How do you get inspired to write?
I find story inspiration in local crime blotters, human interest pieces, and, generally, in the weird, wonderful world. I love reading about something peculiar or seeing an astounding video on social media and thinking, “What if that happened this way or to this person?”. Then I’ll file it away for later.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
I don’t believe in waiting for a muse to visit me from on high. I can always write. It isn’t always useable, but it’s words on a page. Putting words on a page as a daily habit turns into a short story, turns into a book, turns into a backlist and a career. I firmly believe this. Keeping to a rough schedule (I write in the mornings) helps me. One day I might only come up with a couple hundred words, the next a couple thousand. Either way I show up.
What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?
My debut YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID was based on my own experience with disgust-driven obsessive compulsive disorder. I was walking my dog one day and asked myself, “What’s the scariest thing you could imagine?” For me, the answer was this: What if my intrusive thoughts—the stuff people tell you all your life won’t happen—what if those disturbing thoughts manifested themselves in real life around you?
What are you currently working on?
I’m writing my second book. It’s a dark comedic thriller that draws from my personal experience in the beauty and fashion industry. In my twenties, I was a magazine editor at Conde Nast. In my thirties and forties, I worked in marketing and branding.
Let’s talk about your writing process. What kind of research did you do for this novel?
YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID was based on my personal experience with OCD. OCD manifests itself differently in everyone. I did do a pub med search and read the latest research on disgust and OCD. I also refer to the International OCD Foundation site: IOCDF.org. It’s an excellent place to learn about OCD and to locate resources in your area. In addition, I researched and read oral histories of refugees escaping Vietnam shortly after the fall of Saigon.
In general, what emotions do you usually wish to elicit with your writing?
It varies. I’ve written short pieces intended to charm and delight my audience and to make them laugh. I’ve also written much darker material. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID is tinged with horror. My goal was to bring the reader into Annie’s mind. To trap them there, in the suffocating and disturbing world of her intrusive thoughts. In some cases it’s squirm-inducing.
Outline or pants?
Full-on trousers.
I’m still figuring out my process.
Best advice on writing you've ever received?
Author and mindset coach Camille Noe Pagán gave me this great piece of advice—and I’m paraphrasing, Write then write some more. Write because it’s the only thing you can really control in the unpredictable world of publishing.
What is the weirdest/wildest topic or fact that you’ve had to research or uncovered in your research?
I was researching unusual weapons last year and came across an OSS project during WWII. Researchers were asked to create a stink bomb, a cocktail of noxious odors that would produce persistent “unmistakable evidence of extreme personal uncleanliness” that would nauseate those around the target. It was psychological warfare, intended to demoralize through embarrassment. The project was code-named “Who, Me?”
Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?
“If you’re one of us, prove it,” Jenny said, nodding her freckled face at the butcher block table where a young cottontail quivered, ears flattened in a desperate attempt to avoid notice. Yearning to belong and equally afraid not to, I took a deep breath, snatched the cleaver from the varsity cheerleader’s outstretched hand, and slashed, slashed, slashed until only a few ropey ligaments held Jenny’s head to her neck.
What else would you want readers to know about you?
When I’m not reading or writing, I spend a lot of time training at a self-defense gym, rooting for the Mets, and watching wombat videos online. Wombats’ backsides are comprised of four thick plates of cartilage. When pursued by a predator, the wombat stops just inside the entrance of its burrow. It can literally twerk the predator to death, slamming the predator’s head with its mega-bum. Really, wombats are just so cute though!
Where can readers find you online?
Readers can visit my website https://www.ktnguyenauthor.com/ and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ktnguyen_author/
YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID by K.T. Nguyen
Agatha Award Winner
Lefty Award Finalist
Currently Nominated for the Anthony Award and the Macavity Award
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