Yulin Kuang on Debut Novel, “Great Suffering” in Romance and Emily Henry Adaptations

Yulin Kuang knows she hit the literary jackpot.

The writer-director, whose credits include The CW’s I Ship It, Hulu’s Dollface and Netflix’s The Healing Powers of Dude, is adapting Emily Henry’s People We Meet On Vacation for film and writing-directing the forthcoming Beach Read film for 20th Century Studios. Henry has became a household name in the world of romance, with devoted fans eager to see how her love stories translate onscreen — even going so far as to share dream casting choices, trying to find Easter egg clues that would tease anything of what’s to come and stoking rumors about a potential Paul Mescal and Ayo Edebiri casting thanks to a photo Henry shared on social media.

While it can be assumed adapting those stories might come with added pressure, Kuang understands fans’ anxiety over whether the adaptations will be up to par.

“I come from fandom… I can put myself in the shoes of somebody who has loved these books and care so much about seeing them done justice. Then at the same time, I have to put up this barrier, where I can no longer really look at fandom spaces in that way anymore. Because I think if I do, it’ll get too in my head. I do believe that the primary goal of adaptation is not just to please the book fans. It’s to bring new audiences to the source material,” Kuang tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Having what she describes as “the best letter of reference” by adapting Henry’s books, Kuang ventured into writing her own novel as a means of creating an original story while being “in the weeds” of adapting other stories. The driving question: “What kind of story would I tell if I didn’t have to ask anybody for permission to do it first?”

The result is How to End a Love Story, a contemporary romance recently selected as the May book for Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club. The seemingly meta tale follows a screenwriter Grant Shepard and a novelist Helen Zhang who find themselves having to work together to adapt Helen’s novels for screen — “A good vehicle to explore my feelings about adaptation,” says Kuang. Already bounded by a past tragedy, the working relationship proves to be both messy and arousing. The story has all the qualities that a romance would comprise: yearning, tension, love, steaminess and a nuanced exploration of trauma, grief and existential crisis personally and professionally.

Kuang spoke with THR about writing her first novel, why “great suffering” makes for the best romance stories, the book-to-screen Hollywood landscape and finding a kinship with Henry.

You’ve been selected as the May Reese’s book club pick. What was your reaction to learning your book was selected?

It was very exciting. I’m just kind of excited to see what happens tomorrow. I’m such a fan of Reese Witherspoon, and I think what she’s done with her book club is brilliant. And so it’s very flattering to be able to say that I am one of the picks.

You have a career in screenwriting and directing but at what point did you decide you wanted to write a novel? And why was now the right time to work on something like this?

So I decided to write it at a time when everything else I was working on was an adaptation of something. I was working on People We Meet on Vacation, I was pretty in the weeds on that. I had already been tapped for Beach Read. I was also doing a 27 Dresses reboot for television that didn’t end up going anywhere. I was pitching on a Cutting Edge reboot that they didn’t pick me for. I’m still devastated about it. (Laughs.) I had this kind of feeling of like, is there anything original left within me? And also, what kind of story would I tell if I didn’t have to ask anybody for permission to do it first? I originally was going to write myself a feature to direct. But then I was thinking about who would I have to convince to say, yes? What kind of budget could I get? What kind of actors could I get? What producers would I get? I have so many projects that I’ve written that will never see the light of day because they die in development hell. And so I really wanted to write something where the finished text was the art. I kind of approached this as if I was directing a movie inside the reader’s mind.

There’s the saying to write what you know, and it’s easy to assume Helen and Grant being screenwriters could be influenced by you personally. What elements of yourself, if any, did you incorporate with them?

Well, I knew I wanted it to be about a screenwriter and a novelist mostly because I was very busy at the time, and I wanted to do something that would require basically no research. It was a very good vehicle to explore my feelings about adaptation, which I really loved. The setup of it, which is that these two characters are united by a shared wound, I would say, is what they have that came quite late. I was interested in the concept of shared wounds because I had spent a lot of time reading Emily [Henry’s] words and thinking about how the things that I resonated with in her work were the things on the bluer, grief side, the spectrum of human emotions. And so, what shared wounds do I have with Emily Henry? Who hurt her and did they hurt me? So I knew I wanted kind of a vehicle to explore that. And then, in terms of the accident that kind of unites these two people, I wanted to look at suicide from the lens of the people who are left behind. I’ve known a lot of people who have had serious mental health struggles; I have struggled myself. I wanted to see what would happen in a worst-case scenario and what the aftermath is.

