November 24, 2025 • 12 mins
“I try to write worlds that I believe are attainable and that I think we can aspire towards.” - Abigail Hing Wen
In this future‑forward episode of How To Write The Future, host Beth Barany chats with author‑filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen about The Vale — a middle‑grade fantasy where a family builds a clean, AI‑generated virtual world. They get into why ethical AI matters for storytellers, what “clean AI” looks like, and the real‑world tradeoffs creators face as tech evolves.
- Why ethical AI matters for writers and readers
- What “clean AI” means: trained on your work and public‑domain classics
- Craft meets tech: worldbuilding across book, short film, and Roblox
- Practical questions around indemnification, settlements, and building responsibly
ABOUT ABIGAIL HING WEN
Abigail Hing Wen is an author, film producer and director as well as former tech executive. She is the New York Times best selling author of multiple novels for young people, including Loveboat, Taipei, which has been adapted as the movie Love in Taipei, now on Netflix. Abigail served as an executive producer and on set during production. Abigail is directing her first short film starring Lea Salonga, a prequel to her middle grade debut THE VALE, coming September 2025, and featuring an inventor family that builds an AI generated virtual world. She serves on the board of Harvardwood and as a judge for the 2025 Golden Trailer Awards recognizing the industry’s most outstanding film trailers.
Abigail is a frequent keynote speaker for young people, including Y’Allfest, US Presidential Scholars, and the Los Altos High Writer's Week, as well as libraries, colleges, schools and bookstores around the country. She’s also given keynotes and fireside chats for the National Conference of State Legislatures, Meta, Google, Paramount, Paypal and other companies, and spoken on panels at SDCC, LACC, LA Times Festival of Books and ALA.
Website: www.abigailhingwen.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abigailhingwen/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=abigailhingwen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigailhingwen/
RESOURCES: GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING - START HERE
Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/
- SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
- SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade
- EDITORIAL SUPPORT by Iman Llompart
c. 2025 BETH BARANY
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
BETH BARANY (00:00):
Hi everyone.
Welcome to How to Write theFuture podcast.
I am your host, Beth Barany.
I'm a science fiction andfantasy writer, also a
creativity coach, editor,podcaster and filmmaker.
And I also help creativeentrepreneurs get their
businesses started.
So yeah, like a lot ofcreatives, I have a lot going
on.
My passion is how do we make theworld a better place for
(00:23):
everyone?
And that was one of my goals instarting this podcast is talking
to story writers about theamazing thing that happens when
we create stories, which is wecan help new things come into
the world because I believe thatwhat we vision we can help make.
So, so, I love talking to othercreatives, writers, futurists,
(00:44):
and people who care about thefuture.
And today I'm really excited tohave a guest with us who is
gonna talk about her book.
And that pertains to thesetopics.
I'm so excited.
So Abigail, please join us inand if you, wouldn't, if you
would please introduce yourself,that would be awesome.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (01:01):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me, Beth.
I am Abigail Hing Wen.
I'm an author and now filmmaker.
And I have published five books.
This is my fifth one, The Vale,that just came into the world on
Tuesday, about a week ago.
And um, it's kind of explodingin all these different
directions.
There's a Roblox game andthere's a short film prequel
starring my childhood hero, LeaSalonga, and lots of good
things.
(01:21):
So I'm excited to be sharingthis book with the world.
BETH BARANY (01:24):
Oh, wow.
I am so excited to have you herewith us.
And if you could start out bysaying like, what inspired you
to write this book and also justfor some context, if this is
your fifth book, what are allyour books?
Middle grade, young, you knowit's middle grade, right?
Not young adult,
ABIGAIL HING WEN (01:39):
middle grade.
Yeah.
Although it reads up for sure.
It's a, it's.
There's a lot of technology andthere's some, there's some
hardships of the family.
but I actually wrote The Vale in2015, so 10 years ago, and it
was actually the last book Iwrote that was a drawer novel.
So for those who don't know whata drawer novel is, it's the
novels that you write that don'tget published that you have to
shelve.
And, it was because it's a storyabout a family that creates an
(02:02):
AI generated virtual fantasyworld.
There was no market for it atthe time.
