The Bookish Hour

Interview with Author: Abigail Owen

• Jor & Fab • Season 2 • Episode 6

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Ever wonder what it really takes to craft bestselling fantasy romance novels? 

In the interview with Abigail Owen she pulls back the curtain on her creative process in this intimate conversation that takes us from her earliest writing memories to the upcoming release of her highly-anticipated sequel, The Things Gods Break.

Her approach to Greek mythology in The Games Gods Play series demonstrates her willingness to break traditional molds. Instead of retelling the familiar Hades-Persephone myth, Owen crafted an entirely new love story for the god of the underworld. This creative freedom extends to her world-building, where she incorporates "little brushstrokes" from mythology, like positioning Lethe, goddess of oblivion, as the perfect bartender in a god's establishment.

Fans eagerly awaiting the September release of The Things Gods Break will appreciate Owen's teases about adventures in Tartarus, new trials, and yes—another cliffhanger ending. The physical book promises to be as breathtaking as its predecessor, with special artwork that left even Owen speechless.

Ready to dive deeper into mythology, romance, and the creative process? Follow Abigail at abigailowen.com or on Instagram and TikTok. 

Cover Art by: Fabienne and Jordan
Contact email: thebookishhourpod@gmail.com
Intro/Outro music: Season Two: Ramaramaray by Aiyo via Epidemic Sound Season One: Sweet Psycho via TikTok’s Offical Sound Studio on Capcut
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Podcast: @thebookishhourpod
Fabienne: @oxonheart
Jordan: @sipsoffiction

Jordan:

Welcome to the bookish hour with just your. She's a New York Times, usa Today and in their international bestselling author you. You might know her from the Games Gods Play, a TikTok sensation. Her highly anticipated sequel, the Things Gods Break, is set to release this September and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get my hands on it. Please welcome to the podcast, Abigail Owen. Thank you so much for letting me interview you. Wow, I can't talk. Interview you.

Abigail:

Thank you for having me on. I'm so excited we got to meet in February at Romantician. I just had so much fun chatting with you, so I'm excited to get to chat with you some more.

Jordan:

I know I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Okay, so we'll just dive right on in. Well, I do like to start off every episode with that good, that's happened to you. Is there anything you want to share?

Abigail:

Oh, actually I had something really good happen yesterday. They sent me the artwork for the insides of the things God's break, so like the foiling and the end papers and the new map, and I didn't think that they could top the Games. Gods Play the artwork in that, and damn if they didn't. I mean, like it's, I wow, I was just blown away. So I can't wait to be able to share that with people soon.

Jordan:

Oh my gosh, I am so excited for that like book, because I am obsessed with my Games Gods Play. I have it like on my shelf right here, yep, because I'm just obsessed with my games gods play. I have it like on my shelf right here, yep, um, because I'm just obsessed with that artwork, like I. I'm pretty sure I I told you at Romantic Con I couldn't, I couldn't read from this because, like that, yeah, that's a trove shelfy and we read the yeah ebook or audiobook or yeah something that?

Jordan:

yeah, exactly, I had to read the e-book because I'm like I can't, I can't, but I wanted to. It's really all my big shelf trophies, though it's like we understand, we can't, you can't, you just can't mess up. Don't mess up the book. No, no. But I was planning on reading from this and then I opened it and I was like I can't read from this, I can't do that.

Abigail:

Oh no, no, we might mess up that we don't mess up the pretty, no, no we do not. I'm going to say. My good week, though, is definitely interviewing you.

Jordan:

So, like this, right here, I'm literally so excited. Okay, so we'll dive right on in. So this the questions are broken up into three parts, so I have writing, author reading and then personal. So the first one for writing an author is when and how did you know that you wanted to be an author? Did you always want to be an author, or at some point did you want to do something else?

Abigail:

Yeah, that's so I would say, like most authors, I got the bug for writing very young, the bug for story, and my, my parents were very big readers, so they read to us from you know, the get go basically. And then I can remember winning a writing award. That wasn't even for like a short story or anything, I think it was like an essay in like third grade. I was like eight years old and actually I got second place. I didn't even get first but I was like, oh, you know, maybe this is something I'm good at and I think sometimes the passions we fall into are the ones where we feel like we have a natural ability for it and it gives us like this extra boost of confidence to kind of go forth in that space, if that makes any sense. And so I wrote short stories and little you know fun things all through all up until high school when Mean Girls convinced me that I was weird and, you know, odd for loving the books that I read and for writing. And so I gave it up for a while for quite a while actually and then picked it back up in my 20s and and at that time I read sci fi, fantasy, very separate from romance and I started probably it was like 30 or 40 contemporary romances that never got finished and I would get to like page 100. And just not, I'd be like I don't know, I don't know where I go next.

