Finding mentors, exploring joy, facing agony: A map of the writing life

Linda Trinh is a Vietnamese Canadian author of nonfiction and fiction for adults and children. Seeking Spirit: A Vietnamese (non) Buddhist Memoir is her first book for adults. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in literary magazines such as The Fiddlehead, Room, and Prairie Fire.

A map of the writing life

Author Linda Trinh

Linda has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. Her award-winning four-book early chapter book series, The Nguyen Kids, explores Vietnamese culture and identity with elements of the supernatural, spirituality, and social justice woven in. In this author Q&A, Linda explores fiction, form, and the spirit between, and the map of the writing life.

OCW: Has your writing evolved over the years? If so, how? Through writing experience? Reading a lot? Writing courses or communities? A combination, or something else?

LT: I’ve taken various writing courses. I try to read as much as I can. I try to write a lot.  Those are all important. What really helped me grow as a writer were one-on-one direct mentoring relationships. I participated in mentorship programs through the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and Diaspora Dialogues, working with a mentor for many months at a time, on personal essays and chapters that would form my memoir. My mentors challenged me to try different things, asked insightful questions that forced me to think deeply about my work, and encouraged me keep going. These experiences were invaluable and inform my interactions with my book editors now. 

Stories, spirit, and the search for belonging

OCW: Can you trace any common themes across your writing?

LT: There are definitely common themes as I’m exploring similar questions and experiencing possible answers in different ways in my work. I write about spirituality which to me relates to what is mysterious and unknowable, connecting to more than just myself. In fiction, I love writing characters who are searching for something – for treasure, for belonging, for love. In creative nonfiction, I love exploring form and the form itself becomes part of the storytelling. 

From manuscript to memoir: How mentorship shapes a voice

OCW: If you’ve been published, how did you find your first publisher?

LT: The Secret of the Jade Bangle, book one in the Nguyen Kids series, was my first book, published in 2022.  I found the publisher, Annick Press, by applying to their mentorship program for those historically marginalized from publishing, an opportunity I saw posted online. 

While I did not get the mentorship opportunity, I was fortunate to make a connection with one of the editors. Months later, after I had finalized my manuscript for what would become the Jade Bangle, I submitted it to that editor who was already familiar with me. 

Be curious, find authors you admire

OCW: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?

LT: Find what works for you for all the writing-related things. That could be in terms of process – write every day or don’t, work on multiple projects or a single project, etc. and measures of success – completing a draft, publishing in a lit mag, etc. It’s great to be inspired by authors you admire, to be curious about what they do and how far they’ve come in their publishing careers. Keep in mind though that every writer has their own journey –  their way into writing, formal and informal writing courses taken, the work that they do to pay the bills, and possible constraints, so learn from them AND then find your own path. Find and explore the joy (and sometimes the agony) in your writing!

Layers of the self: A writer’s path through form and voice

OCW: Do you edit as you write, or write and edit later?

I write in layers. So I just keep going. When I’m drafting, I write what comes to mind, and keep forward momentum. Dialogue seems to flow more naturally than anything else. If I can’t think of something in the moment, perhaps a physical description of a place or the name of a minor character, I’ll write a note to myself in brackets to fill in later. 

For my kids’ books, which may be around 15,000 words, I’ll write a detailed outline. Then write an initial draft that may still have blanks and notes to myself. I consider the manuscript a first draft when I’ve gone back over everything to fill in the blanks and it may read as a complete story. Then the next stage begins with deep revisions where I may spend a lot of time editing specific segments.