Interview: Mystery Novelist Camy Tang

Novel: Formula For Danger

By Mark Young

Skin cream can be a killer business in novelist Camy Tang’s world. This writer’s mystery novel—Formula For Danger just released this fall— ratchets up tension for dermatologist Rachel Grant in her research to create a scar-reducing cream in a ritzy Sonoma, California health spa. Danger ensues when someone seeks two things: Rachel killed and her skin cream formula seized at any cost.

In Camy’s second mystery thriller—a “love inspired suspense” published by Steeple Hill Books—we return to the Joy Luck Life spa run by Rachel and her family. In this inspirational suspense, Rachel races to launch a new venture before competitors steal her secrets. Break-ins, shots fired, and repeated attempts on Rachel’s life makes for a thrilling page turner.

Amidst this turmoil, a strained relationship with Rachel and her father only makes matters worse. Conflicts with her father force Rachel to define her own understanding of God. Does He care whether she lives or dies? Must she prove herself to Him to gain His love? Another man, Edward Villa, steps into Rachael’s life as a friend and business partner. However, as she draws closer to Edward, Rachel becomes confused as this man seems to grow colder as events unfold. Her world begins to topple.

Camy’s writing style—as her web sites advertises— is “romance with a kick of wasabi.” What is wasabi? Camy answered this question when she appeared on this blog last April. She returns today to tell us a little more about her mystery-writing journey.

MARK: Camy, thanks for putting up with more of my questions. Something caught my attention even before I started reading your opening chapter. The dedication reads, “To Danica and Cheryl. I thought I could never find two people as sick and twisted as myself, but I have you two. Thanks for being my friends.” Is there a story behind this or should we just jump to the next question?

CAMY: Danica and Cheryl and I always tease each other that there’s something wrong with us, because every time we get together, we plot a character’s murder or disappearance or we figure out ways to create conflict and strife for a character. Then again, we’re writers—we’re not really “normal.” :)

MARK: Your first mystery novel, Deadly Intent, came out a little over a year ago. Last September, your second mystery, Formula For Danger, reached the bookshelves. Tell us what you’ve learned about the art of mystery writing now that you have two mysteries released? How much of a change has it been for you to switch from the earlier Chick Lit genre style of writing to these last two mystery novels?

CAMY: I’ve always been a huge fan of romantic suspense, so although I hadn’t written much suspense, I understood the genre very well. Writing romantic suspense has been a lot of fun because I can create more external conflict for the characters than I did for Chick Lit, where most of the conflict is internal or relational. I’ve learned more about red herrings and the different ways to introduce a villain.

MARK: Between the events of Deadly Intent, and your latest, Formula For Danger, I’m surprised the Joy Luck Life spa has any customers left—at least living. The Sonoma County resort spa seems to have its fair share of felonies. One more novel like this one and these spa employees will be collecting hazardous duty pay. Seriously, how do you manage to crunch so many dangerous circumstances into one tiny business?

CAMY: One of the reasons I picked Sonoma County as the setting for the spa is because although it’s a “small town,” it has a large amount of tourist traffic. The spa itself has a lot of people shifting in and out, which was the main reason the murder happened in the opening of Deadly Intent. Because Rachel’s research is in the spotlight due to the spa’s popularity, it became a target for greedy opportunists in Formula for Danger. In the world of fiction, the extreme publicity of the spa and the Grant family as well as the large amounts of people moving in and out of Sonoma is the “excuse” for the exceptional amount of crime the Grant family seems to attract, although I realize that Sonoma probably doesn’t have that much crime in real life. I’m working on another romantic suspense starring Monica, the third Grant sister, and I also hope to continue romantic suspense novels set in Sonoma County (although not at the spa), again because the tourist aspect of the area would enable me to create more mayhem.

MARK: Tell us a little about your main character, Dr. Rachel Grant. As we start this story, what are some of things going on inside this woman that makes her life so hard?

CAMY: Rachel is based off of several friends I have whose parents seem to never be satisfied with their accomplishments, no matter how hard they try. Rachel is constantly trying to please her father and make up for any “mistakes” she’s made in her job as dermatology researcher for the spa. The spiritual takeaway for this story is that we are magnificently loved by our Heavenly Father, no matter what the opinion of our earthly fathers, and our self esteem should be based on how God views us and loves us.

MARK: I always try to imagine connections between the creator (novelist) and the created (characters) as each story unfolds. I see a parallel between your own background and the main character’s. Similar to Rachel, you worked as a biologist researcher for a major pharmaceutical company and a biotech company before becoming a novelist. Are there other similarities between you and this main character?

CAMY: Rachel is a bit spacey at times, and so am I!

MARK: In the novel, Rachel reaches a point in her life where she must submit herself to God while walking by faith in very dangerous situations. Have you found this to be realistic in your own life? Have there been events you’ve faced in which you can look back and see God’s hand in those situations?

