What if a 13-year-old trained an AI on fairy tales—and the world learned back? Hollyn sits down with New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen for our first live taping at Annabelle's Book Club LA to unpack The Vale, Abigail's middle grade debut about a boy who builds an AI-generated realm and then has to save it when reality starts to glitch. From dual timelines and lyrical lore to concrete tech metaphors, Abigail shows how story can make complex ideas feel simple, vivid, and urgent.

We explore the craft behind weaving two narratives—the grounded voice of Bran in the real world and the elevated whimsy of the Book of Elf—plus the Easter eggs that bridge them: recurring motifs, mirrored characters, even accent choices in the audiobook. Abigail shares why she coined “clean AI,” training models on public-domain works and family-made art to seed ethics into the plot itself. You’ll hear how a carnation-in-colored-water metaphor turns data provenance into something kids can see and feel, and why middle grade gives her the space to make kids the heroes without losing emotional depth.

The conversation jumps from page to screen: writing and directing The Vale: Origins as a live action–animation hybrid, the puzzle of designing seamless transitions between worlds, and the lessons she carried over from executive producing Love in Taipei during pandemic lockdowns. We talk about adaptation tradeoffs, diverging endings, and how hundreds of collaborators inevitably shape a movie’s identity—while the books keep telling the longer story. Along the way, Abigail offers grounded advice for aspiring authors and creators on finding your singular perspective, building community, and choosing the right medium for your message.

If stories shape the tools we build, then this is a guide to building better ones. Listen, share with a friend who loves AI or fantasy, and leave a review so more curious minds can find us.

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NYT-bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen discusses writing the LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI trilogy, producing LOVE IN TAIPEI for Paramount+ (and Netflix), and directing her first short film THE VALE: ORIGINS (starring Lea Salonga), a prequel to her new middle-grade novel THE VALE. Lightning Round topics: favorite movies, superpowers, whether cereal is a soup, guilty pleasure dance songs, and fun trivia about the infamous door scene in the TITANIC movie!

Follow, subscribe and learn more about Stories Without Borders on:

Instagram: @Stories_WithoutBorders

YouTube: @Stories_WithoutBorders

Website: StoriesWithoutBorders.org