A Goodreads user asked Amanda Hamm:

Do you use events from real life in your books?

Amanda Hamm Of course. I have never based a character on a real person and the primary plots are pure fiction, but many of the minor incidents or stories that my characters tell are loosely based on my own reality. It was the large crazy family that made My Big Fat Greek Wedding so entertaining. At one point, the main character says that she has 27 first cousins. I have 28. I also have 3 siblings, 4 kids and 10 nieces and nephews. It would be a shame to let all that material go to waste.

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