So my agent at the time said,you know, she couldn't take it
out.
And I think that's probablyright, that nobody knew what AI
generation was.
So I ended up writing Loveboat,Taipei and that was my breakout
novel that became the movie"Lovein Taipei" on Netflix.
And, um.
Then with, you know, timeschanged.
I had another book.
I had, four more books in theworld.
(02:23):
And so, I was able to kind ofmake edits to this one and
adjust it, and the short filmgot underway.
And so now 10 years later, theworld is ready, so I finally get
to publish it.
BETH BARANY (02:34):
Wow.
I love that.
So you're, you're a futuristtoo.
I mean, writing things that thenget set aside.
I too just resurrected a novelthat I wrote 10 years ago in,
uh, this paranormal romanticsuspense, kind of this global
theme of women's power and whichis what I, one of the things I
write about, but it's like, oh,now I'm ready to work on this.
I'm ready.
(02:54):
Maybe the world's ready.
We'll see, I'm still not ahundred percent sure.
yeah.
And so, you wrote it 10 yearsago and then just, it sounds
like things just evolved thatnow just became the time that
this book was ready to be born.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (03:08):
That's right.
Yeah.
Everyone knows what chat GPT isand, um, using chat bots and
artificial intelligence.
So, there's just more peoplethat it's relevant to.
BETH BARANY (03:17):
Yeah.
That is so interesting.
So just a shout out to all youwriters.
Keep writing.
You never know.
Maybe if now is not the time foryour book, then later.
We don't even know.
Yeah.
my next question is (03:29):
what do you hope that readers, and viewers,
because you've got this shortprequel film, what do you hope
everyone is gonna take away,from your project, from The
Vale?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (03:40):
So one of the things I am excited about with
this Vale is that the familycreates clean AI.
So it's AI that's not beentrained on copyright works, it's
been trained on their own works,their own art and works that are
outta the copyright.
So classics, fairytales, theBrothers Grimm, Arabian Knight
and uh, the Magic Paintbrushwhere everything you paint comes
to life.
And that is kind of like theworld of the Vale.
(04:00):
Everything that Bran creates inthe Vale grows through AI and
becomes real.
So there's a village of elvesthat evolve over time.
There's a blue forest that growsusing the Fibonacci sequence
behind it.
Um, there's a castle that hegets to build and decides
everything he wants to do withit.
And so part of the hope is that,the, one of the stories that the
Vale is good because the Leefamily is good.
And that is a theme of thestory.
(04:22):
Like we need ethical people tomake ethical technology because
the ones at the front lines ofmaking technology are the ones
making decisions about how thistechnology is built.
BETH BARANY (04:30):
I love that so much.
two things you said one, cleanAI and ethical technology.
it's so interesting'cause theway I use AI, I use it inside of
Notion and I trained it on mymaterial and then I ask it to
adapt from that.
I've given it my guidelines formy brand voices.
All the things.
So I purposely don't use chatGPT because.
(04:52):
I'm like, that's not okay.
That's, that's based on stolenwork.
I wanna use the tool, but basedon my own work.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (04:59):
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (04:59):
And the work I feed it.
So, uh, it's, it's a secondbrain cubed or something,'cause
I also feed it all my researchnotes and just anything that
interests me just goes into thisbig pot.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (05:10):
That's amazing.
BETH BARANY (05:11):
Yeah.
My podcast notes, all my eventthings and the events I market
for other people, you know, myfriends and stuff as an
affiliate or, my thoughts, my,my business journaling
check-ins, and then I have someprivate things that I've gated
away from the AI.
I'm like, eh, yeah.
I'm keeping that private.
This whole notion of clean AIthat's such a wonderful idea for
(05:31):
people to play with.
and then your notion of, ofethical technology.
I guess I have a side questionto that, which is, how can we
build ethical technology on topof the AI when the AIs were
trained and created inbasically, uh, an ethical way?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (05:46):
Mm-hmm.
How can we build it?
You know, that is a very, that'slike the million dollar
question.
It is very complicated.
You're right.
these technologies are alreadybuilt and, there are lawsuits
now, as you know.
Um.
Lib Live Gen has trained on myworks, has trained on the works
of many author friends that Iknow, and I know there are
settlements that are goingaround.
