Yesterday I had a great visit to Ms. Armstrong's Grade 6 class at Murray Centennial P.S. in Trenton. What a nice, quiet, well-behaved and well-informed class that was! They had excellent questions about Leaving Fletchville; questions it challenged me to answer... I thought some more about them when I got home and, as usual, found I could answer the question better now that I thought about it some more. The best question was; "How do you decide what to write about?" At the core of every book is a basic story which means a lot to the writer. This is what the writer really wants to say. It is a framework, like the skeleton in a body. All the rest of the book,the characters, events, places and descriptions, are the muscles, organs, systems and connective tissue that complete the body and make it seem real. In Leaving Fletchville the 'skeleton' is the story of Leon and his family. That is why I wrote the book; to tell a story of brave and responsible kids like them, who accept responsibility for others. The rest of the story, like Brandon, the school, the fights, Fletchville assignments and all the other stuff are the body parts which make the body seem real. I was honoured to be asked back to Murray Centennial. Thank you.
