Carolina QuotesI think that with a book, you can excavate a story so much more because you're really in the character's head and you can go into much deeper detail. In a movie, what you might spend pages describing, you can do that in a flash. But there's also a feeling that you have to really streamline a movie too so it stays on the right track. And I think I would say that there are definitely changes made, but I think that to me, the spirit of the story is there. And that was what was most important to me, was just that people walked away with the same feeling that they had when they read the books, which is just, I hope, feeling a warm-hearted, cozy feeling.
Jenny Han Connected to the Carolinas
Source
As quoted in "'To All the Boys 2' author Jenny Han opens up about her favorite scenes, the biggest takeaways, and filming challenges for the sequel" in Insider (14 February 2020)
- year
- 2020
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“I think that with a book, you can excavate a story so much m…” Jenny Han. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-B21188C527. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/b21188c527
More from Jenny Han
Well, 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.
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.