So it's possible that withenough settlements that they'll
(06:08):
be able to button up things.
But what I do know is, um, a lotof the big tech companies, what
they're doing is they'reindemnifying, they're saying
like, if use our AItechnologies, like, and you get
in trouble, we'll take care ofyou.
So that also in some ways issolution for the lay person, but
it doesn't really solve thebigger issue.
And I think it's not a, it's notan easy answer.
BETH BARANY (06:27):
Yeah, it's almost like that whole ethos of, um,
break things.
Or, you know, take action andask for forgiveness later.
Even that whole thing.
So it's like the, the ethicalconversation, and this is, this
could be its own show.
I really need to do a show onethics.
the ethical conversation of whatunderpins our technology, but
(06:47):
also what underpins our economics.
Mm-hmm.
Political systems.
I mean, it's all, you could say,built on the backs of unpaid
labor.
Which is like, oh, we're allexactly of that.
We're all a product of that.
So it's like how do you rankwrangle with that as you, as you
step into trying to createsomething ethically good.
I guess that's a question foryou too, and me.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (07:08):
Yeah.
No, I, again, I don't thinkthere's an easy answer.
Um, but I think it's smallchoices along the way As you are
developing these products, asyou create them, like people
need to be asking the questionsso that they can try to choose.
The routes that are, are forsafety or for inclusion, and not
take shortcuts.
I mean, that's really what itkind of comes down to.
Like it was easy to just takeadvantage of things that were
(07:31):
out there and, and try to fixthe problem later.
But I think people who areforward thinking and, and can
anticipate these things that,that, that makes a big
difference.
And just being in the room,having a seat at the table, and
being able to use yourdiscretion, like I think all
that makes a big difference.
BETH BARANY (07:43):
That's really great.
So it's, it's back to likecritical thinking and kind of
being really clear-eyed aboutwhat's going on.
Right.
And also not naive, like it'snot a black and white situation.
It, there's a lot of nuancehere.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So how, um, can people supportyour project?
'cause I know like you're inyour car right now for those of
you watching on YouTube andyou've just done a school visit.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (08:05):
I just had a school visit.
It was so wonderful.
It was to the fourth and fifthgrade class of an elementary
school, and we showed them theshort film, which is about Bran.
Um, my main character when he's6, 5, 6 years old, it's, it's
called the Vale Origins and it'sabout why this world was built
in the first place.
So we showed them the short filmin 15 minutes, and then we had a
Q and a and it was really fun.
They were so engaged.
(08:25):
so I definitely wanna do moreschool visits if folks are
interested.
Um, you can reach out to me.
I'm pretty much like on socialmedia or you can reach out to my
assistant, which is justassist@abigailhingwen.com.
but I think getting word out.
that's really kind of our, ournext big step.
Getting word out for the book aswidely as possible, um, and
building from there.
BETH BARANY (08:44):
That's so great.
and just for everyone listening,like when we say middle grade,
we're talking what, fourthgraders, fifth graders.
Mm-hmm.
Um, also, what about middleschool?
Would they be interested in thisor would they think, oh, it's a
little too young?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (08:57):
Yeah, know middle school, my protagonist
13, so it's like Harry Potterage.
Okay.
And I definitely feel like, likeall my books, it can be read up
because there's so much aboutthe technology and there's a
parent storyline.
I actually wrote it for Quadrantthe way a Disney movie would be
made.
So there's, you know, olderpeople, younger people, and
everyone in between so that,that everyone can be engaged and
(09:17):
the family can sit down and, andwatch it together.
So it's similar for this book.
BETH BARANY (09:20):
That's great.
And even a parent could read itto their child.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (09:23):
Absolutely.
BETH BARANY (09:24):
Yeah.
That's really wonderful.
And when you say four quadrant,meaning like you have characters
at all the age groups so thatthey all feel seen and heard
and, mm-hmm.
Story.
Yeah.
we have a little bit more time.
I was wondering if you couldtell us a little bit about your.
the, how the film came about,how did the, the prequel come
about?
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (09:43):
Yeah, so that, I had, I was, after Loveboat,
Taipei, um, was made into amovie.
