Ushani Nanayakkara recently published her first novel, One True Lie. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband and puppy, where she spends her free time outdoors hiking, skiing, and climbing in the Cascade Mountains and contemplating what kinds of crimes could occur in the wilderness. In addition to writing novels, Ushani Nanayakkara has co-authored non-fiction books on special education, language learners, and language acquisition with Steve Gill.
In One True Lie, two young women travel to the Caribbean Island of Aruba. When one of them disappears, the police look for her in all the wrong places.
Where do you place your settings—real or fictional locations? I like to set my
novels in real locations so that I can use their geography and climate to create challenges for the novel’s characters to overcome. One True Lie is set in the Caribbean, mainly in Aruba. The proximity of Aruba to South America has a huge influence on the plot. While the characteristics of a location influence the plot, I invent fictional neighborhoods, structures, and buildings for most scenes.
Do your characters behave or run wild? Do they ever disappoint you or surprise you? My characters can be stubborn. They sometimes hijack the story and take it in a different direction than I had planned. For example, in One True Lie, the plan was for a secondary character to be a red herring. My editor suggested that this person should be an ally to the antagonist. I tried to make the change, but this character wanted to be a good person. It was much easier to make this work, and the new scenario added an interesting twist to the story.
How long did it take you to write your first novel? I wrote the first draft of One True Lie twelve years ago. I worked on it regularly for a couple of years, then put it aside. Since then, I’ve written many drafts of novels, all while balancing my writing with my day job, raising kids, and co-authoring and publishing non-fiction books with my husband. When I found out that my day job was being eliminated due to a reorganization, I was ready! I had two manuscripts that had already gone through several rounds of professional editing. I’d also spent years thinking about my next steps for these novels. The 2024 Left Coast Crime conference was going to be in my neighborhood, a great deadline to aim for. I published One True Lie just in time for that event.
Where do you write? What, if any, distractions do you allow? I have two writing spaces at home: my home office and a cabin in the backyard. The cabin is mostly empty, so there are few distractions. It’s a great place to go if I need to concentrate on something.
There are two other settings where I feel very productive. The first is writing in coffee shops. The buzz of voices and coffee grinders work great as a white-noise background, and people-watching sometimes gives me ideas. The other is writing in places where I might be able to conjure up an idea for a new novel. For example, while spending a weekend in a remote lodge in the Cascades mountains, I began to imagine what might happen if a landslide or an avalanche cut us off from the rest of the world. Would any of the other guests trapped there have something to hide? Could there be some conflict? Might someone disappear or turn up dead?
Tell us about your writing process. At times, I work on my novel every day. To turn a rough first draft into a polished manuscript, I revise and edit it countless times. I also take breaks at different stages of the writing process. I let the manuscript sit for a few weeks or even months so that I could come back to it with fresh eyes. For One True Lie, I took a break for several years as I wrote the first drafts of other thrillers. When I came back to this book, I discovered that some things didn’t work with the draft, and I was able to address those.
What are you currently working on? I am working on a thriller titled Snowbound, set in a remote location in the Austrian Alps. In it, a group of skiers is stranded in an alpine hut, and a killer is among them. I wrote the first draft of this novel many years ago as well and am now revising it to get it ready for publication.
Publications – Fiction
• One True Lie – A Caribbean Thriller https://a.co/d/7PklYIU
Publications – Non-Fiction co-authored with Steve Gill
• The ELL Critical Data Process – 3rd Edition: Distinguishing between disability and language acquisition https://a.co/d/1aKrxbx
• Evaluating ELL Students for the Possibility of Special Education Qualification – 2nd Edition https://a.co/d/c4UCxVN
• Lessons Learned while Evaluating ELL Students for Potential Special Education Qualification https://a.co/d/iRSgzb2
• The ELL Special Education Evaluation Workbook: Companion and Training Document for the ELL Critical Data Process https://a.co/d/dnggguj
• Special Education Referral or Not: Using Data to Determine Between Interventions and Referral https://a.co/d/hP24m2p
• Language Acquisition: Building a solid foundation and pursuing a new level of language mastery https://a.co/d/9enLOxL
• Processing Perspectives: Examining Beliefs, Biases, and Reality Through Stories https://a.co/d/58BY3Pa
Memberships
• International Thriller Writers
• Mystery Writers of North America
• Sisters in Crime
• Pacific Northwest Writers Association
Contact Information
• Email: UshaniNanayakkara@hotmail.com
• Facebook: @ushani.nanayakkara.author
• Instagram: @ushaninanayakkara
• X: @Ushani
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15724128.Ushani_Nanayakkara
• Website: http://www.UshaniNanayakkara
Your story is fascinating and congratulations on getting that first novel published. May it be the first of many. Best of luck to you, Ushani.
Thank you, Michael.
I found it really cool that a Conference, in this case, Left Coast Crime, could act as a deadline to inspire an author to get their book published. Fun and educational post, George and Ushani. Thank you both.
Thanks, Pamela.
I love that your characters hijack your story. That means that they are fully in control and you aren’t forcing them out of character. Congratulations on your first novel. Interesting that you’re books are set in the Austrian Alps and the Caribbean. Any plans to place a mystery in the Pacific Northwest?
Hi Donnell, yes! I have a very early draft of one set in the Puget Sound area.
I was gripped by One True Lie and look forward to your next book.
Thanks, Michele. I’m busy working on the next one.
Interesting writing process! To think you set your project(s) aside for such long times makes me feel better about being a bit of a slackard on my current WIP! Good luck with your first book and your future projects!
Thanks John. Going back to a manuscript with fresh eyes can work wonders. Some writers have multiple projects going at the same time. My mind doesn’t work like that. I have to set one aside.