Abby Geni: Trust Your Instincts
In this interview, author Abby Geni discusses the years of thinking about the story before sitting down to write her new novel, Children of the Wolf.
Abby Geni is the author of The Body Farm, longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the Story Prize; The Lightkeepers, winner of the inaugural Chicago Review of Books Award of Best Fiction; The Wildlands, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and The Last Animal, a finalist for the Orion Book Award. Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship.
In this interview, Abby discusses the years of thinking about the story before sitting down to write her new novel, Children of the Wolf, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Abby Geni
Book title: Children of the Wolf
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release date: September 15, 2028
Genre/category: Fiction
Previous titles: The Body Farm, The Lightkeepers
Elevator pitch: Children of the Wolf follows Liv, a woman raised in rural Iowa by a Swedish-born father obsessed with his Viking heritage, who must confront her violent past when men begin disappearing near her new home in Michigan.
What prompted you to write this book?
One day, Ulf Thorvaldsson, a seven-foot-tall, modern-day, Swedish-born Viking, tromped into my brain and stood there glowering at me until I began writing about him and his children.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I think about my books for years before I write them. Each one simmers in a dark corner of my mind like a pot on a back burner, and every so often I add a new idea to the mix, or a new character, or a new plot point, until one day the story boils over.
Once the book is ready to be written, the work always goes very quickly. People often ask me how long it took to write one of my books, and the answer is either a decade (thinking) or a year (putting words on paper).
This was my first time publishing with Ballantine, and the journey from the book being accepted by my wonderful editors, Jennifer Hershey and Kate Gomer, to its publication was a year and a half-ish.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Initially the thinking was that the book would come out in the summer of 2026. However, the brilliant people in the marketing department realized that Children of the Wolf is less of a beach read and more of a spooky autumnal book. I think the cover is proof of that.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I don’t start writing until the novel is largely complete in my mind. I am the ultimate plotter, and I have no idea how pantsers function. Before I type a single word, I want to already know the beginning, middle, and end.
However, there are always surprises during the actual writing process. Because I am such a plotter, I begin the work with a strong sense of structure, but I still have a lot to learn about the characters. In other words, I know the plot (what the characters do), but I don’t always have a clear sense of why they do it (who they are).
Liv, the protagonist and narrator of Children of the Wolf, was clear to me at the beginning of my writing. However, Finn, her brother, surprised me continually as I wrote about him. He had insight, mischief, and humor that caught me off guard. He ended up being perhaps my favorite character from any of my stories.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I want people to be captivated by the story. I want them to be unable to put the book down. I want them to love Liv and Finn and Penny as much as I do. I want them to be as interested in Ulf as I am. I want them to think about the story after they’re done.
Also, I loved learning about bees—how remarkable and essential they are. Liv and Finn are beekeepers, so I got to spend lots of time among the hives during the writing process. I hope the reader
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
You are the only one who knows what your writing should be. You will hear a lot of advice—in craft books, from writing teachers, in workshops, from beta readers—and it can be overwhelming to sift through so many opinions as you try to approach revision. Just remember that no matter who gives you advice, however credentialed or talented they are, or how certain or insistent they seem, that person does not live inside your writing the way you do. No one else knows what it should be. Take only the advice that resonates for you and throw the rest away. Trust your instincts. We are all storytelling creatures. We know what makes a good story.