I was meeting with producers inHollywood and I happened to meet
one that was at Netflix and hetold me he did hybrid films that
were half live action, halfanimation.
And that got my wheels turning'cause I'm like, oh, I actually
have a project like that.
It's a novel that I shelved.
And you could see from thecover, the idea is that it's
half animation, half liveaction.
(10:04):
And so I was like.
I talked to my agent, like Icould finish the book and maybe
we could do something with it.
And so I did finish the book,but at the same time I was
thinking about being a directorand I was advised that the best
way forward is to have a sample.
So I, I thought about the Valeorigins.
That was the most discreet storyI had in my portfolio.
I'm like, I could do that.
And it would be a really funproof of concept to show how it
can go back and forth betweenthe real world and the virtual
(10:26):
world.
And so that's how it startedgoing and actually ended up
having that off get, gettingthat off the ground before I
even had the book deal.
BETH BARANY (10:32):
Oh, that is so wonderful.
I love how you have, you'realso, your creative wheels are
in different domains as well.
That's so great.
and is there anything else, um,that you wanna share about your
project?
How long is the book?
Where can people find the book?
Can they just Yes.
By it anywhere.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (10:48):
The book is available pretty much everywhere
books are sold.
Um, you can get it like, youknow, Barnes and Noble is.
Picked my very first novel as ayoung adult book club pick.
So I always love supportingBartons and Noble.
Um, the indie stores also cancarry it.
You can order from them or someof'em have it in store.
And then of course Amazon Booksa million.
It's pretty much everywhere.
So you can, you'll be able tofind it.
BETH BARANY (11:08):
That's so great.
That's wonderful.
So as we wrap up today, I alwayslike to ask people, um, since
this is a podcast about thefuture is what does it mean for
you to write the future?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (11:19):
Ah, great question.
I love fiction because you canimagine a better world and, you
know, you can imagine a worseworld too, that those are
dystopian novels.
but for me, I, I try to writeworlds that I believe are
attainable, and that I think wecan aspire towards.
And so the Vale is a book about.
Kind, good hearted people thatcreate technology that is also
(11:40):
kind and good hearted.
And I think that is a veryreachable dream.
And part of my hope is that ourfuture engineers and scientists
and ethicists and thoughtleaders who are reading my
books, um, today will go forthand make a better world for all
of us.
BETH BARANY (11:57):
I love that.
I love that so much.
I believe fiction.
I mean, it shapes ourimagination and it shapes who we
think we can become.
So thank you for putting thatvision out into the world.
Uh, well I just wanna thank youso much, Abigail, for being a
guest on How To Write TheFuture.
So, it's so fun to see you inyour car.
Like you're on your way
ABIGAIL HING WEN (12:16):
Exactly how it is.
This is how life is.
BETH BARANY (12:19):
Yeah.
So great.
So thank you so much for being aguest on How To Write The
Future.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (12:23):
Yeah.
Thank you for having me, Beth.
BETH BARANY (12:25):
All right everyone.
That's it for this week.
Write long and prosper.
Hi everyone.
Welcome to How to Write theFuture podcast.
I am your host, Beth Barany.
I'm a science fiction andfantasy writer, also a
creativity coach, editor,podcaster and filmmaker.
And I also help creativeentrepreneurs get their
businesses started.
So yeah, like a lot ofcreatives, I have a lot going
on.
My passion is how do we make theworld a better place for
(00:23):
everyone?
And that was one of my goals instarting this podcast is talking
to story writers about theamazing thing that happens when
we create stories, which is wecan help new things come into
the world because I believe thatwhat we vision we can help make.
So, so, I love talking to othercreatives, writers, futurists,
(00:44):
and people who care about thefuture.
And today I'm really excited tohave a guest with us who is
gonna talk about her book.
And that pertains to thesetopics.
I'm so excited.
So Abigail, please join us inand if you, wouldn't, if you
would please introduce yourself,that would be awesome.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (01:01):
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me, Beth.
I am Abigail Hing Wen.
I'm an author and now filmmaker.
And I have published five books.
This is my fifth one, The Vale,that just came into the world on
Tuesday, about a week ago.