Abigail:

And then Twilight came out and and that book, I think, inspired a whole generation of readers, but it also inspired a whole generation of writers and for me the biggest aha from that book was oh, you can combine the fantasy elements with the romance.

Abigail:

Like I'd never seen that and and so that was just such an aha that I sat down and wrote my first Romanticy in like six weeks and it was not long, like it wasn't long and it wasn't all that good, but it like. But I finished the book finally. And it's kind of like running a marathon, like once you've figured out you can, then it gets a little easier to do it again. And so, yeah, from there I found my own editor and self-published that first book and then eventually, like that led down a whole pathway to my career. But Twilight's definitely, I think, what really kicked that off for me. And what's funny is that there was an entire world of paranormal romance, adult paranormal romance, not even just in the YA space that already existed, that I had never seen because it was not commercially shelved, and so I just find that super interesting.

Jordan:

I don't know.

Abigail:

From a. Why was this not more visible for women?

Jordan:

Yeah, yeah, I like I remember I was like I used to read like romance, like in my teens, but it wasn't totally.

Abigail:

I don't want to accept.

Jordan:

It is not the right word, but it wasn't like accepted in bookstores like they. It was in the corner, small little thing in the corner, in the back kind of thing. Yep, in the back kind of thing, yep, like one bookshelf. And I was always I'm not saying judged, I was like 19,. But they were like are you old enough to be reading this?

Abigail:

And I'm like yes, I am, but mind you, you could go online and get it. Well, and what I always found interesting about that with bookstores is, you know, I would ask about it like, why don't you have more of a selection for your romance section? And they would say, well, romance doesn't sell, which is fascinating to me because romance makes up 50% or more of the book market. So, yes, it does sell, it just doesn't sell in your store and maybe you need to look at why that is. And I especially find that fascinating now that we have starting with the ripped bodice in LA, that kind of showed how to do it. But I want to say they're up to something like 60 romance bookstores, indie bookstores, nationwide at this point, like they're showing up in cities kind of across America and thriving and it's like, yeah, because romance sells yeah, because romance sells.

Jordan:

That's like. The one thing that I think is really cool about TikTok is I think they really it really blew up romance to this level. That I think because, like complete, to be completely honest, like before TikTok and before the quarantine, I read romance but I was kind of ashamed of it so, so I never talked about it. It was everything was on my Kindle so no one could see it, and it wasn't until, like this, it like real, like TikTok made it happen and made it big that I'm like, oh, I don't need to be like ashamed for this.

Abigail:

There were so many other women out there that were reading it too, and it's definitely. It's. One of the things I love best about BookTok is the is the ability to connect with the community.

Jordan:

Oh, it's like, yes, it's. Oh, the book community. It's just amazing. Yes, it is, I love it, me too. Okay, so what have you found to be the most rewarding slash?

Abigail:

challenging in being an author Ooh, okay, let's see. There's so many rewarding elements to it for me and I think, of course, that comes from it being just such a passion and I'm incredibly lucky that I get to do this thing that is a dream as a full-time job. Like I was talking with some fellow authors this past weeks that I've been doing a lot of traveling and a lot of seeing like author friends, and we were all just kind of amazing over the fact that we frequently feel like we're kind of getting away with something because we're getting to do this such a fun job as as like what we do like it's just which is incredible, and and we all worked really, really, really, really hard to get there I think that was not the surprising part. I think I knew going into it that it wasn't going to just be like bam, here's a career that's actually going to support anything. So I would say that actually all the hard work that I had to put into it is part of what I appreciate the most about it, believe it or not, I think it's been an incredible journey that I kind of get to look back over and be like look at where I grew here and look at who I got to meet here and look at how this influenced me as a person or influenced my life in different ways, and so I've loved every single step of the way, know, influenced my life in different ways, and so I've loved, like, every single step of the way.

Abigail:

And I would say probably the most challenging aspect actually is marketing element to it, because when I first got started, social media was still kind of in its infancy and was definitely the way that indie authors especially really you know they've got the hustle right and so that's really where they they're like oh, this is how we reach readers, because we don't have the big marketing budgets from a publisher, so we've got to reach them other ways and they use social media, which is fantastic. But it also means that publishers now have also started to lean into that, where it's like oh, all authors, indie or not, have to really hustle with social media and that's not necessarily the wheelhouse for everybody. Like, we're introverted people who want to be in our at least I am. I'm an introverted person who wants to just sit around in my PJs and not put on makeup and not have to figure out what you know content is going to really appeal to readers and how do I reach them and what do I need to be advertising?

