Good morning, n Abigail. How are you doing today. I'm well,
it's big to meet you, Earo. Thanks so much for having me.
Oh my god. Yes, this book needs to be talked about. This
book needs to be in people's arms so they can read it and they can
feel the pages while they're turning it. Because I mean, you've got romance,
self discovery, empowerment. I mean you put everything into this. Oh
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. How does that play out on your personal
emotions knowing that it's coming from you. You are the seed planter, you
know. It's so crazy, Like I think my books came out during pandemic,
I didn't really have a chance to meet a lot of readers in person
because my tour, my first tur got canceled, my second tour was only
virtual. And now this is my first like huge launch after Pandemic is over.
So I'm really excited to meet real people who read it. I think
every time I talk to someone who's interacted with the story and the characters,
it's kind of a shock to my system in the best of ways. So
I think it's just the sun's gone me. That's one of the things that
I've learned lately, especially is you know since the lockdown, is that people
have really become better readers. And I mean they go in and they digest
a book. It's not one of those things where you know, it takes
two or three months to get through it. They're getting they're getting the job
done. Hmm. Yeah. For you to know that, though, I
mean, I mean, because you've got to make that connection. I mean,
I'm in radio. My connection is it's got to hit somebody on the
other side. That listener's got to receive it and then take it and pass
it along. You you have that page that's going to be the word when
on somebody else's street. That's right, that's right. How do you make
that connection? Yeah? Gosh, I think writing characters that are real,
like writing characters and actually real at their highest and lowest moments. So my
character in love book Forever, Pearl, she has gotten into this prestigious summer
music program in Manhattan, and it's so excited to go. She goes and
takes like glamour shocks and everything and ready to go and posts on social media,
Hey I'm coming, and then everything blows up and goes right to pot
like she's she gets her TikTok videos viral in the worst of ways. She's
always haters piling on. There's this big social media blow up, and the
programmer since her offer. So it's a really low point for her. Her
father had actually passed away a year ago and had really wanted her to go
on this program. And so I think just those real human moments when a
disappointment of things outside of your control, bad things happening to you that you
can't stop. She she has nothing to do for the summer, and since
she ends up going on love Boat, this program in Taipei that her sister
went on because she has nothing else to do. Yeah. See. See,
this is the relatable part of your writing, is that because readers will
put themselves inside these shoes. They may not be living the same lifestyle,
but they've got a story that they can relate with it. M Yeah,
thank you. I'm so glad to hear it. And I do hear from
readers like that. They relate to those moments where my characters are in pain,
and they we've all been there. Vice is hard and we've all had
the experience those moments. Well, and you you actually went through this program,
Did you not in Taiwan? I did. Yeah. So it's a
real program that's been around since the nineteen sixties. Parents had send their kids
there to learn language and culture, but also to find a spouse. And
that's how God's nickname Loved Vote based on the nineteen seventies TV show, and
a lot of couples came out of it. But my husband actually was on
Love Vote a couple of summers before me. We didn't meet on Love Vote,
but it's one of the things that connected us later. How do you
get how are you going to make that transition change in the way that when
we hear Love Boat, we think of the TV show. And I just
want listeners to understand we're not talking about the TV show. She's not rewriting
stories. That this is a really good book about a program. Ah,
yes, thank you. So it is a totally different than the actual There's
No Boat. I laughed the first time when I started the book started coming
out in the world, someone actually had a graphic of a boat failing through
the ocean, like, actually, there's no Vote, It's really just a
program. It's a building. Culled Shenthan in Taipaid with dorms and a campus
and classrooms, and you're there for six weeks learning language and culture with a
group of kids that you know, you see day in and day out.
And that's really where all the fun happens, because you're together in this foreign
country with no parental supervision, and the kids end up speaking out, clubbing
and drinking snake blood sack and really in the process of making their culture their
own. I got to tell you, Abigail, I'm so proud of you,
from one creative person to another creative person, the way that you have
taken your writing, because so many writers will do it and then they hide
it underneath their bed or they put it in a closet. And the thing
is is that you've taken your writing released it to people. I mean,
look at Love and Taypei on Paramount Plus. I mean, you keep pushing
it into areas where there's always going to be new fans waiting for you.
Yeah, it has been amazing. It is really unbelievable to just see the
numbers. I think the numbers, don't I don't believe the numbers, right,
They're just so big that I'm like, I don't know what a million
viewers means like I have a TikTok of the film or an instagram of the
film that has had I think nine million views now, and I'm just like,
what that number? At some point it becomes meaningless inviting a new characters
such as Pearl. How do you bring that up in a new storyline,
because I mean things are coming up? You know that that that that kind
of you know, there's a fall from Grace in this situation, right,
yeah, So Pearl is the younger sister of the main character from the first
book, Ever Wrong, And yes, absolutely there's a fall from Grace.
She was on this path to stardom. And but you know, it's also
really important that to understand that classical music is really important her. She loves
music, It's in her blood. And you know again that point about her
father like her before he passed away, he was her music by he sat
next to her at the piano and he just loved feeling the music along with
her. So to lose that, like it kind of shakes the foundation of
a world like who am I if I'm not a classical music prodigy. So
she grows on, loved it and learned the whole She ends up connecting with
another classical music prodigy. She's totally stunned to find this guy Ethan there who
she's heard of. She's even seen them on stage Carnegie Hall, and for
some reason, he's on love Boote too. But at the same time she
ends up connecting with this brooding kid in her Chinese classical music class where they're
learning all these different instruments. She finds out he plays the Chinese lute.
