Single Sashimi by Camy Tang

I have not read this one from Camy Tang, yet... I hope to do so very soon.

That does not stop me from offering a good review based on her past books and just how wonderful they really are. Camy Tang is one of the very few authors that you can bank on something from her being excellent.

Her characters are very well balanced and as human as you and I are. They are funny and they have flaws and they are excellent examples of how to write sassy characters without being annoying!

I asked Camy to guest blog today...

Guest blog for Gina Burgess

Hi everybody, this is Camy, and Gina is letting me guest blog today.

Gina asked me to talk about my characters—how I come up with them, how to make them memorable.

I start with a template called a character archetype. All writers use them—novelists, screenwriters, playwrights. They’re mythological character types that are a useful starting point.

For example, in Single Sashimi, Venus was modeled after the Athena archetype, from the Greek/Roman myths. She’s strong, intelligent, and organized. She’s capable and ambitious, but she also has a hard time with her feelings and relating to people well.

I gave Venus one of the toughest jobs in the tech industry, a female video game developer. It’s a high-pressure field with very few women who are successful.

I made her come from a large extended Asian American family, with all the problems and joys that come along with it. I’ve been told that it’s very similar to large Italian American families and large Irish American families, so I think the concept is pretty universal.

Then I gave her three very different cousins as best friends for her to bounce off of. Iron sharpens iron, and her cousins each impact her life in different ways.

And lastly, I made her human, with all the problems and flaws that come along with it. She’s an uber-control-freak. I’m talking she needs serious counseling. And because of her flaws, she makes some rather bad choices sometimes.

(She bears an alarming resemblance to me, minus the gorgeous body and brilliant mind, which is probably why I like her so much.)

I guess you could say I make my characters extremes. I start from a template archetype and then go wiggy and make them as interesting and different as I can.

I’m hoping Venus is memorable for my readers, because I sure had a good time thinking her up. :)

Thanks for letting me guest blog today, Gina!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away ten boxes of books and 30 copies of her latest release, SINGLE SASHIMI.