Abigail:

And and I'm very lucky in that I have a graphics arts background that helps with social media. I have an MBA that helps with the marketing side of trying to figure out things you know. So, like, I've got these skill sets that help. But um, the, the, the social media part of it, so I'll give you an example. And the social media part of it, so I'll give you an example. I try to write 2,000 words a day. 2,000 words takes me somewhere in the neighborhood of two, three hours max to write the rest of my day.

Jordan:

The rest of my day is social media. Oh, my goodness. Okay that's and so that was a big surprise and challenge as to like the more you social media, the more you grow oh yeah, I have like I have heard like people say, like authors whether it's like authors on social media or somewhere else they say that the actual writing of the book takes the least amount of time. Everything else is either like admin stuff, marketing.

Abigail:

Yeah, that's the other piece of it.

Jordan:

Literally everything else is what takes the most.

Abigail:

That's true, that's true. And I think I knew that a little bit going into, I didn't know to the extent of which your time would be taken up with the business or your money, by employing people who are experts in those areas to help you with those areas in the business. It's, it's very much a. It's a business. You're an LLC, I'm an LLC, I have to run a whole business.

Jordan:

Yeah, oh, most things.

Abigail:

I love it allows me to like wear different hats and use my brain in different ways, so like, if the writing's not coming, okay, okay I'll go, I'll go work on a Tik TOK or I'll go mess around with my you know, bank account or whatever I'm going to do with the financials, like answer all the gazillion emails. But, um, there are it definitely like. That surprised me that it's not just, oh, I get to like I can write even more books.

Jordan:

No, not, really Not really you got to do social media first marketing first, then write more books and then maybe write another book? Yeah, exactly what advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Abigail:

Oh, so much advice for aspiring authors. I would say this is a how do I put this? I don't want to like like, bring you on a downer. It's a hard grind of a jobber at Canby because it's you're putting this creative thing that you've really, really worked hard on out there in the world and you do face a lot of rejection and a lot of criticism through reviews and that kind of thing.

Abigail:

And my biggest piece of advice is to hold on to what you love the most about what you do and keep going and keep going, keep going, keep going. My observation is that the people who can hold on the longest tend to have you know, do tend to have the longest careers and find success in the ways that they want to find success, because there's so many different forms of success, and find success in the ways that they want to find success, cause there's so many different forms of success. And so figure out what you love about it and hold onto that really hard. And it's definitely a piece of advice Spend money on editors, good editors and good book cover designers.

Jordan:

Most important. Well, and then that kind of leads me into the next question how do you process slash deal with negative book reviews into the next question how do you process slash deal with negative book reviews?

Abigail:

So I have gotten pretty good, and I don't know if this is just because I've gotten older or because I've been doing this as long as I have. I've kind of developed like they fall into a couple different buckets. For me, one bucket is that I can tell that this is just not the book for them. It's either not the genre for them, or my approach is not the, or like my voice is not the voice that you know is going to connect with them, which is fine To me. That's not a negative against me, that's just we're not a fit, which is great. The nice thing about the book world is that there's books for everybody and there's, you know. So the readers who are a good fit for me will find me, and the ones who aren't, no, no worries, go find out, go find the books that you really love. And so those tend to tend to just like roll right off my back. Then I get the ones that I can tell are criticisms for the sake of the reviewer, if that makes sense, and those come in a couple different flavors. Either it can be something like they don't like sex in books and therefore they're going to be negative about any book that has sex in it or you know, or anything along those lines, like they don't like whatever Greek gods and they don't want Greek gods in any books, or you know, they are just tend to be kind of critical in general, and so to me it's like, oh well, if they're critical kind of across all books, then I'm, you know, fair game, and that's, that's cool, you know it's it's. They kind of fall in those spaces, and and so also those are, believe it or not, fairly easy for me to let go, because again, I'm, I'm not the book for them, then right, like they're the author for them. And then the third group are criticisms, where my writer brain goes yeah, I see it. Or oh, that's actually a good observation, I haven't noticed that about my writing. Or okay, yeah, that's something I didn't think about. Or even sometimes, oh dang, they found the thing that I was already worried about, like. Or even sometimes, oh dang, they found the thing that I was already worried about, like, yeah, they noticed. Good job on you, reader. And those are the ones that tend to stick with me, not in a negative way, but more in a how can I become a better writer way, and I'll give you a very specific example.

