MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Jenny Han is the writer and showrunner of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" young adult books and a TV series. That show and her series, "To All The Boys," are now hits with teens and adults. But Han says it was originally a hard sell when she wanted to have Asian Americans cast in lead roles.
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JENNY HAN: With "To All The Boys," the studios were interested in it, and they're naming names of, like, young actresses that were big at the time. And I was, like, well, the character's Asian American, though. And they were, like, well, as long as, like, the actor's spirit is like Lara Jean, then I think that's what really matters. And I was like, no, but her spirit is Asian American, so (laughter).
KELLY: So Han talked with Wild Card host Rachel Martin.
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RACHEL MARTIN: What emotion do you understand better than all the others?
HAN: I would say embarrassment. I think I am very shame-forward.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
HAN: Like, I easily feel shame. I think it's feeling embarrassed all the time as a kid. And I think, to me, this is a really important one because I feel that it's the only emotion that you can feel as acutely right now as you did in the moment. Like, I don't think it really fades...
MARTIN: Yeah. Yeah.
HAN: ...When you think back to something that you said to somebody that was really embarrassing that you really, like, shamed yourself.
MARTIN: Yeah.
HAN: I feel it. I feel like I'm right back in ninth grade...
MARTIN: Yeah.
HAN: ...And I, like, said something so dumb. And I think love and hate and anger - all that can fade. But I think kind of humiliation and shame feel, to me, very, like, close to the surface.
MARTIN: And when you're writing, I mean, I guess it's not your shame. It's your imagination. So you're conjuring these shameful situations.
HAN: Well, I'll funnel it out of myself. I pour it, you know, into the into the story. Yeah.
MARTIN: Do you ever write actual experiences that happened to you that were shameful, or do you try to not go straight for the jugular that way?
HAN: I definitely do. And sometimes it's by accident.
MARTIN: Can you give me one?
HAN: Like, well, this one was about someone else's shame...
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HAN: ...Where - so, in my first book, "Shug," there's a moment where she, like, executes a beautiful dive off a diving board. And, like, she feels, like, so good about herself and then realizes, like, when she got home, that she - her back of the bathing suit has a huge hole in the butt. And I've put that in the book, and I'm like, oh, yeah, this feels - this is, like, really, like, kind of a potent feeling. Didn't happen to me - and my sister read it, and she was like, oh, I can't believe you put Sadie's (ph) story in there. And I was like, what? And she was like (laughter)...
MARTIN: It happened to someone you knew.
HAN: Completely - my cousin when they were...
MARTIN: Oh, God (laughter).
HAN: ...Around that age, they were at a water park, and they were in line for a ride. And then there were these older boys behind them who were, like, laughing. And then they turned and looked, and then they realized that, like, my cousin's butt was, like - it was like her bathing suit was completely open. So I was like, oh, yeah. That's where that came from.
MARTIN: Yeah.
HAN: So I did - I put that in there without realizing it.
MARTIN: Did - then did your cousin just read the book and...
HAN: She never mentioned it.
MARTIN: ...See her shame memory?
HAN: Now she might see this.
(LAUGHTER)
HAN: Maybe she'll see this and be like, well, thanks, Jen.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
HAN: Thanks a lot.
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KELLY: You can watch that full conversation with Jenny Han by following Wild Card with Rachel Martin on YouTube. And the final season of "The Summer I Turned Pretty," it's out on July 16. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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