Helen and Grant as individuals are two people who have to deal with a variety of things and we follow them as they not only learn about each other but learn about themselves and come into their own as people. What did you want to explore with them individually?

So my first TV writers room experience was kind of unusual in that I had done the short film called I Ship It, which I then sold as a web series to the CW Seed, which was their digital streaming platform, and it won a Streamy Award. They came back to me and they said, “Do you want to do this as a TV show?” And I was like, “Oh my God, yes.” I was 27 years old, and I have my own TV show. It premiered to the second lowest ratings the CW has ever had and was promptly pulled from the schedule. I remember feeling like both failure and also like, “Wow, I feel lucky that this even got on the air at all.” Like I feel like I maybe got something there. So I did feel kind of that extreme imposter syndrome process that I think I kind of gave to Helen because her first TV writers room experience is an adaptation of her own work. Then Grant comes at it from, I would say, where I feel much more comfortable in my career at this point. It was like getting to have my two selves kind of in conversation with each other in that way.

In terms of their individual journeys, I use this thing called the Enneagram. I use them when I’m constructing fictional characters because I find, out of all of the personality tests, that one’s interesting because it tells you what a character is, when they’re healthy versus when they’re unhealthy. And so I gave them both the enneagrams of like me and my husband. For Helen, that is the Enneagram [Type] Three, which is the achiever. And for Grant that is the Enneagram [Type] Two, which is the helper. I think for an achiever, usually their lifelong journey, I found, is recognizing that you have value outside of your achievements. (Laughs.) It’s a little bit of a “Who am I if I’m not my achievements?” And then for him, it’s kind of this feeling of you deserve to be loved. They’re doing all of this to help other people and part of it is to not look at the messed-up inside. It’s a little bit of a fear of being fundamentally unlovable. So that was the journey I wanted to give him: you deserve love, and you are worthy of love.

Then as a couple, apart from their swoonworthy romance moments, their backstory and connection is heavy and there’s a mention that they trauma bond together. Can you talk about what you wanted to explore with them as a couple?

As a couple, I wanted to see how two people with a shared wound would kind of gravitate and repel each other in ways. I feel like trauma bond is such like a cute little term that’s in the vernacular now and it becomes easy to dismiss it but it is a bond right? It is something that’s very real because these two people understand each other in a way that nobody else might. So that was what I wanted to explore with the two of them. I love a love story that has some sort of like fated quality to it, and I think they are very tied by fate.

In true romance novel fashion, this novel does not stray from the spiciness and steamy scenes. As a first-time romance author, did you feel pressure in delivering those kinds of scenes?  

I was a little nervous because up until this point, all of my work had been very G-rated. I have a much younger sister; she’s 14 years younger. In my YouTube era, when I was making short films and putting them online, I was always very aware that they were getting streamed back into the house where she was. I think my parents had an anchoring bias. And one, that was creatively stifling because I’m so horny. And two, I think it made it such a forbidden topic for me that I was naturally very drawn to it when I was finally thinking about, “What’s the story I would tell if I was only writing to please myself?” And so in 2021, I got married, and I was like, “I think my parents probably know I’ve had sex by now. So I can write a sex scene.” And then I was like, “Okay, so what kind of sex scene am I going to write?” Because I know that there are different levels of spice. I think Emily [Henry] does a very good job writing these not closed-door romance scenes, but I think there’s more emphasis on the feelings than the blocking. Whereas, Tessa Bailey, who is another one of my all time favorite romance novelists, is putting a little bit more blocking on the page. She’s showing you exactly what the scene is and I loved that. It was revolutionary to me when I first discovered it as a romance reader, as somebody who was so deeply repressed. I think it was really helpful for me to read things that had more sex on a page because it helped me explore what I was into and what would please me. That was kind of the blueprint for when I was writing it. I found it to be a very useful tool to explore what turns me on, and then I’m going to hand it over to my husband to read because this is an educational textbook.

