Success Story Interview - Allie Nguyen

An Interview with Allie Nguyen (allienguyen on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Ernie Chiara of Fuse Literary.

09/12/2024

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Allie Nguyen:
I drew a lot of inspiration from Ghibli films and pitched the book as SPIRITED AWAY meets GAME OF THRONES. It has Ghibli’s enchanting magic and the court intrigue and betrayals of GAME OF THRONES. I also wove in Vietnamese language and culture, as I wanted to bring more Viet representation into the fantasy genre.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Allie Nguyen:
I was twelve when I started posting Glee fanfiction online. It was also my first experience sharing my writing publicly, then I moved on to writing Harry Styles fanfiction on Wattpad (yes, I was one of those). I stopped writing for a while in high school but picked it up again during university. After graduating in Vietnam during the pandemic, I made the bold decision to move to London to pursue my MA in Creative Writing.

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

Allie Nguyen:
I originally wrote the first chapter of this book in 2021 and brought it to a writing workshop at university. Unfortunately, the negative feedback I received led me to shelve it for a while. It wasn’t until December 2023 that I decided to give it another shot, and it took me six months to write and edit the entire thing.

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

Allie Nguyen:
I wasn’t in the trenches for long, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I’ve always had a lot of support from the people around me, which kept me from ever feeling like giving up. I set myself a one-year deadline to find an agent, but even if I hadn’t succeeded (much sooner than expected), I would still try again with a different book.

QT: Is this your first book?

Allie Nguyen:
Yes, this is the first book I've ever finished (if you don't count my fanfiction) and also the first one that entered the trenches.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Allie Nguyen:
I have an MA in Creative Writing, but before that, I was pursuing a BA in business. Although my first language is actually Vietnamese, I grew up reading a lot of English books and learning English from watching Disney Channel.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Allie Nguyen:
No, I just write whenever inspiration strikes—and when I have the time.

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

Allie Nguyen:
I don't keep track of my edits, but I've changed my opening chapters about three times.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Allie Nguyen:
My boyfriend, Jamie, and one of my best friends, Emma, were there from the very beginning. They'd read through the messy first drafts all the way to the polished version I eventually sent to agents. I also shared my manuscript with a few other friends who gave me incredible feedback and kept me motivated throughout the process.

QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

Allie Nguyen:
I usually don’t work with an outline and just make things up as I go. However, for this book, I had a rough outline (based on The Hero's Journey structure) before I started writing. I didn't strictly stick to it, but it made everything easier because I had a clear direction from the start.

QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

Allie Nguyen:
This is the first book I ever queried, and I spent two months on the process. I ended up getting my agent through a Twitter pitch event!

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

Allie Nguyen:
I sent out 60 queries.

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

Allie Nguyen:
I initially sought out agents whose MSWLs perfectly matched my book. Until I realised that the agents who requested my full manuscript often didn't have those specific elements in their MSWLs. So I began querying any agent who accepted my genre (after making sure my book didn’t include elements on their anti-MSWLs, of course).

QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

Allie Nguyen:
I only customised queries if my book includes some elements on their MSWL worth pointing out.

QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

Allie Nguyen:
Do your research before sending out queries. I started with a small batch of queries and, as I began receiving full requests, I expanded to querying as many agents as I could. I also found it helpful to approach each query with the mindset that a rejection was the norm, so when I received a full request, it felt a lot more exciting, and form rejections didn't hurt as much.