Abigail:

Early in my career, I want to say it was my like third or fourth book that I released. One of the reviews was she'll be a good writer when she figures out world building. And I went, oh, world building. Like I thought I did pretty good on world building and like what do you want? Like the color of the couch, like what's the? You know what do you mean? And but that one stuck with me because I was like, okay, world building, how can I get better at this?

Abigail:

And then I started taking workshops on world building and paying more attention to those, or paying attention to other books that got lauded for their world building, and going to read those and seeing you know what are they doing. And what that led to was me learning to love world building almost more than everything else that I do when I write. And now that is what I get reviews for great world building almost more than everything else that I do when I write. And now that is what I get reviews for great world building. And so that that led to growth for me. So I look for the I wouldn't say negative reviews, but for the constructive reviews where I'm like I can use that and make myself a better writer.

Jordan:

Oh see, that's, that's a good way to look at it, because I know I mean, there's are. There are the reviews that are just the what. The ones that bother me are the ones that are like oh, there's like sex in this book, so I'm going to give it a bad review, but it's like, yeah, well, you shouldn't have read that book.

Abigail:

Like, you knew what you were getting into well, and I've got trigger warnings at the beginning of my book, like you do you do. I'm sorry, you know I was here for that Like let's go, or sometimes they'll make me laugh, Like there was a gentleman who apparently had gotten a hold of every romance book that his wife owned and was going online and posting reviews about. My wife has unrealistic expectations of me now that she reads these books and putting it on every book that she had. Yeah.

Jordan:

And I just thought that was holy. Oh, clearly someone, someone's maybe the problem is not her, but I'm just saying. I'm just saying, um, okay, so what is your writing process? Like I did, I, I did, oh, wow, I can't talk. I was at your Greek mythology panel at Romantic Con, so I actually know the answer.

Abigail:

I was fangirling so hard up there with oh my gosh, I was fangirling so hard and that was such an interesting, really cool panel. I liked that we had different types of mythologies that we all got to talk about and our different approaches to researching them and enjoying them and then kind of taking our own take for each of them. That was really cool. What was the question? What was the original question? Because I was fingering.

Jordan:

What's your writing process like?

Abigail:

Yes, yes, yes, writing process. So I'm a very consistent writer. I like to get so many words a day. Usually my goal is about 2000 words a day. If I go above that, awesome, but if I don't, then I really kind of kick myself.

Abigail:

I am somewhere between a plotter and a pantser. I started out as a pantser my very first book I wrote. I wrote the scenes that I could see the most clearly and I figured out a plot later and that was not maybe the best. I don't recommend that I could see the most clearly and I figured out a plot later and that was not maybe the best. I don't recommend that way at all. But through the years I have become much more of a plotter.

Abigail:

What I tend to plot before I write the book are just the main beats. So I write how they're going to meet, the meet cute, the inciting incident. I hit the 25% mark, the 50%, the 75%, the. You know what's going to turn us into, like the black moment, and then you know the, the climax from there and then the resolution. So I've got like those moments in my head, but there's a lot of gap between those to like let the pantser in me kind of fill in with the fun stuff.

Abigail:

But I also have this massive spreadsheet that is every plotting technique I've ever seen all blended together into one giant spreadsheet, and anytime I run across a new technique that I've never seen, it goes in the spreadsheet immediately. And so what I do is I don't fill that out, I use it as a brain teaser so that, like if I'm stuck in my writing or I'm like, oh, I'm not quite sure where to go next or what kind of scene I need next, I'll check my spreadsheet and be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like it'll. It just gives me like little clues, like you need a best friend moment right now, or you haven't had a breather, or it's time for another. You know whatever. So another, you know whatever. And so it gives me all sorts of fodder for my brain to be like oh, here's what's next.

Jordan:

Oh see, that's, that's kind of cool. Okay, so did you know that you always wanted to write a book with Greek mythology in it? Did it ever? Did you ever find it challenging during the writing process, or was it easier, since you had somewhere to draw inspiration from, like different myths? This is kind of going for the games gods play, yeah.

Abigail:

I knew Greek mythology really well before I got started. I would not say that I was any kind of like a scholarly expert, but for whatever reason, those stories and those myths have always fascinated me and so I absorbed them like a sponge and I already had a good majority of them in my head. I already knew, like the major players in the you know, in the gods, and a lot of the minor ones. I already knew, like the fates and the muses and the you know all of them the satyrs, that, like you name it, most of the creatures, and so that helped a lot in that I already had a lot of that in my head and I did still do quite a bit of research just to make sure that. Because, like, I have found that some things that are in my head have changed since I learned them. They've found out more, they've discovered more sources. So, for instance, when I was in I was probably in elementary school and they were doing a Greek gods unit they used to teach that Apollo was the one who drove the chariot of the sun across the skies, and now it's Helios, and so, like, it changes a little bit as they figure out. Oh no, this wasn't exactly worshipped that way. That was at this time, but before that it was this. You know, that kind of thing, it moves around.