Did you always know that you wanted to lean toward a happily ever after ending for this book given the emotion and heaviness of it?

Oh, yeah. I have always loved the happily ever afters of romance as a genre. I think there was a period of time where we were getting a lot of rom-com movies that ended ambiguously and I was like, “You fucking cowards.” I think it’s so easy to leave these characters in their dark night of the soul and be like, “No, I think they’re gonna be okay.” I think that’s easier than to try and construct a happy ending for them that is earned and deserved. I think when that happily ever after feels earned, it’s so,so satisfying. I knew going into this that it was gonna have a happily ever after, but I also wasn’t necessarily trying to chase a rom-com vibe. I think I associate a certain level of warmth and charm with rom-coms and I think in Hollywood, any love story that ends happily gets slapped with a rom-com label. But I think in publishing, there’s a real understanding that even if a love story ends happily, it doesn’t have to be necessarily a comedic journey on our way there. And so I think I was reaching for something that felt I would say more aligned with like the Brontë sensibility than the Austen sensibility. I think Jane Austen has a very rom-com sensibility. I think Emily Henry has an inherently rom-com sensibility. It’s such a shining example of what the genre is capable of.

As a screenwriter and director, you tell stories with the intent that they will come to life visually, which can help build on details, emotions and plot points. Then, on the other end, you have more freedom in a book. Now having told stories in both ways, what was it like exploring storytelling in this medium? In what way was it different or challenging?

One of the notes I kept getting from my editor, she would scroll in the margins “What does it smell like?” As a screenwriter, I never think about smell. We can have a very economical approach to storytelling and screenplays, and anything that doesn’t move the story forward, we kind of just delete it. I think in the book scenes have a way of flowing into thoughts then flow into a memory and so there was a lot more of that kind of flow. I do think you can get a little bit more lost in books because they’re so internal. I think that the internal quality of a book lends itself to stories that hinge on backstory, a lot. I wouldn’t have told this story in a screenplay first because so much of that first scene is rooted in the tension between these two people, knowing their backstory and their inner monologues. In a movie or TV show, I would show what happened first so that we know that that is the context. So where I started was different because of what I can do in a book versus an entirely only visual.

Most films and television shows are adapted from books maybe now more than ever. As someone who is involved in the adaptation process in this current industry, what have you learned or observed about the book-to-Hollywood landscape?

Seeing how the sausage gets made on both sides, these are two industries that are fascinated by each other but don’t necessarily understand each other. (Laughs.) It’s a little bit of a snake chasing its own tail sometimes, and I think there is something exotic about each one to the other. It is so hard to get a movie made, let alone a good one. And so I understand because I came up through Hollywood first. People are nervous about taking risks. So, in order to get to where I am now, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make myself the safest bet that I could possibly be. When I went to the publishing side of things, it was like recognizing I came at it from possibly the most privileged perspective I could have. I had the best letter of reference I possibly could have by adapting Emily Henry. And so once again, I came into that one as the safest bet anyone could possibly take over there. I think, in that way, both industries are like every industry where they are fueled by shareholder value. I’m here to say to both sides that I am here to create shareholder value (laughs) but also art.

We’re also in a time when there seems to be a desire for rom-coms and romance stories. As a director, screenwriter and now romance author, what is the recipe that you think makes for that perfect romance story?

So I think in Hollywood, the rom-com can get flattened into romance and comedy. I think the thing that publishing understands so much is that you have to take people on a journey that is more dimensional than that. I think great suffering is necessary to make for a good romance because love hurts, baby! (Laughs.) So much song and art about it, that I think we have to remember that in order to tell a compelling love story. I think that there’s a spectrum of that hurt. I think that we absolutely need the soft escapism that Hallmark provides. Then, at the same time, I also want something that’s like a shiv and a knife twist but still gives me a happily ever after.

Do you envision adapting How to End a Love Story for screen? If so, in what way and would you be the one to adapt it or would you prefer to give the reigns to someone else?

