Here's a letter from Kenny, also in Ms. Slater's class in Vermont. His question is another of those many people ask.
Dear Mr. Stratman,
Thank you for Cheechako. It is a really good book! We hope that there are more than 2 books in the set .
I think the best part is when Will goes out in a blizzard to save his family and friend.
I wonder how long it took for you to make the book?
I like the way you write about what happens to you in your childhood. My friend Wyatt and I read ahead about 80 pages and finished the book. We like the book a lot but book 2 is probably even better than the 1st one.
I can't wait to read book 2!
Sincerely,
Kenny
Dear Kenny,
As you can probably guess, there are about a million answers to that question.
I know writers who challenge themselves to write a page a day. I know others who might write 30 pages at a burst. That kind of writer usually doesn't write that often, just walks around with his/her ideas until he has the time to write, or it just explodes out of him.
"Cheechako," my first published book–and, at 140 pages, my shortest book–took me about 30 years to write. Not a typo: 30 years.
I wrote a version of chapter one and it was published as a short story in Cricket Magazine in the early '80s. In those days, they paid about 25 cents a word and I think I remember making about $400 on it.
One of the Cricket editors wrote to me and said, "this should be a book." I knew she was right but it takes more than knowing to get through to that last page. Several other chapters were also published as short stories by Cricket.
Ray Bradbury once told me that he wrote one sentence and then tried to figure out another sentence to follow it. I've done that, times when I was a little bit stuck.
Mostly what I do is just ask myself "what comes next?" Another way of saying that is, "what can happen next that will make Scott, Kenny, Wyatt, and others like them, in classrooms in Vermont and around the world, keep turning those pages and keep being excited to find out what happens?"
Usually I have a few scenes that I've imagined in advance. For example, in one of my mystery stories, I knew before I started writing the book, that the hero and his girlfriend would be tied to anchors and be tossed off the deck of an old sailing ship.
Did I have a way to save them? Well, sure. Otherwise it would be a very short book.
Since I knew I had to first get them to the ship, I sort of knew what to write next.
Researching "Cheechako," I found out about a rare-ish black wolf that lives near Denali National Park, about 60 miles south of Nenana, the town where Will, Elias and Blackie live. So I started writing in the direction of those wolves. And Kenny, you already know how that turned out.
Finally, you mentioned Book 2 in the Cheechako Series, which is called "Float Monkeys." It's already out for e-books and in paperback, and well reviewed. Be sure to write and ask any questions you have about that.
Thanks for a really good question and for reading and liking "Cheechako."
Best regards, Jonathan
JonathanThomasStratman@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Stratman,
Thank you for Cheechako. It is a really good book! We hope that there are more than 2 books in the set .
I think the best part is when Will goes out in a blizzard to save his family and friend.
I wonder how long it took for you to make the book?
I like the way you write about what happens to you in your childhood. My friend Wyatt and I read ahead about 80 pages and finished the book. We like the book a lot but book 2 is probably even better than the 1st one.
I can't wait to read book 2!
Sincerely,
Kenny
Dear Kenny,
As you can probably guess, there are about a million answers to that question.
I know writers who challenge themselves to write a page a day. I know others who might write 30 pages at a burst. That kind of writer usually doesn't write that often, just walks around with his/her ideas until he has the time to write, or it just explodes out of him.
"Cheechako," my first published book–and, at 140 pages, my shortest book–took me about 30 years to write. Not a typo: 30 years.
I wrote a version of chapter one and it was published as a short story in Cricket Magazine in the early '80s. In those days, they paid about 25 cents a word and I think I remember making about $400 on it.
One of the Cricket editors wrote to me and said, "this should be a book." I knew she was right but it takes more than knowing to get through to that last page. Several other chapters were also published as short stories by Cricket.
Writing a Book is Like Reading a Book Really Slowly.
Ray Bradbury once told me that he wrote one sentence and then tried to figure out another sentence to follow it. I've done that, times when I was a little bit stuck.
Mostly what I do is just ask myself "what comes next?" Another way of saying that is, "what can happen next that will make Scott, Kenny, Wyatt, and others like them, in classrooms in Vermont and around the world, keep turning those pages and keep being excited to find out what happens?"
Usually I have a few scenes that I've imagined in advance. For example, in one of my mystery stories, I knew before I started writing the book, that the hero and his girlfriend would be tied to anchors and be tossed off the deck of an old sailing ship.
Did I have a way to save them? Well, sure. Otherwise it would be a very short book.
Since I knew I had to first get them to the ship, I sort of knew what to write next.
Researching "Cheechako," I found out about a rare-ish black wolf that lives near Denali National Park, about 60 miles south of Nenana, the town where Will, Elias and Blackie live. So I started writing in the direction of those wolves. And Kenny, you already know how that turned out.
Finally, you mentioned Book 2 in the Cheechako Series, which is called "Float Monkeys." It's already out for e-books and in paperback, and well reviewed. Be sure to write and ask any questions you have about that.
Thanks for a really good question and for reading and liking "Cheechako."
Best regards, Jonathan
JonathanThomasStratman@gmail.com
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