And um, it's kind of explodingin all these different
directions.
There's a Roblox game andthere's a short film prequel
starring my childhood hero, LeaSalonga, and lots of good
things.
(01:21):
So I'm excited to be sharingthis book with the world.
BETH BARANY (01:24):
Oh, wow.
I am so excited to have you herewith us.
And if you could start out bysaying like, what inspired you
to write this book and also justfor some context, if this is
your fifth book, what are allyour books?
Middle grade, young, you knowit's middle grade, right?
Not young adult,
ABIGAIL HING WEN (01:39):
middle grade.
Yeah.
Although it reads up for sure.
It's a, it's.
There's a lot of technology andthere's some, there's some
hardships of the family.
but I actually wrote The Vale in2015, so 10 years ago, and it
was actually the last book Iwrote that was a drawer novel.
So for those who don't know whata drawer novel is, it's the
novels that you write that don'tget published that you have to
shelve.
And, it was because it's a storyabout a family that creates an
(02:02):
AI generated virtual fantasyworld.
There was no market for it atthe time.
So my agent at the time said,you know, she couldn't take it
out.
And I think that's probablyright, that nobody knew what AI
generation was.
So I ended up writing Loveboat,Taipei and that was my breakout
novel that became the movie"Lovein Taipei" on Netflix.
And, um.
Then with, you know, timeschanged.
I had another book.
I had, four more books in theworld.
(02:23):
And so, I was able to kind ofmake edits to this one and
adjust it, and the short filmgot underway.
And so now 10 years later, theworld is ready, so I finally get
to publish it.
BETH BARANY (02:34):
Wow.
I love that.
So you're, you're a futuristtoo.
I mean, writing things that thenget set aside.
I too just resurrected a novelthat I wrote 10 years ago in,
uh, this paranormal romanticsuspense, kind of this global
theme of women's power and whichis what I, one of the things I
write about, but it's like, oh,now I'm ready to work on this.
I'm ready.
(02:54):
Maybe the world's ready.
We'll see, I'm still not ahundred percent sure.
yeah.
And so, you wrote it 10 yearsago and then just, it sounds
like things just evolved thatnow just became the time that
this book was ready to be born.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (03:08):
That's right.
Yeah.
Everyone knows what chat GPT isand, um, using chat bots and
artificial intelligence.
So, there's just more peoplethat it's relevant to.
BETH BARANY (03:17):
Yeah.
That is so interesting.
So just a shout out to all youwriters.
Keep writing.
You never know.
Maybe if now is not the time foryour book, then later.
We don't even know.
Yeah.
my next question is (03:29):
what do you hope that readers, and viewers,
because you've got this shortprequel film, what do you hope
everyone is gonna take away,from your project, from The
Vale?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (03:40):
So one of the things I am excited about with
this Vale is that the familycreates clean AI.
So it's AI that's not beentrained on copyright works, it's
been trained on their own works,their own art and works that are
outta the copyright.
So classics, fairytales, theBrothers Grimm, Arabian Knight
and uh, the Magic Paintbrushwhere everything you paint comes
to life.
And that is kind of like theworld of the Vale.
(04:00):
Everything that Bran creates inthe Vale grows through AI and
becomes real.
So there's a village of elvesthat evolve over time.
There's a blue forest that growsusing the Fibonacci sequence
behind it.
Um, there's a castle that hegets to build and decides
everything he wants to do withit.
And so part of the hope is that,the, one of the stories that the
Vale is good because the Leefamily is good.
And that is a theme of thestory.
(04:22):
Like we need ethical people tomake ethical technology because
the ones at the front lines ofmaking technology are the ones
making decisions about how thistechnology is built.
BETH BARANY (04:30):
I love that so much.
two things you said one, cleanAI and ethical technology.
it's so interesting'cause theway I use AI, I use it inside of
Notion and I trained it on mymaterial and then I ask it to
adapt from that.
I've given it my guidelines formy brand voices.
All the things.
So I purposely don't use chatGPT because.
(04:52):
I'm like, that's not okay.
That's, that's based on stolenwork.
I wanna use the tool, but basedon my own work.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (04:59):
Yeah.
BETH BARANY (04:59):
And the work I feed it.