Abigail:

So I did, you know, do a lot of research to check things like that and or to see what I could break, because I did, I did change things. I mean think it's pretty obvious to readers once you I mean the second you get started that Hades isn't with Persephone in this story and and that was on purpose. And so I try to kind of give like wink, wink, nudge nudge to the readers who I know are Greek God fans when I am breaking the rules, where, you know, lyra will say something to Hades like oh, we've always been taught this, and he's like, yeah, humans always get it wrong. Like that's my wink nudge to the readers who already know the Greek Gods and love them.

Jordan:

But, like, yeah, I'm going a little off script here, and that's what I I thought was so cool, because, to to be honest, I thought it was going to be like a hades and persephone, like myth, and I just didn't know how you were gonna spin it yet.

Abigail:

but then, seeing those, I was like oh, I'm here for it, yeah and I'm like, I'm here for it.

Abigail:

It yeah. So that made that a lot of fun. And then I really enjoyed, also in my research, um adding in I call them the brush strokes. It's the little tiny details that just I think feel like round out um any given scene. So, um, the example I like to use with this is that, like in Dionysus's bar in Olympus there's's a barkeep and I was like, oh, who would be a good barkeep at a bar? And so I looked up more minor gods to see if there was anybody that had like a particularly interesting power. That would be, you know, cool as a barkeep. And I came up with Lethe, who's the goddess of oblivion. She's technically, she's the goddess of the river of oblivion in the underworld. But I was like oblivion, that's perfect in the underworld, but I was like Oblivion, that's perfect Serving alcohol, like clearly, yeah, that's perfect. So, just those little brushstrokes and discovering some of the more minor characters in Greek mythology.

Jordan:

that was really fun. Oh yeah, that's I. Actually I didn't know that one, but I think that's really cool, like, just like the little yeah, just hear a little extra. Yeah, yeah, a little brushstroke. How did you come up with the idea for the Crucible series? I love the games that gods play is about Hades, but not the normal Hades and Persephone myth. And then this is at one point, did you want it to like? Was it going to be the Hades and Persephone, or did you always want it to not be the Hades?

Abigail:

Persephone. I always wanted not the Hades Persephone myth, for a couple different reasons. I actually love that story. It's one of my favorite myths in the Greek mythology. Lexicon or not lexicon, I guess that's the wrong word but they're the legends. Part of it is that there's been a lot of Hades and Persephone retellings, particularly in Romantici recently, and they've all done such a fantastic job and each taken their own really unique kind of take on it and it was like oh, I don't know that I can go any like. Am I going to come up with anything that's any more unique than those? The other part is that technically, he's her uncle. Hades is Persephone's uncle in the bloodlines. She's the daughter of Demeter. Demeter's his sister.

Abigail:

That's her, that's his niece that's true, that is true, which is true with a lot of the Greek gods like almost all the Greek gods are married to their brothers and sisters, same with the titans. Like you just kind of kind of can't get around that piece of it and I was just like, and the other retellings in the fantasy, the romanticist space, have all done a fantastic job of kind of giving that a different twist, so that that's not exactly true for their characters, and I was like I don't even feel like coming up with a twist, I'm just giving him a whole new love story. I mean, I was here for it, I'm still here for it. I just think about doing that. Is it opened me up to, I think, being able to explore Hades in a completely different way?

Jordan:

Oh, I mean, we do get like a different side yeah.

Abigail:

Yeah, so I think that helped a lot and gave me kind of a little more freedom in terms of where I was going with the storyline, because, yeah, there's definitely no trials, you know, in in the Hades Persephone myth, really, unless you count the whole eating of the pomegranates nah, this, this one, this one, though.

Jordan:

Um so, the things god's break is set to release in this later this year in september, which I'm so excited for. Can you give us any hints for this book?

Abigail:

I can't give too many hints because um so much of what I would say I think would be spoilers, and I can tell you and hopefully I'm not spoiling it for anybody that it's going to be a lot of tartarus. And if you, if you haven't read the end of games, cosplay what I feel like.

Jordan:

That's not, it's not totally a spoiler, because if you, you don't know yet, and then like you even, just because if you just say that, like you, you don't know, like no one knows so it's a lot of.

