Carolina QuotesWell, I don’t ever plan anything in my books. Since I don’t outline, I tend to just go wherever my imagination leads me and where I feel excited to write about. I tend to write scenes that I would want to read.
Jenny Han Connected to the Carolinas
Source
As quoted in "To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before author Jenny Han on watching her book become a phenomenon" in Vox (4 June 2019)
- year
- 2019
Cite this record
“Well, I don’t ever plan anything in my books. Since I don’t …” Jenny Han. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-4825BCD4D9. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/4825bcd4d9
More from Jenny Han
Writing for me, 95% of the time, it's torture, because I'm basically walking through the forest blindfolded trying to feel my way through and then I'm almost there, and I can sort of take it off and then see where I'm at, and then I have to go back and sort of move things around and make sure it's all feeling cohesive. But the process itself can feel really arduous and a real struggle to get through. I think everyone has their own process and mine is particularly torturous.
What I would say is, don’t even look at a screen. Get a notebook and pen. For me, I always prefer to start writing with a pen. For me, the blank page is just a possibility. It’s like, "What can I feel on this page?" That’s really exciting. But if I look at the blank page, it feels like pressure. With a notebook, you can scribble down whatever you want and you can move things around the page. It’s never really gone. You can always find it again. It feels a little less free for me on a computer. I guess that would be my tip. Just start really organically with paper and a pen.
I don't plan anything out and I don't write in chronological order. The emotional tenor is what guides me, but a lot of it is feeling my way through the dark. That's okay if you have unlimited time to work and stumble upon things in a delightful way, but under a deadline it can be really stressful. The most joyful part of writing for me is when I am 90% there, and suddenly the story clicks into place and things finally start to make sense.