CAMY: I have to admit I haven’t been in many dangerous situations (thank God). But one of the key things I struggle with spiritually is constantly submitting to God in all different aspects of my life. I find myself coming back to this theme quite often in my novels. I can be a hard-headed chick and God is always teaching me new ways to submit my will, worries, and dreams to Him.

MARK: Bring us up to date on events since your interview with us last April. What have you been up to in the writing business?

CAMY: I recently spent a crazy and fun five days at the ACFW conference in Indianapolis in September. I taught a class on “Common Mistakes in the Genesis Contest” at the conference to help people avoid mistakes that could make them lose points in the Genesis contest (ACFW’s contest for unpublished writers) or really any other type of contest they wanted to enter. I also presented the 2010 Genesis contest award winners, which was a lot of fun. Right now since I have a couple book deadlines to meet, I’m not doing as much teaching and my schedule for my critiquing and book doctoring business, The Story Sensei, is booked until late March 2011.

MARK: Formula For Danger just launched last September. Earlier, you mentioned another mystery surrounding the Jo Luck Life spa. Where will this mystery takes us?

CAMY: I just turned in a proposal for another Sonoma spa book about Monica Grant. She becomes the target of a deadly stalker because of the high-class world the wealthy Grants move in. The book isn’t contracted (yet—fingers crossed) but if it is, I’m hoping it will release in late 2011 or early 2012. I also have a humorous romantic suspense releasing with Zondervan in October 2011 (untitled as yet) about an ex-Japanese mafia heroine who has found Jesus in jail and now wants to use her unique skill set to help people rather than breaking kneecaps.

MARK: Lastly, any thoughts about the publishing industry and changes you might anticipate on the horizon?

CAMY: I’ve read in some news reports that people are turning to fiction more than travel these days for their escape, which is good news for novelists! Also, as we see the exciting developments of the Kindle, Nook, iPad, and other eBook readers, I think the publishing industry will subtly shift and change. I don’t think print books will go out of style anytime soon, but we’ll start to see innovative things in the eBook industry and the magazine industry as they take advantage of new technology.

Readers may find more information about Camy’s writing career at her web site or her blog, Camy’s Loft. She also provides writing services for writers. This information can be found at The Story Sensei, a fiction critique service she provides to help sharpen synopses and manuscripts at a reasonable price.

Camy Tang

Author Interview:  Camy Tang

Novelist Camy Tang writes ‘with a kick of wasabi’ as her website is quick to point out. Her first suspense novel, Deadly Intent, has just such a kick. (For an explanation of ‘wasabi’ visit Camy’s website).

Her earlier novels found their niche in contemporary romance as her Asian characters sassed their way through relationships, interfamily relations, and spiritual struggles. Camy’s latest novel launches into the suspense romance genre—murder and intrigue in the picturesque town of Sonoma, California where a massage can be a killer of an experience.

MARK: Camy, the title of your latest novel, Deadly Intent, suggests this story is more about suspense than romance. Tell us a little about the story and your main character, Naomi Grant.

CAMY: Naomi Grant is head massage therapist at her family’s day spa, Joy Luck Life Spa, but since her father had a stroke several months ago, she has been managing the spa for him. Then one of Naomi’s regular spa clients is bludgeoned to death in her massage room in the same hour that the victim’s ex-husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Devon Knightley, shows up asking to speak to his ex. Both Naomi and Devon are suspects in the murder, but they discover that the one killing seems to set off a spree of crime framing Naomi.

MARK:  What was the inspiration for this story?

CAMY: I love love love day spas, and I also love love love Sonoma. There are several spas in Sonoma, since it is a tourist hotbed, and I thought it would be “fun” (realize you’re talking to a writer, here!) to utilize the constant tourist traffic to stage a murder.

MARK:  In part, Deadly Intent seems to be about family and their interactions with each other. They seem drawn together after the death of Naomi’s mother’s and her father’s stroke. Can you describe the dynamics of Naomi’s family—father, aunt, sisters?

CAMY: I always have strong family relationships in my books, so it was natural for me to create a tightly knit family for Naomi. I also wanted to explore the dynamics of a family with a Caucasian father and Asian mother, since I know many hapa kids at church.

I have never had sisters but always wanted one, so I gave Naomi two sisters who are very different from herself: shy, academic Rachel is the spa’s resident dermatologist researcher who creates the innovative skin products that makes the spa so famous, and fiery Monica is a nurse who quit her job in a San Francisco hospital in order to take care of their father after his stroke, but she and her dad have never gotten along very well.

In contrast, Naomi has a very smooth relationship with her father, which makes it hard for her to tell him that she doesn’t like managing the spa and doesn’t want to be groomed to take over when he eventually retires, which is his intentions at the beginning of the novel.

