In Conversation with Tara Tai

Tara Tai is an Asian American writer based in Boston, where they reside with their wife, Audrey, and dog, Ginkgo. They are a graduate of Harvard Business School, presently working at Google, possesses a love for video games, and on the side, writes queer rom-com novels. Their debut novel, Single Player, is set in a video game development center and follows characters Cat Li and Andi Zhang. In a high-stakes world of video game development, Cat finds herself in a new dream job, where she meets her new boss Andi, a cocky and arrogant personality who detests the fantastical idea of romance, opposite to the die-hard romantic Cat. The two find themselves in an enemies-to-lovers trope, with just enough tension and romance to feel sparks fly through the page. The novel is an epistle to queer romance, inviting the audience to an exciting world of gaming while also tackling the harsh realities of harassment in gaming culture of a male dominated field. With the unconventional themes in the novel, I wanted to see how this novel intersected with the author’s experiences in writing literature, and how this experience is paired with the experiences of being Asian American.

I had the pleasure of reaching Tara Tai to unravel their thoughts on the model minority myth and their experiences as an Asian American writer. Even though we could not find a date to meet, I could already tell Tai possesses an enthusiastic personality, eager to respond and help out the fellow youth. I asked a series of questions about what struggles a writer in an arduous field feels like. Tai explained that it is a privilege to add to the world of Asian American literature. They stated, “As a writer, I'm always seeking to make sure my characters feel real and believable—which means being equally truthful about their hopes and dreams as I am about their flaws.” This is such an eloquent way of explaining the expectation one feels as a writer; to write a character to be likable and admired even, yet also to write them in such a way where they also have flaws similar to ourselves. Tai feels that there is an “added burden to represent the identities” to which she belongs, as well as to what their characters belong to, in a positive light and balance. To Tai, a queer Asian American writer, there seems to be a gallant expectation to write a character, identity, and a complete story that is told truthfully and whole. They aim to represent identities in a non-caricatured light—a common movement and exploitation of Asian American characters in literature and mainstream media. Tai explains that there's an overarching tension between these goals and expectations and that they “only hope that creativity and authenticity win out over getting everything right.”  

As a writer or artist of any kind, Tai has a similar goal of creating authentically— yet she also wants to write truthfully, to speak for the plethora of identities, and stem away from a common stereotype misused time and time again by a race that has been put on a pedestal based on ignorant fallacies that continue to be systematically disadvantaging to Asian Americans. By aiming to write justly, Tai bears a burden. Still, by doing so, they have already distinguished themselves among other writers in their field, because they are engaging with a complete story, not a narrative that has been engineered to fit a tractable role in society. 

As a queer Asian American writer, Tai has already ruptured through societal and cultural expectations, breaking through a longstanding barrier of tradition and stereotype by both American and Asian cultures; they have started a new norm, one that is open to various idiosyncratic identities, and inspiring the next generation of writers and artists of the wide range. They stand as a role model to the youth and to all Asian Americans, for those who have never been able to be open about who they are, and for those who are just beginning to do so. 

Check out her website to learn more about Tara tai and their book!

https://taratai.com/