Letters to Jessica
| Dear Jessica,
I just finished Her Daughter's Eyes yesterday after my Mother told me I should read it. She wanted me to read it for two reasons mainly. One, because it is a fabulous story, written by an incredible storyteller. Two, because after reading your q & a at the end of the book, she was intrigued by the similarities in our writing pasts. I too began writing at a very young age. However, at 19 I became pregnant and, as I like to say, instead of getting my degree I got my oldest son Chase! I now have three boys, and am happily married. I also stopped writing. Until three years ago when my husband lost his very lucrative job that allowed me to be a stay at home mom. I finally started to write again, and I began with a novel that I had wanted to write for as long as I could remember. I gave the first six chapters to my Mother and she loved it, but said I think this should be a movie! After laughing and explaining that I had no idea to write a novel, how could I ever learn to write a screenplay, I realized she was right. So spent the next week, all hours of the day and night, at the local Barnes and Noble, taking copious notes, (couldn't afford to actually buy the books!), read every screenplay I could read, and finally I began writing my first screenplay. I have now completed six. I have traveled to LA to attend workshops by Professor Richard Walter of UCLA, I am still reading, learning, doing everything I can to get better, and ideally I would love to be able to eventually move out that way. So, to sum up, I wanted to write and say thank you for your inspiration, knowing that if I don't give up maybe I will someday sell something, get an agent, who knows! Until then, I will write. Not because I want to, but because if I don't I am not being who I honestly am. It was a pleasure getting to know you through your book, and I look forward to reading the rest of your work. You are refreshingly honest, blunt, and powerful. I appreciate that, especially from a woman writer. I am also impressed that the publisher took such a huge chance on the subject matter with an unpublished author. Just another sign of what an amazing author you are. Respectfully, * * * * * * * * * * Dear Stacie--I finished reading your email and just sat there, thinking about life. And it occurs to me that you have to finish your novel or your movies and just keep working to get your material out there. You are younger than I was when I first found my agent and then publisher. And it seems you are doing everything right. It's so much hard work getting that first breakout piece ready. I had many poems and stories and much of them failed before I got to the novel. So I just want to encourage you and tell you to keep going. It's hard doing the writing with kids, but it can be done, and you're doing it. To me, doing what we have to do is really living. Even if we don't get published or recognized. It's what makes it all "real." And when someone else wants to read it, it's icing on the cake. And getting published means that we can continue to write, maybe even full time. So, as they say, you go girl! Good luck, and let me know when your first film or novel comes out! Jessica |
| I just finished reading "Her Daughter's Eyes ", and I couldn't put it
down, this was sincerely the best book I have ever read, I felt like I was right there on the couch with these two young girls, trying to
figure out how to help them through this bad experience, they were going through, I myself was a teenage mother and was scared to death to tell
my parents and hid it from them for seven months, then two weeks later I delievered my daughter, who is now almost fifteen herself, and I'm
praying doesn't follow in her mothers footsteps. This story really touched home with me, and I cryed and laughted right along side the
characters, I was sorry the book was over and just wanted more. I will be buying your other novels and reading them one at a time, I guess what
I'm trying to say is that you are truely a great writer and, I look forward to reading more of your work. Thank you for touching my life so
deeply.
Thanks again, * * * * * * * * * * Hi, Sunday. Thank you so much for your touching letter. I really appreciate your words, especially in that you can relate to what Kate went through with Deirdre. I am sure than your daughter is amazing. Knowing that you went through much of what Kate did makes what you say even more special. I hope you enjoy my other novels, though the topics are different! Again, thanks for the kind words. Jessica Inclán |
| I read your book, "Her Daughter's Eyes," and I loved it. The way you described things made everything seem so vivid
and real. When will your next book be coming out? I look forward to reading it. Do you have any recommendations of
books to read? I will going into the 10th grade so any books that you think a 10-12th grader could read, please
recommend. I look forward to hearing back from you! Hope to talk to you soon! Lindsay, Charleston, SC
* * * * * * * * * * Dear Lindsay--thank you so much for your email. I really appreciate your kind words about my writing. My next book should be coming out next year sometime. These things are always a bit vague, but probably a year from now. I love all of Kay Gibbons' books. She wrote Ellen Foster, which you might have read for school. But all of her books are vivid and real and truthful. My favorite book of all time s Toni Morrison's Beloved (the book! not the movie). And I think The Great Gatsby is probably the neatest, cleanest, most amazing novel of the 20th C. I am reading a novel entitled My Year of Meats right now which is very funny and unusual. I started my writing career by doing a lot of reading, which is what you seem to be doing. Good luck and thanks again for words. Jessica Inclán |
| I just finished reading your novel. I read it in one day; I couldn't put the story out of my mind. To me this is book is a
great example of what happens when the communication stops within a family. I felt so many emotions while reading
this book. I just want to say THANK YOU for writing this novel; I haven't read a book this good in a long time.
