14
The author ofThe Summer I Turned Prettyand theTo All The Boysbooks started writing romances early.
To a teenageJenny Han,Leonardo DiCapriowas everything.
I was very obsessed,the 41-year-old author says.
She even wrote him a letter: I did not get a response.
DiCaprio wasnt the only crush a teenage Han would write to, however.
I used to write stories about me and my friends on this old computer I had, Han says.
Take me back to 1994, when you were 14.
How were you feeling about your life then?
I had just started high school.
I would say I was feeling good in 1994.
Other than Leo, did you have any other celebrity crushes?
The other big celebrity crush at the time was Kadeem Hardison fromA Different World.He played Dwayne Wayne.
Hes my first crush.
Did you also write him a letter?
I was very attached to him and Whitley as a couple.
They were like the power couple on the show.
What were your biggest hopes and worries at the time?
My biggest worry at the time was math.
I was really bad at math and everyone else was ahead of me because it was a magnet program.
So I was worried that I was gonna be really behind… because I was.
It was a founded worry.
It was a worry with merit.
What was my hope?
I was just really hoping I was gonna pass math.
Fourteen can be an awkward time for girls.
Did you feel pretty at 14?
I did feel pretty.
I felt really good going into freshman year.
Around eighth grade to ninth grade I had a growth spurt and my hair was in a good place.
I think [at 14] I was understanding a little bit better how to dress myself.
Did youhave a go-to look?
At the time, the blazer was a thing.
You would do a blazer with a T-shirt and jeans.
Or boxers were a thing, so youd wear a T-shirt and boxers.
And my favorite, and it continues to be my favorite, was a babydoll dress.
That was definitely a look.
I did not understand how to do makeup.
All I did was brown lipstick.
It was a mocha lip and it was not… good.
It was the time of the overplucked eyebrow and the brown lip.
Your main characters from Belly to Lara Jean had multiple romantic prospects.
What were yours like at 14?
I remember the first day of school freshman year, I was just like, Youre cute.
I had a whole list, it was great.
You know how they say when you have a crush at work it helps your day?
Something to pass the day along and mix it up a little and a reason to brush your hair.
So I had a crush in each class.
We had block schedules, so it was eight classes.
As the year went on I whittled down a bit.
But freshman year I did have a lot of people I was looking at.
It was a random mix.
Some people I was friends with, some people I wasnt.
Did any of those crushes progress into something more?
It was just a lot of flirtations.
And we would just talk and talk and talk.
At 14, who would you have dated among yourTo All The Boyscharacters?
At 14, I wouldve dated John Ambrose McClaren.
How about among yourThe Summer I Turned Prettyboys?
I would say Conrad.
Were you showing your writing to anybody at 14?
I had so many notebooks of all my stories.
I wrote that freshman year and my friend Sarah gave it to me when I published my first book.
She sent it to me in the mail!
One time she had forgotten to do an essay for a school short story.
So then I wrote one for her.
And she kept it because she got an A+ on it.
That was in middle school.
What was your relationship with your parents like at 14?
So they were strict on that stuff.
What were you getting in trouble for at 14?
So I was just gone all day long and I was in really big trouble.
What were you reading at 14?
I was reading Danielle Steele,Stephen King.
There wasnt YA at the time.
What would your 14-year-old self think of you now?
I think my 14-year-old self would be pleased with my wardrobe because I can afford to buy cute things.
It was as realistic as, Im gonna be a singer or Im gonna be an astronaut.
It just didnt seem within my grasp.
So I think shell be really delighted.
What advice would you give her?
Just do your best.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onJune 29, 2022
