It was definitely overwhelming and surprising. Going into it, I was just hoping that the fans of the book would feel happy and that it brought the story to life in a way that satisfied them. It was really gratifying to see so many people embrace it who were being introduced to it for the first time.
Jenny Han Connected to the Carolinas
Source
On the popularity of To All the Boys book series 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
“It was definitely overwhelming and surprising. Going into it…” Jenny Han. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-A42357F551. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/a42357f551
More from Jenny Han
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.
I'm not one of those writers that drafts out 500 pages, and then cuts a bunch of stuff, and then does new stuff on the fly. I'm just a lot more slow. And my process is every word pretty much gets used. I don't really have a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor from the books. I mean, some conversations and smaller scenes, but I don't think there's any big plot point or anything that I wrote but didn't use.
When it comes to adapting a story for film, I think being able to understand what’s being asked of you and what you offer to the process is really important, and for me, I’ve always seen it as being the emissary: being the ambassador of the fans and understanding what they want. I’ve been with these books for a long time, so I understand what it is that readers like about them, and I wanted to make sure that that was still present in the movie. It was less important to me to have details correct about setting and more about the feeling that you get when you see the film, which is, I hope, a cozy and warm feeling that makes you feel really hopeful.