Abigail:

It's a lot of tartarus, and which I had. What was really cool about tartarus is that there's not as much recorded mythology about tartarus or about the titans really, um, they're much less. They were really just kind of basic backstory more than anything for the gods in the mythology, and so there's some things about them, but for the most part it's just kind of like this is it like? Here you go, here's a few. And so it gave me the ability to be like oh go go, free imagination, let's like, let's roll with this, and so that was really fun.

Abigail:

I can also tell you that there is going to be another trials like element in the book, and so not not exactly the same as the first book. It's got its own reasons and own unique little spin. But I had a lot of fun with that because I had so much fun putting those together in book one. So I was like how do I do this again? And so there's that element to it. And oh, and I will tell you that because it's a book two, it's a trilogy. We're not going to get the happy, happy, happy until the end of book three, which means, yes, I am leaving everybody on another cliffhanger.

Jordan:

I like kind of. I kind of like the cliffhangers. Thank you, it's like as much as you're like, oh, that cliffhanger. I like, love a cliffhanger.

Abigail:

Oh, I love a cliffhanger.

Abigail:

It's like what gets you to the next book, except I'm like I finished that and then I was like, oh, I need to wait, but it's like, that's like, that's like that's what's so great about it, although, I'll be honest, I'm one of those readers that, like, I'll collect all of the books in the series, but I don't start them until the series is done, because I cannot wait for it. Like, I just can't do it, and so I make myself wait for the whole series to be done, even though I've got them all. They're all on my shelves, they're ready to go. I just got to get the last book. Yeah, I'm one of those, so, yeah, so it's ironic, probably, that I'm like, hey, readers wait for it.

Jordan:

Here's the cliffhanger, but I'm waiting. Okay, so now we're into the reading section. What is your favorite book and or series, a book you would recommend to anyone and everyone?

Abigail:

Oh gosh, that's a good question because there's so many and it changes with time, just with what I've read most recently. This is a good question, I would say. So I'm going to dip back into my bag of like my early paranormal romance. After Twilight I am defined more books like that, but that were adult and the first person I ran across and who was self published at the time it was Suzanne Wright, who was self-published at the time. It was Suzanne Wright, who is a British author and she had a vampire series.

Abigail:

The first book is called here Be Sexist Vampires, which I thought was a hilarious title and she's fantastic. I love her voice so much and I love how every character is. Just she has such good, strong heroines and the guys are still, you know, your usual kind of alpha hole, but like it works because the heroine's so feisty, like she, she's really great and so she's. She really got me hooked on the kind of adult paranormal romance space. So I would always recommend suzanne wright, um, and then I'll give you like, my most recent favorite read and was not in the romantic space, believe it not, but it was Lights Out, which I know has huge and blown up recently that's this right now. That's my book of the year at the moment.

Jordan:

That is on my TV.

Abigail:

I do really want to read it, I just it's so good and I highly recommend reading it while listening to the audio, because he's phenomenal.

Jordan:

I heard the audio is like really good. One of my friends is reading it and she's upset while listening to it and she's obsessed.

Abigail:

The personality, because the personality is already on the page, but the personality that he draws out of it, out of this character that could have. She did a phenomenal job making this character. That could have been like. She walks a fine line with this character where he's both a very morally gray character and yet a total golden retriever and it's just chef's kiss yeah.

Jordan:

Oh, I gotta move that up on my TBR. Oh yeah, what is one line of writing, poetry or quote that lives in your head?

Abigail:

rent-free that's a good question too. I have a whole bunch of lines of poetry and it usually the thing the quotes that always hit me are like in the moment when I have and it's usually random lines of like random lines from movies, random lines from books, random lines from a song, and then people look at me like I'm bananas because they're like, what are you quoting? At me, and actually I can tell you the quote that I get the most looks for Not as much. Now I'm starting to find other people know this quote finally, and it's from the movie Clue I'll get to poetry in a second. It's from the movie Clue and it's when Mrs White is like in a second. It's from the movie Clue and it's when Mrs White is like flames on the side of my face burning breathless, heaving breaths, like that's one of the best quotes. I don't know why I love it so much, but I do. And usually people look at me like I'm, yeah, losing it. Let me think. Best poetry quotes Um, oh, I'm a huge fan of Robert Frost.

Abigail:

I love the. You know two roads to birds in a wood and I took the one less traveled by. I think that's a fantastic quote. That's always just been a really good quote for life. I'm also a big fan of Shakespeare. Um, I think because of the movie sense and sensibility, I have that entire sonnet memorized that Marianne quotes that is the you know, let, not the impediment of true minds, something about the impediment of true minds, but it's like love is not love that alters when an alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove. It's an ever-fixed mark. Yeah, that I think it's like leans into tempests or bends with tempests. It's a fantastic sonnet.

