Three years ago Abigail Hing Wen released Loveboat, Taipei, a young adult romance loosely based on her own experiences at the Overseas Compatriot Youth Taiwan Study Tour to Taiwan — or also known as the Love Boat, a place for international teens to come together away from the prying eyes of their parents.
That book debuted at #9 on the New York Times Bestseller List where it sat for weeks after, spawned a Paramount Plus movie adaptation, and two sequels, Love Boat Reunion, and Love Boat, Forever, the latter of which was released in November 2023.
But it had taken Abigail ten years to get to that point, instead writing four other books that did not feature Asian-American leads because she had never seen them herself in books or on the screen, telling HELLO! that "for a long time, I just didn't know I could write a book like that".
Growing up a daughter of immigrants first in West Virginia and later in Ohio, Abigail never considered the colonial history of America that shaped her cultural upbringing, and it wasn't until a professor during her MBA encouraged her to write what she knew, that Abigail leaned on her own experiences at Love Boat.
"I grew up in Ohio and I didn't know anything about my culture; I didn't want to know anything about my culture. I wanted to just blend in with everyone else," Abigail shares. "I've now been to 50 countries around the world and I love to travel and each trip kind of gives me a stronger sense of who I am in the world, where I fit in, and a stronger sense of how much people are the same everywhere - and that's been of a source of inspiration for all my writings."
Love Boat Forever is the third - and final - in the trilogy, and Abigail tells HELLO! that it feels like the Wong family journey is complete.
"There really were endless stories in this universe, and so many characters, I even considered writing an anthology at one point," she says. "I had other ideas around following the Gang of Five who are fan favorites from the first book. But I think Love Boat Forever did really feel like a bookend… the three Wong women are able to take this cultural adventure together."
Did you always know you wanted to tell Pearl's story as well?
I actually had no idea that I would have a trilogy at the start. When I had set out to write the first book, I'd written it from five different points of view - Ever, Rick, Sophie, and Xavier, with a couple chapters from Jenna, Rick's girlfriend, who was not on Love Boat. At 120,000 words, it was really shallow and it took me a while to figure out it was way too much story for one book.
I ended up scrapping the whole thing and redoing it just from Ever Wong's point of view. But I had all the story left over from that first book that was cut out and it ended up becoming the fodder for the second novel, and when I was writing that second novel – and we were already starting to work on the script for the feature film – my editor and agent were like, 'Let's do the third!'
My editor had flagged the words 'Love Boat forever' at the end of my draft of book two so I said, 'Oh, here is the title for the third novel.' It was really fun to write Pearl's story against that backdrop of knowing her older sister had gone on the program and so she is really in the know when she goes, and has a lot of expectations because Ever came back transformed and so it was really fun to play around with Pearl's expectations for Love Boat and then how Love Boat actually pulled the rug out from under her in so many ways.
These stories tell a really specific cultural tale that many readers would have never known about. Has that always been your intention with storytelling?
I did want to share about this strange subculture that I knew about, that a lot of Asian Americans were very familiar with, but that no one outside the community knew about. It is such a uniquely Asian American experience, to be dropped off in this foreign country with no supervision, with other teenagers who had also struggled under being model minorities and the weight of that their whole lives.
But suddenly, they could just be free to be themselves in this country together and that was the fun part - I didn't really see that type of representation of Asian Americans in the media. They were always in very specific roles like the sidekick, the accountant, so I wanted to write what I knew was true from the community, but I had not seen in books or on the screen. I didn't have the courage to do that for many years.
I had actually written for ten years before I got this book deal; I'd written four other novels, none of which had Asian American main characters and for a long time, I just didn't know I could write a book like that.
What happened to lead you to find the courage to finally write that book?
It was definitely a long road. I had wonderful critique partners who kept me going. I ended up doing my MFA at VCFA, and that was the first place that I finally had the courage to call myself a writer. While I was there, I had faculty members encourage me, 'You should write what you know. Write stories that matter deeply to you, because those will be the stories that you are the expert at, and they'll be more authentic and true.'
It was a long journey to get here, for me to take a step back and finally find those stories that were extremely close to my heart, things that I really felt strongly about sharing, but here we are.
Love Boat Forever delves into the impact of colonial history. Is something you've had to reconcile yourself with your own writing?
