 The couple travelled on to Geneva.In September 1867, Dostoevsky began work on "The Idiot", and after a prolonged planning process that bore little resemblance to the published novel, he eventually managed to write the first 100 pages in only 23 days; the serialisation began in "The Russian Messenger "in January 1868.Their first child, Sonya, had been conceived in Baden-Baden, and was born in Geneva on 5 March 1868.