Jordan:

I now need to look that up, oh yeah, okay, so this question is kind of similar to the other one in a way, but what book had the most significant impact on your life, and why?

Abigail:

There have been a few through the years and for various different reasons. I would say probably one of the first books that had a big impact on me was Little Women. It's the first book I ever like, and I read it when I was like maybe 10. And and I I had found it in this random house that we were vacationing in and then went and got another copy because I couldn't put it down. Like I didn't do anything that vacation other than read that book. And that's the first book that consumed me that way. And and what I've loved about that? Because I've gone back and read it about every decade since and I I connect with a different character every time I read it, because I'm at a different place in my life and I haven't read it yet in this particular decade and I suspect that when I do, I'll connect most with Marmee, the mother, because now I'm in that space, you know so, like with teenagers who are about to go off into the world, teenagers who are about to go off into the world, and so that's definitely one of the books that just has always been kind of dear to my heart.

Abigail:

I would say the next one is going to be Star Wars, the Timothy Zahn series of Star Wars, because that's really, I was already a big fantasy sci-fi geek, but mostly in the television and movie space. Like I was already huge Star Wars fan, I was already a huge Star Trek fan. Both I go both ways, sorry, guys. Like, yeah, I don't choose because I love them both. And so you know, and I was really into like Quantum Leap and like anything that had like a cool kind of twist to it, and so I discovered the Timothy Zahn books in high school and just devoured them and that's what got me started into reading the sci-fi and fantasy books. That really then eventually shaped my career. And then, of course, twilight, just because of the impact it had on me, realizing that I could combine the romance and the and the fantasy into one amazing genre.

Jordan:

Yeah, One amazing book, well, series books. If you could have a literary dinner party with three authors, living or dead, who would you invite and why?

Abigail:

Oh, good question. Um, hmm, um, that's a really good question. So I would probably say, well, I would say probably Louise and my Alcott, just because I'd want to know, like, how much did that book change her life? And I know that there were aspects of it that the publishers made her change, and you know what did she really feel about that? And you know that kind of thing. So there's that would be up there.

Abigail:

I would say probably Stephen Kinghen king. I find his interviews fascinating. I like how he just is so open with his process and how he writes and the ideas he comes up with, and and so I think he would just be really interesting to to really, you know, like get to pick a brain. You know what I mean. Like, oh, just okay, let me like sit at the feet of genius, um, kind of moment, and that would definitely be up there. Um, and I'm trying to, I'm looking at the books on my shelves like, oh, what, who would? I would really love to love to chat with um if, if he was alive, probably JRR Tolkien, because Lord of the Rings is like that's my, that's my, that's my high mark.

Jordan:

Oh, I like that. That's like my favorite question to ask, like everybody, because the answers are always different and the whys are always different. So it's like such a good, it's like a solid question.

Abigail:

There's so many different ones. Well, and like I like, even just in my genre, I'm very lucky at this point that I've been doing this as long as I have and and also that I'm hitting a point where I'm getting to travel so much and get to meet other authors and so, like I already have a lot of authors, but it means that I've met a lot of my like idol authors where I've got to pick their brains a little bit and chat with them, author to author, about you know, about their experiences, which is just really really cool and I try not to like. I'm like, be cool, be cool, be cool in my head the whole time.

Jordan:

I think it's like so cool that these like book conventions are like becoming really big and there's like so many of them for different genres within romance. I know there's other book conventions, but we're just talking romance here. But I think it's so cool because it's like I never would have been able to meet off like I never would have been able to meet you, but I was able to like at this like conference, and I think that's so cool. And I think it's cool too that, like you, you can meet other authors. I'm not an author, I'm just I'm just a reader over here, but I think it's cool that it can. You can meet like these, like people that you can like idolize, and I think it's like really, it's really cool it's, it's.

Abigail:

It's such a surreal kind of space to be in, where you're just like I'm okay, let me, you know, like bring it together and like ask a good question, like yeah, but it's, it's one of those kind of awesome privileges that comes with what I do, so and I love it, and I also love and you know, also, having been in this as long as I am I love talking to new authors who are up and coming and you know, what are they interested in, or what do they see being like the cool parts of the industry or, and you know, and I'm always very happy to offer any advice if they ask for it like just because that's a it's very much a rising tide lifts all boats and I'm happy to pass pass it down, like so no, just getting to talk with anybody who loves books. Basically, I would do anything.

Jordan:

Yep, and there's no gatekeeping in this community, which I love. I love. Okay, so we're now in the final section, personal, which is the last two questions, sadly, but the first one is looking back on your life, what is one valuable lesson you learned, and it could be like in writing or like being an author.