At this point in time, I am open to it being adapted as a TV show and not as a movie. I would absolutely want to have a pretty strong hand in the adaptation process. I would want a writers room. I wouldn’t want to be the only writer in it, because I think there’s something that draws me to the really meta concept of a writers room feeding out a writers room and seeing what that alchemy of other voices in the room would do to the story. I think that would be really, really interesting. I would probably want to direct the pilot and the finale.

You’re in the great company of having an association with Emily Henry, who has quite frankly taken over the romance genre and fans are eager for these adaptations. Do you feel pressure at all in delivering something fans would be happy with? What is your approach with adapting these stories?

I come from fandom. I am part of the generation that like grew up with the Harry Potter books as they were coming out, and so I remember watching those movie announcements with bated breath and anxiety of like, “Are you gonna fuck up my childhood?” I am very, very aware of what that feels like. I can put myself in the shoes of somebody who has loved these books and care so much about seeing them done justice. Then at the same time, I have to put up this barrier, where I can no longer really look at fandom spaces in that way anymore. Because I think if I do, it’ll get too in my head. I do believe that the primary goal of adaptation is not just to please the book fans. It’s to bring new audiences to the source material. And so that means that when I am looking at adaptation as an art form itself, my loyalty has to be to the screen version. If I come up with a thing where I have to choose between what’s more faithful to the book and what I think will work better on the screen, I will always pick what works better on the screen. And so I know that my past self, if I read that in an interview, that would horrify me (laughs), and to that person, I say, “I look forward to seeing you in this job in 20 years!”

After reading Emily Henry’s books, were there any specific scenes or moments you were looking forward to the most in bringing to life?

Not so much specific moments. I really enjoy writing Gus in Beach Read. I have this theory that an Emily Henry hero is a Yulin Kuang heroine. I spent a lot more time like thinking about this woman’s words, and the thing that I am drawn to in her work, they tend to be like the heroes that are more aloof, withdrawn, cold. So I really enjoyed diving in there. And just coming from fandom, I’m always interested in the parts that aren’t as fully explored in the canon and so to dive in a little bit in areas where I’m like, “Ooh, could we have gone…”[or] “What happened in this corner of the story?” That’s always really fun to me.

I’m sure you’re asked this a lot, but I have to ask: There has been speculation that Paul Mescal and Ayo Edebiri are being cast as two of the romantic leads. Can you comment on that speculation?

I am so excited that people are excited, no bad ideas here. What I can say is that we’re still quite early in the development process, so we’re not having those conversations yet.

It was announced that you have a three-book deal. Have you started working on book two yet, and do you know what it will be about? What kind of stories do you want to continue telling?

I have started and stopped and started and stopped multiple times. And one point I got on the phone with Emily [Henry] because she very generously was like, “We can talk it through!” And I remember being like “I think this is like bad. I think this is bad actually” and she was like “All the time!” So it was really fun in terms of feeling like we were two employees in a break room working at our dream jobs. I am not telling people what it’s about because every time I do it fucking changes. What I will say is I’m trying to kind of keep distinct the stories I want to tell in film in Hollywood and the stories I’m interested in telling in publishing. The stories I’m trying to tell in publishing are kind of the ones that I’m like, “This is a little bit too bananas for me to pitch with a straight face in Hollywood.” So I would say that’s the overall brand in publishing: What can I get away with here that I can’t get away with over there?

Are you still going to write romance?

I’m open. I love a genre bender. But I think there’s something in my like genetic code that will always be drawn to kissing stories. I remember when I was younger, I watched A Few Good Men for the first time and I stayed up in bed that night, just rewriting the scene so I could make Tom Cruise and Demi Moore kiss. So that’s always gonna be me.

What do you hope that people take away from this novel?

So I’m always very reluctant to tell people what I hope they take away with it because I do kind of feel like once the art is out in the world, the intentions of the artist don’t really matter. What they take away from the text, that’s between them and the book. I don’t want to be prescriptive. I think my favorite moments in literature are when it feels like the author has put some sort of emotional truth into the text. And they’re like anyone else. It feels like I sent this message in a bottle out there, and somebody I intended to find it has found it. So I hope that there are moments like that. I hope it makes people feel less alone, and I hope that it finds its intended audience.

How to End a Love Story is available now.