The HNS Interview: ‘Love In Time’ Creators Ki Hong Lee, Chris Dinh & James Chen

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Today on HNS, we’ve talked to the “Love In Time” creator-writers Ki Hong Lee (Maze Runner), Chris Dinh (Single By 30), and James Chen (Wendy’s LookBook) about their collaboration. 

To celebrate the release of online graphic novel ‘Love In Time,’ the creators are here today to talk about their inspiration, romance, K-drama recommendations, and more.

What is the creative process for Love in Time? What goes on behind the scenes particularly with having three writers working on this comic series?

Ki Hong: All three of us were involved in coming up with the idea and big picture story arcs and big moments for each season. We found it the most efficient for James to spearhead the writing and Chris and I would chime in with notes and other ideas.

For me, specifically, it gave me an opportunity to control how I wanted my character to be shaped before the dialogue was written, which has been rare for me. 

Chris: This is all of our first foray into the graphic novel world so there was a lot of learning and growing in the process. And maybe some crying, too. Behind the scenes went something like this: Ki Hong and I would throw hundreds of notes/ideas at James. He would pick the one semi-useful nugget and make it way better. Sorry, James.

But seriously, we all came from the film/TV/digital world and though there’s some crossover there were heaps of unknowns and head scratching. Thankfully we had great help and guidance from the folks at TAPAS which we’re super duper grateful for. There’s no way we would’ve crossed the finish line without them.

I heard there is a lot of romance. I know, that is not really a question but I am a voracious romance reader. What can we expect from Love in Time?

Chris: Correct me if I’m wrong, guys, but I’d say all three of us are suckers for a good romance. We definitely wouldn’t say that we’re connoisseurs but we did aim to tell a story that we would enjoy reading ourselves. And as far as expectations go, it seems to me that it’s the quickest way to snuff out a budding romance in real life. And just in case she ever reads this… A—- I’m sorry, I’m a dummy.

Love in Time is inspired by Kdrama, do you have any recommendations to comic readers that doesn’t necessarily watch Asian dramas. What’s a good K-drama primer?

Ki Hong: Kingdom, available on Netflix, is a great primer. Think Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead.

As far as romances go, we’re huge fans of Guardian: The Great and Lonely God (also known as Goblin). It’s an epic tale that involves powerful, reincarnated gods and the humans they are destined to fall in love with. Superbly acted, funny and touching.

We’re also big fans of the popular webtoon adaptation: Itaewon Class. It is currently airing in S. Korea and simulcast on Netflix.

How would you pitch Love in Time in Twitter with a 280 characters limit?

Ki Hong: What if your soulmate lived in a different time than you?

What’s next for this writing trio?

Ki Hong:  I hope to work with this trio again in subsequent seasons of Love In Time as well as branching off into other projects and media!

Chris: We’re looking forward to finding out if Locke and Zoe will end up together in another season of ‘Love In Time’.  Hopefully you’ll be rooting for them. Thanks so much for letting us share with your readers!