Jenny Han Quotes
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Just like Lara Jean in my book 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before,' I used to write letters to boys I was in love with - letters full of emotion and longing and also recrimination - but they were for my eyes only.
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Change is hard but inevitable.
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There is real power in seeing yourself as a hero. Because then you believe that you can do anything.
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I worked on 'Always and Forever, Lara Jean' for a few months before I breathed a word of it my editor or agent.
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The American girl doesn't look just one kind of way - not in 2018, not ever.
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Whenever I was trying to get over a boy, I would write him a really long, wrought letter - but never mail it.
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Food is a way to explore culture and ground the story in a specific time and place. I still remember the meals and snacks from my first novel, 'Shug': pork chops and applesauce and Coca-Cola and peanuts, which are very Southern. When a character has roots elsewhere, food is a way to connect with home and another culture.
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My whole life, as an adult as well, I've been attracted to stories about young people. This period of time is so fertile - there's a million things that are happening, a million firsts, and to be able to witness that and record that is a privilege.
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It's not hard to get into a teen's head, because it's all emotions. Their feelings are amplified; you have no luxury of hindsight. If you haven't had your heart broken before, you don't know that you'll be able to get back up again.
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I don't think you ever love anything as passionately as you do when you're a teen. You remember the books you read as a young person your whole life. I feel so lucky to write for young adults.
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We learn so much about the world by what we take in through movies and TV and books - we learn who's worthy of having their story told.
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I started writing stories at a young age, but not once did it occur to me that I could grow up to be a writer. Who could I look to? My favorite authors were Ann M. Martin and E.L. Konigsburg and Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary and Lois Lowry and Norma Klein. They were all white women, and they seemed so stately to me, so elegant. A whole world away.
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Even as a full-grown adult, it can still feel destabilizing when your family goes through changes.
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I think, as a writer, you spend most of your time working on the book alone.
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I think that if a writer doesn't use her voice, be it in her writing or online or in real life, then what is the point of having one?
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I always know what time it is.
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When I get an email from someone who says, 'Your book was the first book I ever read,' or, 'Your book is what made me love reading,' it's just such an honor.
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I think that sometimes we put undue pressure on stories featuring people of color, and I hope we get to a point where it's not such a rarity to see a person of color be the hero of a story, so that it can just be a story and not have to carry so much weight.
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I think that, oftentimes, what people say is, 'We need an actress who'll be able to greenlight a movie,' and my counterargument to that is always that, when it comes to a teen movie, you have very few people who can greenlight a movie.
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I might just be the luckiest girl ever.
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My sister and I are really close. She's my little sister.
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It's important for Asian American kids to see themselves in stories and to feel seen. They need to know that their stories are universal, too, that they, too, can fall in love in a teen movie. They don't have to be the sidekick; they can be the hero.
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I think, generally, romantic stories end with people together. But I'd like a story that ends, like, hopefully but not necessarily neatly.
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There is power in seeing a face that looks like yours do something, be someone. There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center.