media

Last month, Kevin Kwan, the author of the book-turned-movie Crazy Rich Asians, came to Palo Alto and of course I had to go! Here’s my recap of the event and what Kevin shared about his creative process.

First off, the anticipation for the event was high! The event was sold out. Seating was first-come first-serve so there was already a line outside the door when we arrived early. I didn’t mind the wait though – I was eating my poke bowl dinner that I got from across the street the Town & Country Village.

I was excited! Vince… well, he was not-so-excited to be doing this on a Friday night, haha.

A SURPRISE

Finally the event began! And to our surprise, Tan Kheng Hua (who plays Kerry Chu, the mother of Rachel Chu in the movie) also came! She would be interviewing Kevin Kwan on stage. She was so bomb in the movie, so it was exciting to see her!

WRITING THE BOOK

So apparently the Crazy Rich Asians book was written sporadically over 3 years. Kevin was inspired to write the book in 2009 when his dad was dying. It was actually intended to be a serious book to reflect the sad time of his life that he was going through, but instead it turned out to be an over-the-top comedy about crazy rich asian people.

At the time, Kevin was a creative consultant full-time, so he wrote the book in his free time. He said he would write it in airports when he was waiting for his flights and when a lot of his flights were getting delayed. He would just take out his laptop and start writing. When he was traveling for work, he would write in his hotel room and order room service late at night. Writing became a way for him to unwind at the end of the night.

THE ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE

He kept this project a secret and didn’t tell anyone that he was writing the book until the last third of the book. In fact, the book was going to be called “Empire Days.”  Jaw drop. We were all shocked at that name! After telling people about the book, he would casually refer to it as the book about crazy rich asians, and then he thought, hmm why don’t I just call it “Crazy Rich Asians”? And so the name stuck!

GETTING DISCOVERED

When he sent the book to literary agents to try to get published, he got rejected a lot. At one place, the agent told the junior agent to reject Kevin’s manuscript and didn’t even read it. (They don’t have time to read all the proposals they get.) By chance, the title “Crazy Rich Asians” caught the eye of the junior agent, and she started reading it. By the end of the first chapter, she knew she wanted to sign up Kevin, and so that’s how he got published.

THREE BOOKS

Kevin says that he knew the whole story he wanted to tell. It was all in his head – all 3 books worth. He knew that consumers wouldn’t really want to read such a thick novel, so he broke it up into 3 separate books: Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems. Wow, I can’t believe he had all that in his mind! But he said the story had been percolating in his mind for the last 20 years.

He grew up in Singapore until age 11, moved to Texas, and eventually moved to NYC as an adult. He said that all these memories (including of his childhood in Singapore) were “crystallized in amber” in his mind. And when he started writing these books, all of it came tumbling out like a waterfall.

He says that it still mystifies him how he wrote 3 books. It just happened one page at a time. When he goes back to read them, he just gets lost in them. He feels a sense of comfort and amazement at what he wrote. He thinks, “who wrote this? Did I really write this?” That’s pretty funny. I guess it’s like an out-of-body experience.

Once he had the book publisher, there were aggressive book deadlines, so he had to finish writing the second and third books within 1 year each. But since he had the whole story in his head, it was just a matter of taking the time to write them down.

TURNING THE BOOK INTO A MOVIE

He says writing is a lonely process and he really enjoys the collaboration process and filming process. He had great respect and trust for Jon Chu, the director of the Crazy Rich Asians movie, and didn’t want to mess with Jon’s creative process.

For example, when Jon cast Awkwafina as Peik Lin (the college friend of the lead Rachel Chu), Kevin was surprised. As the creator of the character, Kevin had a different idea in mind for Peik Lin, but once he saw Awkwafina in action, he loved the casting choice.

Tan also praised Jon Chu as a director, from the perspective of being an actress in the movie. She says Jon would give very clear and concise directions for scenes. For example, if you saw the pivotal Mahjong scene in the movie, it’s not just about a mother protecting her daughter. She said it’s about 2 mothers experiencing the same powerful love for their children but express it in very different ways. It’s not just “you vs. me” in terms of the 2 mothers. It’s that you and I are actually the same.

Wow that is so deep. Those things didn’t occur to me when I was watching the movie, but I felt the depth and complexity of emotion – which is probably why I teared up when watching it.

ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

When asked about giving advice for young people, Kevin made a remark that a lot of young people are in such a hurry to be a superstar, but there are no shortcuts. His advice is, “Do what you love and keep doing that.”

When asked what character in the book/movie Kevin most identifies with, he responds with Alistair (the guy who works in the film industry in the movie). Kevin explains that Alistair was the cousin that no one really understood. And that’s how he felt in his own life. No one in his family really knew what he was doing. The story would change depending on which relative you talked to. They didn’t understand what a creative consultant was. Kevin was the creative guy in the family that no one respected.

But he didn’t let that stop him. Even before the books, Kevin had a very successful career working for magazines and even starting his own creative studio with high-profile clients like TED.com and The New York Times. It’s pretty inspiring what he’s done in his life and how creative he is in other ways besides writing.

Kevin’s advice is go to the stories that inspire you. He never wants to be pigeonholed as the guy who writes about Asians, so I’m sure he will keep entertaining and delighting the world with what he produces.

He also is grateful for his move to America, and for the experience growing up in different cultures, though it was hard to adjust at first. Because he says, “A wider world is always a better thing.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Kevin’s working on a TV series now, a one-hr Amazon drama series, about the most powerful ruthless family in Hong Kong. Sounds like it will be juicy!

And he shared that they’re hoping the movie sequel to Crazy Rich Asians will come out in 2020! Wheeeee!!!

Thanks to Books Inc, Kevin Kwan, Tan Kheng Hua, and everyone who made this event possible. It was awesome!

P.S. We also made it into Kevin Kwan’s Instagram post of the event! He took a picture of the whole audience when he got on stage, and we are the tiny dots of people in the corner. 😀