a plethora of very angsty poetry: your creativity and daydreams got us here. I’m sorry for ever feeling embarrassed over it (and shout out to my middle school class for voting me most likely to write a novel).

And lastly, to Momma Nguyen and my uncle. You saved my poems and bragged to your friends about me. I know you would have been so happy. I can’t imagine a version of me who could have done this without your love ❤️ the most bittersweet part of all this is having to undertake this new journey without you.

Ma da in Vietnamese mythology are the vengeful ghosts of drowned victims who must claim a new body in order to move on. So many ghost stories, especially of colonized peoples, are involved with being trapped by and within violence. This novel explicitly asks whose violence is responsible for these ghosts in the first place.

At its core, TWIN TIDES is an exploration of grief, greed, and broken family ties amidst a small town plagued by a drowned ghost. I’m so excited for you to meet my messy, haunted girls.

vague monsters & updates

new year old me

Hello! In completely unsurprising news, I have not kept up with my goal to post more frequent blog posts & newsletters. In my defense, I’ve had a pretty eventful start to 2024.

If you follow me on my social media, you’ll likely notice me being quite annoying by alluding to ✨vague publishing news ✨. I’m excited to share the news with you eventually, so stay tuned!

I’ve been working hard on my YA horror, and have been carving out time daily to chip away at it. It is my gothic Vietnamese Parent Trap meets The Haunting of Bly Manor story and is inspired by a few different things.

  inspirations

First, I was inspired by the Vietnamese ghost stories of Ma Da. As told, they are the ghosts of drowned victims. Often vengeful, they must claim a new life before they can be released from their ghostly form and can continue on the cycle of reincarnation.

In terms of the context, my story also takes place in Minnesota, near the Mississippi River. I grew up in Iowa, and recall crossing the massive river every time we travelled. I’m not a strong swimmer (truth be told, I’m barely a “swimmer” at all). The water and I have always had begrudging respect of one another. In recent years, news stories have cropped up of drought causing areas of the Mississippi to drop to historic lows. And in these dried up riverbeds are old relics and bodies that would have never been found otherwise.

It is heartbreaking to think of how many waited under the water for so long, and their families and community struggling with the discovery. The history of lost bodies is embedded in Vietnamese history as well, with my adult novel centering on how spirit mediums were hired to help locate the lost bodies of war dead. Water is also central, as the origin myth of the Vietnamese people involve a split between the mountain and the sea.

For better or worse, my brand of horror attempts to explore this immense grief. In thinking of a split of twin girls, and the split of peoples and diaspora, it felt apt to focus on a drowned ghost and what it means to lose things to the water.

 

My fancy son, Panko, sunbathing on clean laundry.

  updates

On top of my novel, I’ve been working on a few other projects 🤭

Upcoming Publications

I have two upcoming short fiction pieces that will be published in Spring.

A short story, titled The Flower Eater will be published by Fahmidan Journal on March 10th. It follows a girl to womanhood and the monster who haunts her.

A flash fiction piece, titled The Living City will be published by Speculative City in their Spring Issue. It follows a sentient land mass who contemplates its mortality.

  Video Game Writing? Poppy Isn’t Here

I’ve started a collaboration with my husband, who is self-teaching himself video game art and programming. Inspired by some other Vietnamese ghost stories, it’s a horror puzzle game following Poppy Luu, who is investigating the mystery surrounding her parents’ deaths.

It will take a long while as a background project for both of us, but I’m exciting to share details once we have something more tangible.

  Reading & Mentorship

I’ve started as a reader for Fusion Fragment, a sci-fi publication that I’ve long admired. It’s been so fun to read from the slush, and I am only affirmed in my belief the world is full of wonderful writers and stunning stories.

Round Table Mentorship:

Frances Taylor & THE SELF DESTRUCTION OF SYMPATHY

Round Table Mentor’s inaugural cycle has started, and I’m mentoring the stunning adult horror project by Frances Taylor, which follows three cursed families and a sea monster. It’s smart, terrifying, and atmospheric, grabbing me by the heart & refusing to let go. If you’d like to follow Frances’ journey, you can follow her on Twitter (@Frances11Writes).

More soon ❤️