So, uh, it's, it's a secondbrain cubed or something,'cause
I also feed it all my researchnotes and just anything that
interests me just goes into thisbig pot.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (05:10):
That's amazing.
BETH BARANY (05:11):
Yeah.
My podcast notes, all my eventthings and the events I market
for other people, you know, myfriends and stuff as an
affiliate or, my thoughts, my,my business journaling
check-ins, and then I have someprivate things that I've gated
away from the AI.
I'm like, eh, yeah.
I'm keeping that private.
This whole notion of clean AIthat's such a wonderful idea for
(05:31):
people to play with.
and then your notion of, ofethical technology.
I guess I have a side questionto that, which is, how can we
build ethical technology on topof the AI when the AIs were
trained and created inbasically, uh, an ethical way?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (05:46):
Mm-hmm.
How can we build it?
You know, that is a very, that'slike the million dollar
question.
It is very complicated.
You're right.
these technologies are alreadybuilt and, there are lawsuits
now, as you know.
Um.
Lib Live Gen has trained on myworks, has trained on the works
of many author friends that Iknow, and I know there are
settlements that are goingaround.
So it's possible that withenough settlements that they'll
(06:08):
be able to button up things.
But what I do know is, um, a lotof the big tech companies, what
they're doing is they'reindemnifying, they're saying
like, if use our AItechnologies, like, and you get
in trouble, we'll take care ofyou.
So that also in some ways issolution for the lay person, but
it doesn't really solve thebigger issue.
And I think it's not a, it's notan easy answer.
BETH BARANY (06:27):
Yeah, it's almost like that whole ethos of, um,
break things.
Or, you know, take action andask for forgiveness later.
Even that whole thing.
So it's like the, the ethicalconversation, and this is, this
could be its own show.
I really need to do a show onethics.
the ethical conversation of whatunderpins our technology, but
(06:47):
also what underpins our economics.
Mm-hmm.
Political systems.
I mean, it's all, you could say,built on the backs of unpaid
labor.
Which is like, oh, we're allexactly of that.
We're all a product of that.
So it's like how do you rankwrangle with that as you, as you
step into trying to createsomething ethically good.
I guess that's a question foryou too, and me.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (07:08):
Yeah.
No, I, again, I don't thinkthere's an easy answer.
Um, but I think it's smallchoices along the way As you are
developing these products, asyou create them, like people
need to be asking the questionsso that they can try to choose.
The routes that are, are forsafety or for inclusion, and not
take shortcuts.
I mean, that's really what itkind of comes down to.
Like it was easy to just takeadvantage of things that were
(07:31):
out there and, and try to fixthe problem later.
But I think people who areforward thinking and, and can
anticipate these things that,that, that makes a big
difference.
And just being in the room,having a seat at the table, and
being able to use yourdiscretion, like I think all
that makes a big difference.
BETH BARANY (07:43):
That's really great.
So it's, it's back to likecritical thinking and kind of
being really clear-eyed aboutwhat's going on.
Right.
And also not naive, like it'snot a black and white situation.
It, there's a lot of nuancehere.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So how, um, can people supportyour project?
'cause I know like you're inyour car right now for those of
you watching on YouTube andyou've just done a school visit.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (08:05):
I just had a school visit.
It was so wonderful.
It was to the fourth and fifthgrade class of an elementary
school, and we showed them theshort film, which is about Bran.
Um, my main character when he's6, 5, 6 years old, it's, it's
called the Vale Origins and it'sabout why this world was built
in the first place.
So we showed them the short filmin 15 minutes, and then we had a
Q and a and it was really fun.
They were so engaged.
(08:25):
so I definitely wanna do moreschool visits if folks are
interested.
Um, you can reach out to me.
I'm pretty much like on socialmedia or you can reach out to my
assistant, which is justassist@abigailhingwen.com.
but I think getting word out.
that's really kind of our, ournext big step.
Getting word out for the book aswidely as possible, um, and
building from there.
BETH BARANY (08:44):
That's so great.
and just for everyone listening,like when we say middle grade,
we're talking what, fourthgraders, fifth graders.
Mm-hmm.
Um, also, what about middleschool?