To some extent; it was definitely fun for Pearl as a classical musician who loves the piano -- and she's also a Christian, as I am -- to go to Asia and realize, 'Oh, wow, there's a different perspective on the things that I love,' and it gives her a chance to step back and think, 'Do I love classical music because that's all I've ever known? Am I Christian because that's what I grew up with?'
Those are important questions for any young adult to ask as we figure out our identities and come to our own conclusions. I grew up in Ohio and I didn't know anything about my culture; I didn't want to know anything about my culture. I wanted to just blend in with everyone else. I've now been to 50 countries around the world and I love to travel and each trip kind of gives me a stronger sense of who I am in the world, where I fit in, and a stronger sense of how much people are the same everywhere - and that's been of a source of inspiration for all my writings.
What is your process for writing?
My process is kind of bizarre. I end up getting ideas all the time, all day long, so it's an exercise in trying to capture all those ideas. I carry my phone with me and I write down ideas here and there. I have a bunch of different files in my notes section and so as I get an idea, I'm like, 'Oh, that belongs in that novel, that belongs in that project, oh I just realized that's what that character needs for that TV pilot that I'm working on.' Then when I can sit down and do the writing, I'll take one of those projects and kind of resolve all the ideas that I've had.
I love it because once I've written a first draft that ends up becoming like a Christmas tree that I can hang all these ornaments on over time. So for example, I'm working on a new project; I think of it as my magnum opus novel. It's a big series. It's been drafted once, and I have an outline; I usually know the high concept, and know where the story is going to end but then I have to figure out, 'What is at the beginning that sets that story up properly?'
Then my characters are on autopilot after that.
How many of your own memories have made it into these Love Boat books?
The internal journeys of the characters, like Ever trying to figure out who she is as a girl between two cultures, are my experience, but the external journeys I've borrowed from everywhere, or they're imaginary. For example – I did take glamor shots, but not naked ones. I did sneak out clubbing. My husband and his friends, who went on a Love Boat a couple years before me, actually went over the pipe that appears in the first novel and then of course, I heard about many people who climbed over the wall, which is how Pearl and her friends got out of campus.
How do you know when it is time to say goodbye to a set of characters?
With this series, when I completed the Wong family journey with Pearl that's when I felt, 'Yeah, I think I'm done.' There really were endless stories in this universe, and so many characters, I even considered writing an anthology at one point. I had other ideas around following the Gang of Five who are fan favorites from the first book. But I think Love Boat Forever did really feel like a bookend because Pearl is the younger sister who brings her mom and Ever as well, and so the three Wong women are able to take this cultural adventure together.
I felt like that, in some ways, is the biggest full circle moment; Ever was running away from her heritage, angry with her parents, to the point where Ever and her mom and her sister reconnect with their heritage together at the family village.
That village scene was my favorite scene to write in the whole series, and that's actually based on a true experience that I had with my own parents. I went there with my younger child and I was just amazed to discover, 'Wow, I came from somewhere and there are people here who look like me and they have photos of us.' That was so magical, and for me, that just felt like the culmination of the whole series.
What are you working on now?
I'm going to have a lot of stories that draw on my experience here in Silicon Valley where I live now. I'm working in technology so I have an AI generation story. I've got stories about neurodiversity, which is the point of the second novel; Xavier has undiagnosed dyslexia and dysgraphia, and Sophie, who is never diagnosed anywhere in the books but she probably has undiagnosed ADHD.
I feel really strongly that even though the world hasn't been built for neurodiverse people, the classrooms haven't been built for them, that they have an incredible contribution to make, the same as anyone else.
I also went through the ringer as a woman in tech, as a woman in the corporate world, and so that is a source of inspiration for me; women just don't get the benefit of that doubt and I think that implicit bias is layered into a lot of my works. I love that with my stories that the girl gets to be the main character, she gets to choose the guy or the love interest, she chooses her own destiny.
Is there a trope in romance books you hate?
Well, I love a good love triangle. I just think it's the best trope ever because it's a great problem to have. Like, 'Oh no, who do I choose?' But what I don't like is people giving up something for someone else. I think it's important to sacrifice what you want for what you really need, or the person you love; that's actually core to any great story. But I do hate stories where they give up their academic studies, for example.
There's something about that that doesn't sit well with me. I think it's important for people to care about their resources.