Thanks! Shari
* * * * * * * * * * Dear Shari-- Thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate them. It makes me feel great that the emotion I out into the novel is conveyed to the reader! That's what we are hoping for! I hope you'll spread the words about the novel--it's all about readers like you. Again, thank you. Jessica Inclán |
| Thank you for 'Your Daughter's Eyes'. When I started reading it, I had no idea what
a journey into the past I would take! I was born in Berkeley, lived most of my life in Pleasant Hill (graduating from
PHHS in 1970) and lived in Martinez and Antioch before moving to Washington State. My mother was an alcoholic, my father suffered from PTSD (he was a Japanese
POW for 3 1/2 years) and I was pregnant when I graduated from high school. I checked myself into a home for unwed
mothers in San Francisco and lived there for 5 months until the baby was born. Your story brought back so many
memories and such surprising emotions. The underlying strength of Kate that I relate to is perfectly captured on page
120...if your mind is set on what you think is right, you can do anything." But then God doesn't give us any challenge
that we don't have the strength to handle! Thank you again, God bless you!! Carla.
* * * * * * * * * * Carla--Yours is the first letter from someone who has gone through an event similar to Kate's. I appreciated so much your words and wisdom. Thank you. It's fun, isn't it, to read a book set in a place you know. I love that feeling. In my next two books, I really go all out and just name the Bay Area instead of trying to protect it. I feel much better about the decision. In my first, I was a bit nervous. No more!! Again, thank you so much for writing. I really appreciate your careful reading. Best, Jessica Inclán |
| I love your book 'Her Daughters Eyes' I was wondering if you will ever make a sequel to it. I was disappointed when I
was done reading. I wanted more! It's a great book! I hope to read more from you. Erika,
Honolulu, Hawaii
* * * * * * * * * * Hi, Erika. Thanks for writing. I just had two of my old high school friends over for dinner, and they were asking me questions about what will happen in the novel. I told them I don't know, and that I would have to keep writing to find out. So it is possible that one day I will have to write more to see what happens to them. All I have are guesses. What I think would be interesting to see is what happens between Sanjay and the baby. Will there be a relationship? And how will Davis make it up to his girls. But even I don't know! Thank you so much for your words. Jessica Inclán |
| I absolutely love your book. Luckily, I came across it in a bookstore in an airport. I love to read and after I skimmed
over the back of your book--I was hooked. I started reading when I got on the plane and 3 1/2 hours later I couldn't
stop. I finished it a day later and I wanted to read something else by you! To my dismay, this is your debut novel! I
would have never guessed. You are a very talented writer and I can't wait to pick up the next book you write. You are
such a vivid writer; I could see everything you wrote. It was incredible. Thank you for your book. I have already
bought 4 copies for friends! Emily, Waco, TX
* * * * * * * * * * Dear Emily--thank you so much for your email. It made my day, I'll tell you that. I do have a novel coming out early next year. It's called The Matter with Grace. My editor just accepted my final revisions, and it is going to the copy editor this week. So look out for it! I know how wonderful an airplane ride with a book can be, and I feel honored that mine helped you with the time. All best, Jessica Inclán |
| I really, really enjoyed this novel. I read it all today, and was impressed with
the detail you used. I have a few questions for you. When you talked about the girls going to raves, you said that the people were drinking something called
"blue nitro." What is that exactly, a smartdrink or something? I used to go to those kind of parties a lot and was just curious. My main question though was,
how did you decide to make the family next-door Indian? You used very pertinent details--very different and interesting. My aunt is married to a Bengali
man, so I picked up on some things that had me surprised to read them in your book. Sorry if that was too long. I appreciate your time. Thanks! Allison, Pontiac, MI
* * * * * * * * * * Hi, Allison! Thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate them. They made my day! To answer your questions. My oldest son left for work already, but he told me about this liquid kids drink at raves. It's been almost three years since I first asked him, but it was called GHB (I think). It has caused a number of deaths recently, and is really awful. Now I wish I'd had Kate muse on how dangerous the whole scene was, but I think she wouldn't have thought that. Only a mom would--me. About Sanjay. Strangely, he literally just showed up at the door. When the doorbell rang and Tyler answered it, I had no idea who it was. Then all of the sudden, I thought, it's the father of the baby. I knew the Chaturvedis lived next door, and there he was. When thinking about the suburbs out in California, I truly tried to include the types of people who live here. I live in the town I was writing about (though I changed its name) and we have many Asian and East Indian families (my husband is Mexican, but I can tell you, we don't have a very large Latino population. I think my family is half of the total). So that family was in the neighborhood, and then he turned out, to my surprise, to be the father. So! What to do with that? Well, I have a very good friend whom I have taught with for 13 years, and I took her out to lunch three times and picked her brain. I needed to know cultural norms, caste/class issues, food, clothing, religion, family structure. I took notes, and then received feedback from her about what I wrote. She gave me the particulars I needed to sketch out the characters. I am sure I missed something or added a wrong detail, but I really tried my best to create realistic characters. I really appreciate your questions. Sometimes, I don't know the answers, but both of these are research questions. This book was full of research (the family law, legal system, culture, pediatrician stuff). I had to meet with a number of people to get my facts straight. Thanks for reading, and please pass on the word! Jessica Inclán |