Would they be interested in thisor would they think, oh, it's a
little too young?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (08:57):
Yeah, know middle school, my protagonist
13, so it's like Harry Potterage.
Okay.
And I definitely feel like, likeall my books, it can be read up
because there's so much aboutthe technology and there's a
parent storyline.
I actually wrote it for Quadrantthe way a Disney movie would be
made.
So there's, you know, olderpeople, younger people, and
everyone in between so that,that everyone can be engaged and
(09:17):
the family can sit down and, andwatch it together.
So it's similar for this book.
BETH BARANY (09:20):
That's great.
And even a parent could read itto their child.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (09:23):
Absolutely.
BETH BARANY (09:24):
Yeah.
That's really wonderful.
And when you say four quadrant,meaning like you have characters
at all the age groups so thatthey all feel seen and heard
and, mm-hmm.
Story.
Yeah.
we have a little bit more time.
I was wondering if you couldtell us a little bit about your.
the, how the film came about,how did the, the prequel come
about?
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (09:43):
Yeah, so that, I had, I was, after Loveboat,
Taipei, um, was made into amovie.
I was meeting with producers inHollywood and I happened to meet
one that was at Netflix and hetold me he did hybrid films that
were half live action, halfanimation.
And that got my wheels turning'cause I'm like, oh, I actually
have a project like that.
It's a novel that I shelved.
And you could see from thecover, the idea is that it's
half animation, half liveaction.
(10:04):
And so I was like.
I talked to my agent, like Icould finish the book and maybe
we could do something with it.
And so I did finish the book,but at the same time I was
thinking about being a directorand I was advised that the best
way forward is to have a sample.
So I, I thought about the Valeorigins.
That was the most discreet storyI had in my portfolio.
I'm like, I could do that.
And it would be a really funproof of concept to show how it
can go back and forth betweenthe real world and the virtual
(10:26):
world.
And so that's how it startedgoing and actually ended up
having that off get, gettingthat off the ground before I
even had the book deal.
BETH BARANY (10:32):
Oh, that is so wonderful.
I love how you have, you'realso, your creative wheels are
in different domains as well.
That's so great.
and is there anything else, um,that you wanna share about your
project?
How long is the book?
Where can people find the book?
Can they just Yes.
By it anywhere.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (10:48):
The book is available pretty much everywhere
books are sold.
Um, you can get it like, youknow, Barnes and Noble is.
Picked my very first novel as ayoung adult book club pick.
So I always love supportingBartons and Noble.
Um, the indie stores also cancarry it.
You can order from them or someof'em have it in store.
And then of course Amazon Booksa million.
It's pretty much everywhere.
So you can, you'll be able tofind it.
BETH BARANY (11:08):
That's so great.
That's wonderful.
So as we wrap up today, I alwayslike to ask people, um, since
this is a podcast about thefuture is what does it mean for
you to write the future?
ABIGAIL HING WEN (11:19):
Ah, great question.
I love fiction because you canimagine a better world and, you
know, you can imagine a worseworld too, that those are
dystopian novels.
but for me, I, I try to writeworlds that I believe are
attainable, and that I think wecan aspire towards.
And so the Vale is a book about.
Kind, good hearted people thatcreate technology that is also
(11:40):
kind and good hearted.
And I think that is a veryreachable dream.
And part of my hope is that ourfuture engineers and scientists
and ethicists and thoughtleaders who are reading my
books, um, today will go forthand make a better world for all
of us.
BETH BARANY (11:57):
I love that.
I love that so much.
I believe fiction.
I mean, it shapes ourimagination and it shapes who we
think we can become.
So thank you for putting thatvision out into the world.
Uh, well I just wanna thank youso much, Abigail, for being a
guest on How To Write TheFuture.
So, it's so fun to see you inyour car.
Like you're on your way
ABIGAIL HING WEN (12:16):
Exactly how it is.
This is how life is.
BETH BARANY (12:19):
Yeah.
So great.
So thank you so much for being aguest on How To Write The
Future.
ABIGAIL HING WEN (12:23):
Yeah.
Thank you for having me, Beth.
BETH BARANY (12:25):
All right everyone.
That's it for this week.
Write long and prosper.
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