I haven’t shared many letters recently. Partly that’s because fan mail has dropped off (the pandemic and, I gather, my own popularity) and partly because many have felt repetitive or just, you know, not worth blogging.
However!
I enjoyed a fast, easy, inexpensive Zoom Visit with an enthusiastic class a while back. It happened, we did it, life moved on. What impact did it make? Who knows!
So it was especially lovely to receive this email the other day:
Dear James Preller,
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My students are still enjoying Bystander! Someone loved the Upstander book so much, that I haven’t seen it since I loaned it to them. What a great problem to have as it is being shared from student to student! 🙂 Students really connected to your characters.
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Here in Summerside, PE, students are wondering if you will ever write Griffin’s story. They think a Bystander part two would be amazing.–
The want to know what authors inspired you and if you are working on anything new?
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Thank you for your time and all the best to you and yours.
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Stacy T______
Summerside Intermediate School
Canada
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I replied:
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Stacy,
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It’s nice to hear from you. And yes, a “missing” book is encouraging news!
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I haven’t spent a lot of time exploring Fan Fiction, but I love the idea of these characters living on in the writing of young readers. Maybe some of your students would like to give it a shot?
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Part of why I’m attracted to Griffin’s story is because I think it would give us a more sympathetic, nuanced understanding of “the bully.” I enjoyed writing about Griffin again in Upstander, though I dreaded revisiting the ketchup scene, which had only happened “off stage” in Bystander.–
I am currently writing a wilderness survival story for grades 3-5 involving wildfire. I want to make it fast-paced and exciting. At this stage, I haven’t started writing — I’m doing research, reading a lot, and taking notes. Every writer is different. But for me, I seem to require a long period of rumination before actually setting words down on the page. Unfortunately, all this pondering, or marinating, looks a lot like doing nothing at all. I don’t have a lot to show for it. Yet!
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I’m also revising a picture book manuscript. I love picture books, but it’s very hard to get them published. A have at least 10 that I think are perfectly publishable. But no publisher seems to agree.
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Rats!
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My best,
James Preller
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