When I began work on telling Richard Cheong’s story in my 2019 debut novel Under the Tamarind Tree, I faced a mental hurdle: Was I up to the task of creating an authentic male protagonist? As a newbie novelist at the time, I followed all the guidelines for creating a fictional character, as set out in the Writer’s Digest Book on Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card.

There was no shortage of Guyanese men of my father’s generation from whom to draw inspiration. Like my father, Richard’s father (deceased) was a Chinese immigrant to what was then British Guiana—the only British colony on the mainland of South America. They both lost their parents at a young age. Richard also enjoys reading and listening to music. But the likeness ends there.

Richard’s obsession with having a son was inspired by a landlord, in the 1960s, who longed to have a daughter. After three marriages and six sons, he never got a girlchild. Was this too much pressure for his wives? Will Richard’s obsession threaten his marriage if his wife, Gloria, fails to give him a son? Gloria knows nothing about his childhood trauma, following his little brother’s murder under the tamarind tree on the sugar plantation where they grew up.

Having a son isn’t the only thing on Richard’s mind. The hardworking and frugal husband and father is also saving up to start a chicken farm. Inspiration about a chicken farm came from my mother’s best-paying clients. As a work-at-home seamstress, she had two upper-middle-income Chinese clients whose husbands owned large chicken farms along the East Bank Demerara, with retail store outlets in the City of Georgetown for selling frozen whole and cut chicken. I’m also no stranger to raising chickens. In the 1960s, one of our landlord’s adult sons, who lived in the flat above ours, raised chickens in two large coops in the backyard.

Richard’s close circle of male friends is more than a reflection of his inclusive character. They also represent the multiracial/multiethnic descendants of peoples—African slaves, East Indian indentured laborers, Chinese, and Portuguese (from Madeira)—shipped or lured to the colony for work on vast sugarcane plantations to produce what was then highly profitable Demerara sugar. The minority British white colonial upper class and the indigenous peoples, called Amerindians, make up the rest of the population of less than a million inhabitants. A list of all the characters in Under the Tamarind Tree is available on my Author Website.

While it took me over a year of working on the first draft to get into Richard’s head, I had no problem creating the character of his black best friend, Wesley Clarke, who introduced the young, good-looking, and reserved Richard to his future bride. To develop the attractive and outgoing ladies’ man, I found lots of inspiration among my father’s close friends as well as my work colleagues at the British bank.

Richard’s black father-in-law Winston Henry, an officer in the local Police Force, plays a special role in the storyline. Henry represents the complicity of the Police Force that carried out the dirty work of the Empire in harassing and inflicting harm on their own people. For the most part, these men were respectable men in the society, as well as good husbands, fathers, and grandfathers. Godfearing men. Their ambition to rise to the top clouded their vision. Police Inspector Winston Henry is such a man.

The British and American governments succeed in dividing the working peoples united front in their struggle for independence into the two major racial factions—African v. East Indian. Neighbors and friends become enemies, prepared to kill the other for control of the independent nation. Richard, his family, and friends are caught up in the turbulence. Taking sides comes with dire consequences. Neutrality offers no security.

Through it all, Richard is tested on all fronts to hold on to what he holds dear. Little does he know that his estranged oldest sister is conniving to ruin his life. In a future post, “Creating Authentic Female Characters,” I will share my inspiration for the development of Mildred Gomes nee Cheong, Richard’s oldest sister and antagonist of the story.