Their mother died many years ago, and theirAunt Becca has lived with the family since her death. Aunt Becca never married so although she is loving toward the girls, she doesn’t quite have the maternal instinct, which makes for interesting family dynamics.

Interesting tidbit: the names Naomi, Rachel, Monica, and Becca are cannibalized from a family at my church. Monica is the mother’s name, and I’ve worked with Naomi, Rachel, and Becca in the church youth group. When I was putting together the proposal, I used Naomi’s name for the heroine, then decided to use the rest of the family’s names for the other characters. :)

MARK: Do you see yourself in any of these characters?

CAMY: I can’t really say that I do, although it’s fun to have fearless Naomi sometimes say things I wouldn’t dare to say. I used my biology research background to help me write Rachel’s story (Formula for Danger releases in September this year), and some of her clinical way of thinking is similar to mine, but my relationship with my father is nothing like hers. Monica is completely unlike myself, so it’ll be challenging to write her story for my next proposal.

MARK: Deadly Intent seems to be a change in direction for you as a writer. You’ve switched from your previous chic lit novels to this murder in an exclusive Northern California spa. Why the transition? Has there always been a little mystery and mayhem lurking in your imagination?

 CAMY: Before I was contracted, I wrote lots of manuscripts, partly to figure out what genre(s) I enjoyed writing the most. I enjoyed romantic suspense and chick lit the most, but hadn’t written anything to combine the two. My chick lit manuscript (my 5^th completed manuscript) was the one that sold, so my first books were humorous contemporary romance. But when I was offered the chance to submit a proposal to Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line, I jumped at the chance to write a story in another favorite genre. I will still have more humorous contemporary romances coming out with Zondervan, probably in 2011, so I haven’t completely switched to the Dark Side.

MARK:  The name of the resort—Joy Luck Life Spa—conjures up memories of Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club and the movie that followed. Was this an intentional reference or does this name have other meanings for you?

CAMY: The Chinese characters for Joy Luck are very positive and uplifting, and I wanted a slightly Asian feel to the spa (since the heroine’s mother was Japanese). Joy Luck Life also conjures up feelings of hope and renewal, which is what I always feel when I leave a day spa. So the name is slightly intentional to Amy Tan’s book title, but not entirely.

MARK:  Asian lead characters in fiction are rather unique in the publishing world. Your novels seem to boldly use these rich characterizations, drawing out a blend of family, ethnicity and cultural uniqueness. How has this been received?

CAMY: I’ve been so honored by all the readers who email me or write to me to tell me that their Norwegian/German/Irish/Italian family members are just like my characters! Families are all the same, no matter your ethnicity, and I really enjoy entertaining readers with characters they can relate to even if they themselves are not Asian.

Readers have also enjoyed the small tidbits of Asian culture I have in my books. I’m always careful not to make my novels too “foreign” or confusing for people unfamiliar with the Asian culture--I try to show neat things readers might be interested in.

I figure, it’s like people who have grown up with sauerkraut--they don’t think anything of it, but I’ve actually never tasted it! In the same way, I’ve grown up with musubi rice balls, and I didn’t think anything of it, but now I enjoy writing about it in my stories to give people something interesting to read about.

MARK:  You reside in the San Francisco bay area and live geographically close to where this story took place. Tells us about the town of Sonoma where this story is situated. Why this location? Are any of the locations in your novel actually real places in that town?

CAMY: So far, I’ve only written about actual places--San Jose, San Francisco, Sonoma. I might write a fictional town at some point, though. I chose Sonoma for Deadly Intent because I wanted a “small town” feel to my story’s location, and even though Sonoma has a lot of tourist traffic, it’s a small town at heart--the residents know each other and work together and there’s a strong sense of community, knit together partly via the agriculture of the area. Sonoma is also a wonderful historic town that’s fascinating to visit if anyone has the chance!

MARK:  Many writers have other jobs while trying to survive in the publishing world. You worked as a biologist for nine years before diving into a full-time writing career. How long did you write before taking the plunge? What made you decide it was time to step out and take a chance? Tells us a little about your writing journey.

CAMY: I worked full time and wrote in my spare time for about 2 or 3 years before I decided to try writing full time. We had to look closely at our income, and my husband is a hero because he allowed me to quit biology work, even though it would mean we had to drastically adjust our normal spending habits. Originally, I had prayed and felt God giving me the green light to write full time for 6 months and see if I could get a publishing contract (I had already written 4 manuscripts up to that point and had gotten very encouraging rejections from editors, so I knew I was close).

 I got my first contract right at the end of that 6 month time period. My husband and I talked it over, and he allowed me to continue to write full time since my writing was now pulling in a (small) income. I also do freelance editing work and teach online writing classes to help supplement my writing income. I’m so blessed because I’m able to do what I love and I have an understanding husband who doesn’t mind that he originally married a biologist researcher, not a poor struggling author.