It's the people that she's never heard of this instrument in her western upbringing.
But he's like this really sour chrimongeny guy, and she doesn't know why.
And over time she finds out like he's also had his music taken from him,
and that's like a really important journey that they when they team up to
figure that out together. Do you think part of your success is based on
that you finally have a book here that people here in the United States and
around the world can hold it and say, wow, my image is on
these pages that they feel it's not like the typical stories of twenty thirty years
ago, whereas you're talking about real people from anywhere in the world. Yeah,
I have been really overwhelmed by like the number of countries where the books
are sold and the movies has come out. It's the twelve major languages and
more, and I you know, it's I think it's at the core because
we're all human and that's really what it comes down to. And you know,
my editor is actually Italian American and she said that Ever's family is just
like hers, and I love that, and I think that's kind of part
of the hope is people read these stories, they meet all these Asian American
characters. I'm like, oh my gosh, they're just like we are.
Yeah. Do readers have to start with book number one? Or is it
okay to start with Love Bote Forever and then go back? Yeah, they
absolutely can start in any order they want the book. The third book is
set features later, you do get cameos of these fan favorites from the first
two books, and so you find out more about what happens to them.
But in the third book it's its own standalone story following Pearl. Yeah.
Wow, it's really interesting how you make it so real in the way that
social media plays a huge role in this story. Yeah, it's very much
of our time. I think it's so funny, Like it's set six years
later, Eve, though I wrote it three years later. But it feels
like Pearl is so much more modern than even her older sister. I mean,
listeners don't understand that sometimes that the number of years required in order to
bring a story forward. Yeah. Yeah. Each of my books have taken
me many years to write. So the first book was three years, the
second was few, and the third is two. What's next? I mean,
I mean, are you going to continue growing in? I mean,
because you said there's a third book and things. I mean, I mean
you've you've always got to be asking that next question, what's next? Yeah?
Yeah, So there's three love book books now. Now this is the
third love book book. And I've actually got a fourth novel standalone, different
universe, different characters called Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies. It's coming out
with Macmillan in August of next year, so less than a year away,
and I'm super excited for that one. It's a seventh Silicon Valley. It
was pitched to me by my editor based on a short story that I wrote
for an anthology, and she said, can we have a babysitting story?
So it's the most unusual baby story, babysitting story you've ever heard. My
main character, Tanley's like sixteen, seventeen years old. He's babysitting his five
year old sister when his parents go off to Hawaii with the parents of his
love interests, who he's like trying to stay away from. And then his
ex girlfriend from Shanghai shows up on his doorstep with millions of dollars stolen from
her father and international sug deals. So it ends up being a caper.
It sends them, like you know, running around through all of the area
trying to get away and quite an unusual babysitting assignment. So I'm super excited
for that one to come out into the world next year. Do you ever
wonder where these stories come from inside of you? I mean, do you
defrag break it down, break it down, break it down, And all
of a sudden, in the center of this egg is this story. You
know? For me, I have ideas all the time, Like I walk
around and get an idea. I see a picture, I get an idea.
Someone says something and I have an idea of her story. And so
for me, the exercise is actually narrowing down which story is I tell?
So I am really thankful to have a wonderful team of agents and managers that
kind of helped me figure out, Okay, what's the next one of my
million ideas that you know I should move forward next? How do you really
mean so loyal but so passionate about it? Because I mean, yes,
it's a job. But the thing about it is, though you don't write
like you treat it like a job. You know what I mean. I
mean you you're sharing a story that doesn't feel like that you're having to do
a job. You know. It's such a great question, especially today,
I feel like, Wow, it's launch day, and but there's so much
work that goes into a day like this, and I forget that I have
to celebrate. So I did go out with one of my dearest friends who's
my critique partner, soebigta here yesterday. She's actually the National Book Award winner
for Young People's Literature last year. So we went out and celebrated and that
sheally, I'm going to lot to do with my family, and I'm just
yeah, I'm so grateful to have such an honor, to be able to
put my works into the world and to have this, you know, even
to have this conversation really really, I'm so honored. I love the way
you use the word sell because it reminded me of taekwondo with my black belt
tests and Sabinian would always tell me, he says, this is not a
test. You're celebrating. This is you're celebrating your knowledge. And I love
the way that you you celebrate for that because you realize it's a job.
I got to get it done, but celebrate it. Yes, absolutely,
Well where can people go to find out more about you and to get because
people are always asking that question, well where do I find it? So,
Abigail, here's your opportunity let people know where you are. Yeah.
So you can order the books through your local independent bookstore. It's in Barnes
and Noble all around the country. Amazon, And the best way to keep
in touch with me is to sign up for my newsletter. I actually email
it out for my own email account. You know, I'll let you know
if I'm in your neighborhood and when the next book comes and other you know,
other film and TV projects that I'm working on. So you can sign
up on my website, which is just my name Abigailking when dot com and
I'm also on social media Abigail Heine when well, if you ever make it
to Charlotte, because there's a lot of authors that come through Charlotte. We
got to get together and have a face to face conversation. Oh I would
love to do that. Excellent. Will you be brilliant today? Okay,
thank you, thank you so much for having me.