Interview with Abigail Hing Wen, Author of The Vale

Welcome to Smack Dab, Abigail! Please tell us a bit about The Vale.

The Vale is my middle grade debut novel, which was my creative thesis at Vermont College of Fine Arts. It follows 13-year-old Bran Lee and his inventor family, who have created an AI generated virtual fantasy world. Bran’s grown up in this world, but at the start of the novel, his family has fallen on hard times and the Vale is glitching badly. Bran sets out to save both his family and the Vale by entering it in a $10M competition, but then a rogue Wizard appears, challenging him in the Vale with real world implications. 

The novel comes out September 16 from Third State Books, and we are also finishing a short film prequel titled The Vale — Origins, starring my girlhood hero Lea Salonga as Bran’s roboticist mom.

This book feels so of-the-moment. But you wrote this novel in 2015, well before AI became mainstream. What inspired you to explore artificial intelligence and virtual reality themes so early?

I am privileged to live and work in Silicon Valley, at the heart of the greatest innovations of our generation. As an attorney in venture capital, I got to see early technology being incubated, including AI and VR. As a storyteller, I was excited by VR’s potential to create immersive experiences. I was also drawn to the potential and power of AI, which I could see would soon be everywhere and change the world, and have been deeply interested in exploring the ethics of the technology.

I loved the metaphor of the Portal's ability to create worlds through imagination rather than just pattern-matching. How do you see the relationship between human creativity and AI?

AI is a tool just like any other tool for more people to express themselves. In the same way the phone camera has made portrait painters of us all, we can now capture what we see and share it with the world. So too will AI enable us to show the world what we see and feel. But the human artist — or even the human viewer of the art — is what gives the art soul and meaning. AI will never be able to do that for us.

I’m fascinated by long journeys to publication. This book sat on your back-burner for nearly a decade before publication. What was the "something off about the dual worlds" that you mentioned fixing, and what breakthrough moment helped you solve it?

To be honest, I can’t quite recall what was off now! I know I wasn’t sure how to begin the story — I have a version that starts with Bran getting bullied at a baseball game because he was so busy thinking about the Vale that he missed the flyball coming at him. I had another opening that began with Bran creating the Vale by splaying colors across the blank white canvas — some of that version is now in the short film prequel. I’m happy with where the new opening begins, which is a fusion of both his worlds from the start. 

Bran struggles with social connections in the real world but thrives in the Vale. How did you approach writing a neurodivergent protagonist, and what do you hope readers take from this journey?

Bran turned out neurodiverse as I was writing it. I remember my classmate Lianna McSwain talking through the storyline in our school dorms with me. As I was explaining, she asked if Bran was on the spectrum, and I teared up and said the whole family is. Neurodiversity is something I’ve lived with without knowing it, and is another way I have struggled to fit in — trying to embrace my mind that is exploding with ideas and colors in a way that takes you out of the world but also enables me to do the creative work I am blessed to do today — and I wanted to explore it. 

For a while, I thought Bran must be unhappy in his virtual bubble, but then I realized that was the parent in me. Truth is, Bran is very happy in his virtual world, because it’s easier in some ways. This is why he wants it to come to life. But in the end, he finds even more opportunities to grow in the real world, and that’s why he chooses to stay in it over returning to the Vale.

The relationship between Bran and Vale-Piper raises questions about the nature of reality and connection. How do you view the ethics of emotional relationships with AI?

When Bran falls for Vale-Piper, it may seem like a win for Bran, but it’s actually one of his lowest moments in the story. He’s been warned the Vale isn’t real. And yet, in that dark moment when he feels abandoned by his parents, his closest mentor and his new friend, he feels he has no one left but this virtual girl. It’s a problem. We can’t truly have a relationship with a virtual person, and learning to step into human relationships, along with the messy complexity of them, is a key part of Bran’s internal journey. 

The Vale draws heavily from classical fairy tales and folklore. What drew you to ground this futuristic story in traditional storytelling elements?

I love those stories myself, and in some ways, the Vale is like a writer or artist itself. We take in the world and it comes out of us synthesized in new ways. That’s how the Vale works — except that its output is in the form of a fantasy world growing.

The novel explores the idea that "ethical people make ethical technology." What role do you think individual creators and engineers play in shaping AI's future impact?

Individual creators are foundational to making ethical technology. Thousands of choices are made as an invention is discovered, refined and launched. Oftentimes, the engineers are the only ones who truly understand how the technology works. They can explain it to lay audiences, and ethics experts can ask good questions, but in the end, non-technical people are reliant on the makers. The choices they make may not even be conscious ones. The Lee family wanted to create clean AI that didn’t use copyrighted materials. That was an intentional choice, and though it took them longer, their resulting work is even more valuable for it.

The Vale is also trained on interacting with Bran, who is a big-hearted, loving kid full of imagination, and the resulting characters and the world is kind, too. This was an unconscious benefit that simply comes from who the Lees are. 

What's next?

I’m so excited — The Vale launches on September 16! We’ll be showing the short film prequel at film festivals and special private events, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter at www.abigailhingwen.com to find out when it’s coming to a city near you.

There are also some very cool surprises happening!

🧝‍♀️ If you pre-order the hardcover book between now and September 21, you’ll get a FREE set of Vale stickers! Just upload your receipt at this google form here: https://tinyurl.com/thevalepreorders.

🍦 And… come try Vale Elfberry Blue Ice Cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in New York City! If you show a pre-order receipt for The Vale from an indie bookstore or Barnes & Noble, you’ll get a free scoop. Yep, book lovers get ice cream!

I’m also excited to be deep in the production of an unannounced middle grade graphic novel with HarperAlley.

Where can we find you?

Sign up for direct updates and invitations via my newsletter: www.abigailhingwen.com.

Follow on social media — I’m most active on Instagram @abigailhingwen.