K.T. Nguyen
You Know What You Did
DOSSIER: Working with Glamour, Fitness, and Shape magazines must have exposed you to some interesting things that could give you some great novel ideas. How did those early years bouncing around New York City in the magazine industry help mold your fiction writing career years later?
NGUYEN: On a technical level, interviewing people, writing features, editing and being edited—all these taught me how to craft a story. In terms of content, the experience of having a glamourous job in NYC in my twenties provided me with plenty of colorful anecdotes and inspiration for upcoming books. One vivid memory: leaving an awards ceremony in the Waldorf Astoria early and racing down Fifth Avenue in Gucci pumps to get back to the Conde Nast Building to do a telephone interview with RFK, Jr. (nobody knew back then, okay?!)
DOSSIER: When you’re not writing a follow up to your psychological thriller YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID, isn’t one of your favorite things to do on a Friday night involve sitting around a jigsaw puzzle of a lush garden with some wire-haired terriers running around in it?
NGUYEN: Ha! We moved to the D.C. area shortly before COVID. During lockdown, I planted a hedgerow of native plants. Dedicating even a small patch of your yard to native plants benefits pollinators, which can have a major impact on the local ecosystem. My husband, daughter, and I watch the Mets while puzzling and, yes, my Jack Russell mix is usually running around or sleeping at my feet. I also train five times a week at a Krav gym.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Absolute silence/music playing/your hotel room at ThrillerFest?)
NGUYEN: I write first thing in the morning, in silence, in my home office. One half of the room is a nice office (the side you see on social media). The other half is a mess of bins and shelves containing my art supplies—yarns I acquired from Beijing and Scotland years ago, paints, charcoal, glue guns, blades, inks, and the like.
DOSSIER: Your novel’s main character, Annie Shaw, has her world turned upside down when someone close to her dies suddenly. The Dossier isn’t saying you’re drawing from your personal life there, but you DO have something in common with Annie, right? Care to talk about a little OCD? Care to talk about a little OCD? (See what we did there?)
NGUYEN: I have a specific form of contamination-based OCD driven by intense disgust. For many years, I didn’t realize I had OCD, because my torturous experience with the disorder was so different than the lighthearted portrayals you see in the media. Like my main character Annie, I’ve managed the condition successfully with medication. The realistic, no holds barred depiction of OCD and mental health in YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID is the aspect of the book I’m most proud of. Hopefully, readers will see themselves or learn to empathize a bit more.
DOSSIER: Your novel is getting wild reviews from New York Times Bestselling authors. Ana Reyes said, “This book knocked the wind out of me…” S.A. Cosby said your book, “…will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page.” Even the Dossier has weighed in. Did you expect all this high praise when you sat down and started writing page one?
NGUYEN: Thankfully, I had no clue about book publishing when I started writing YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID. At the time, I was commuting weekly from D.C. to San Francisco for my corporate marketing job. I knew I wanted a change. I wanted to capitalize on my creativity and to do something I truly felt passionate about. I avoided listening to negative stories, podcasts, etc. about the publishing industry, knowing that stuff would only weigh me down. Instead, I took everything one step at a time—from writing a book, to querying agents, etc. Only in the past year did I begin to make connections with other authors. I joined a fantastic group called Crime Writers of Color. I can’t tell you what a difference it made to see some familiar faces when I attended my first writing conference. Since then, I’m happy to report that every single author and every single reader I’ve met so far in the thriller community has been incredibly welcoming and supportive!
Website: K.T. Nguyen | Amazon Page
Jeff Circle 