Listening to God, an Interview with Novelist Camy Tang by Donna Fujimoto

Donna: What first inspired you to write?

Camy: I’ve always loved reading, and my parents really encouraged me in my reading because both of them read a lot–my mom likes contemporary romance, women’s fiction, and suspense, and my dad likes science fiction and urban fantasy. One day, after reading a fantasy novel, I suddenly felt a burning desire to write my own fantasy book and I started work on it. I haven’t stopped creating stories in my head since.

Donna: How many novels have you written and in what genres?

Camy: I’ve written 27 novels in contemporary romance, romantic suspense, cozy mystery, and Regency romance.

Donna: What do you draw on to create such realistic settings and characters?

Camy: Honestly, I think God gives me my story ideas. He definitely has His own opinion about what issues He wants me to write about.

Sometimes He speaks by an idea that forms in my head, other times He speaks through friends who mention things to me. Sometimes I feel like He wants me to write from my own experience, sometimes I feel like He’s asking me to write about someone else’s experience.

I also try to keep things in prayer as I’m in the formulating-my-characters-and-storyline phase, so that He has His finger in everything.

Donna: Sushi for One? is the first in a series of books. How do the stories interconnect?

Camy: My Sushi Series is humorous contemporary romance about four cousins, and each book is about the love story of one of the cousins. Here’s the series blurb:

Four cousins commiserate about their single status—Lex the Jock, Trish the Flirt, Venus the Cactus, and Jennifer the Oddball. The only Christians in their large extended family, they vow to fight the stigma of the infamous family title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. But they have very different ideas about not acting as desperate as they feel about their bleak love lives. Who knew God would have His own plans of true love for each of them?

Donna: What do you hope readers will take away after enjoying one of your books?

Camy: That no matter where you are, who you are, and where you’ve been, Jesus loves you deeply and is with you. You are not alone.

Donna: What plans do you have for the future of your writing career?

Camy: Right now, I’m working on two projects–the second book in my Lady Wynwood series (Regency romance, published under the pen name Camille Elliot) and also a new humorous contemporary romance series set in Hawaii. I’m also working to get my books translated into Japanese. Then the missionaries in Japan who are supported by my church can give them away to nonbelievers. There is hardly any Christian fiction in Japanese, and I’d like God to use my books to introduce Japanese women to Christ.

Thanks!

Donna: Thank you, Camy.

Donna Fujimoto’s children love to read. She is a graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary. Her collection of short stories, 9 Slightly Strange Stories with an Uplifting Edge  is available as an e-book at Amazon.