Abigail:

So I'm going to go back to the mean girls and the reason I stopped writing for years, and that is don't listen to the mean girls and you know, don't let somebody else ever take away your joy in something or tell you that you shouldn't love the thing that you love, whether they're mean girls or somebody close to you or just a total stranger on a train. Like, don't ever let anybody take it away from you.

Jordan:

I like that. I like that one a lot. Ok, so what is one future goal that you would like to achieve, either long term or short term, in like writing, bookish or personal?

Abigail:

Oh gosh, oh gosh. I constantly have I call it my book bucket list in my career. I would say a more short term goal really actually has to do with family. And I would say a more short term goal really actually has to do with family. My kids are getting old enough that they're starting to graduate high school and they're going off to college and like we're in that space in life and so for okay, I did the best I could and like here you go, fly, hopefully, and so that's definitely like a major short term goal at the moment and that that's just. It's one of those I can't believe it's already here, kind of moments like I seriously can't believe it's already here, kind of moments Like I seriously can't believe it's already here. So that's a personal goal.

Abigail:

I would say in the career space. I constantly have bucket list things in the career space. But Games God's Play has checked off so many of them that I'm just kind of like oh, oh, okay, like do I retire now at the top, like this is as good as I'm going to get? So like yeah, let's you know. No, I don't think I could. I don't think I could.

Abigail:

Plus, it's not really the top. I feel like and while this industry is very cyclical and I'm sure that I will have, you know, a downswing, and you know that could happen even tomorrow I have been doing this long enough that I just know that I love doing it, no matter what's going on in terms of, you know, success or visibility or anything like that. I just enjoy writing the stories very much so, and then getting to talk with the readers, who do find those stories and enjoy them, and so I think, really, my goal is just to continue doing that coming up with fun stories and being able to put them out there, and then let the career do what it's going to do.

Jordan:

Oh, I like that. Yeah, Because I know I did see your post from earlier today that said that you're putting down a new series idea and I was like yay, yes, I am, yeah, and different, very different from anything I've done before, so I'm excited about it. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I'm excited for the next like two books in this series. I'm excited for that series. Oh my gosh, you've got so many like things down the pipeline.

Abigail:

Oh, yeah, well, and that's one of my favorite things about like I just have. I have a. I had asked, actually just recently asked on TikTok, like what do you do, authors, you have like a boneyard or graveyard of book ideas. And one of the other authors was like oh, I call it my hope chest. And I was like, oh, I love that Because it's like I hope I get to write these some days. It's my hope chest of ideas and so, yeah, they and they just keep coming. I keep filling up that hope chest, oh.

Jordan:

I like that.

Abigail:

Yeah, me too, I was like that's a really great way to put it.

Jordan:

That is a really good way. Okay, so that's all the questions I had for you. I wanted to give you the floor, so I didn't know if you wanted to like promote anything like upcoming releases cough, cough, cough games, gods play 2 coming out in september. Um tiktok handle uh in uh instagram handle website. So the floor is yours, gotcha.

Abigail:

So, yes, my next release is, uh, the things gods break, which is ggp2. Um, it is coming out september 16th. You can pre-order now. It does have the gorgeous sprayed edges and will have this, let me tell you right now. I just saw it yesterday incredible end paper artwork and foiling and map a new map. So I'm super excited about it, super excited about it. We're in edits at the moment and have, I think we finished two rounds of edits. I think we've got maybe two more rounds of edits and then it'll go through all the cleanup edits. So I'm really happy with that process so far.

Abigail:

And then following me. So the best place to start is my website, which is abigailowencom. From there you can find me on all the different socials. I'm most active on Instagram and I'm trying to get more active on TikTok. I'm figuring out how the heck to make skits, because I don't act, but I'm so you can tell I'm so uncomfortable with it, but maybe that makes it funnier, I don't know. I do also have a private Facebook group for fans called Abby's Awesome Nerds that you can get to from my website. Facebook group for fans called Abby's awesome nerds that you can get to from my website and of course, my website also has, like all the events I'm going to be at, upcoming and um all the books, including international editions.

Jordan:

So I'm so excited. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Yes, of course, I'm so happy to be here. I'm so excited I got to interview you so like. Thank you so much.

Abigail:

Oh well, thank you so much for having me and, like I said, like I just enjoyed chatting with you so much so I was very excited to come chat with you more.

Jordan:

Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please feel free to rate and review us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, and if there's any interviews or conversations you would like me to have with someone specific, please reach out either email or through our Instagram, available in the show notes and happy reading.