| Dear Jessica,
Your novel gave me the chills, because when I was eight and my brother was ten, my mother died. Shortly afterward, my father found a new family, and spent all of his free time with them. He came home for dinner, which I cooked, once a week or so. His new girlfriend did not like us, and so the two families did not meet very often. Just as the two girls in your story, we grew up mostly by ourselves. Unfortunately, however, my brother and I were not friends, and were very little help to each other. My brother spent his teen years wrecking his brilliant, creative mind with drugs. He lives a much smaller life than the one he could have had, and he still does drugs, although we are in our mid forties. I was luckier, and found a few adults who took some interest in me. They eased the way somewhat, although there were limits to what they could do. Just as in your story, my father also pushed away any relatives who expressed an interest in our welfare. Eventually, they drifted off. The ironic thing is that I hated and feared my father so much that I never once minded that he was not around. I moved away as soon as I could, and have had no in contact with my family for years. I instinctively felt that it was the only way I could have a happy life. I recently discovered that the woman, whom he eventually married after all of the children were grown up, is no longer alive. My father, who is now in his eighties, has made no effort to contact me, which just confirms what I always knew: he infinitely preferred his new family. There were no painful memories associated with them, and no responsibilities. When he looks at them, he doesn't see all of his past coming to haunt him, with everything he did wrong. My father is not a stupid man, just a selfish one -- I am sure it occurred to him at some point that he failed in his obligations to us. I'm just amazed that you wrote that book. When people ask me about my childhood, they sometimes don't believe what I tell them, because they think that no one, especially not a middle class Jewish family, could allow two small children to grow up essentially alone, unsupervised, and unloved. But that is what happened in my house. * * * * * * * * * * Hello (you didn't give me your name)! I am really amazed by your message. And I must tell you that one of the biggest battles I faced with my novel is that people didn't believe that a father would do something like that--obviously, a father could. And I did have to work on making Davis more sympathetic so people would believe him and relate to him. I think, really, though, that maybe I shouldn't have. Thanks so much for sharing your life. I think the lesson you said you learned--letting go--is so true and so hard. I appreciate your writing to me and reading my novel. Jessica Inclán |
| Mrs. Inclán,
Last weekend I bought your book "Her Daughter's Eyes." I have never been much of a reader, I guess you could say I am more into the whole social scene, football games, talking online, going to the mall and movies etc. I couldn't even tell you the last time I read a book (or finished a book for that matter). So, when my English teacher gave me an assignment to read a fiction book that had a topic that I could write a research paper on, I just about burst into tears. I was reluctant to go get a book, because then my parents would be on my back about reading it, and that's the last thing that I wanted. So I went into the bookstore having no idea what to look for. I asked the employees at the store and all they could say is 'there's no fiction books you can read that are about one topic!' (I wanted my topic to be on Teen Pregnancy or Rape or something like that, because it would be interesting) so we realized they weren't going to be much help and my mom and I started looking. Your book jumped out at me for some reason and after reading the back and about the first 5 lines of your book, I knew that's what I was going to read. I bought the book and headed home. I figured it wouldn't kill me to start my book that afternoon for a couple minutes before I got online to talk to my friends about the next night's plans... A few minutes soon turned into 30, and then into an hour. I couldn't put your book down. I couldn't believe when I looked at the clock and I had started reading almost 2 hours ago and was almost half way through the book. I was hooked on your book... All week I have been reading it, any chance that I have I read your book and my dreaded English project turned into a new chapter of my life. (or at least I hope so). I finished your book today not even a week after beginning it and can't wait for you next book to come out. I've decided reading isn't so horrible and I went out and bought another book today, because of your amazingly written book I read. You made the characters come so real to me, and it was so real. I wanted to thank you and tell you what a good book yours was, and that I can't wait until you come out with another one. Also, I would recommend a sequel to that one if it is doing well in stores. I would like to know what happens to Kate and Tyler and 'Dee Dee'... You left me guessing! Also, a few questions I wanted to ask you... How did you come up with the names in the book?! (Sanjay, Meera etc.) and you're really an inspiration for me, I wrote in a writing contest in 8th grade and won first prize in my city (Houston then, I now moved to Colorado) and I love writing but don't know where to begin or what to write about. Again, I just wanted to tell you how incredible the book was. Thanks, and write back if you get a chance. Mary Beth Carney * * * * * * * * * * Hi, Mary! What a great surprise and joy to get your email. I am so happy that I helped your assignment become fun. As a teacher, I know I assign things students don't want to do, but I can tell you that it's gratifying if they start to like it. I'm sure your teacher would be happy to read what you wrote to me! I do hope this is a new chapter in your reading career--there are so many great books out there. And as a writer, you will want to read as much as possible. There is nothing better than reading to teach you about writing. I congratulate you on your 8th grade contest and hope you will continue onward! When I was writing my story, all of the sudden, Sanjay just appeared on the doorstep (remember, the doorbell rings). I had no idea what to do next but to continue on writing. I went to school with an East Indian boy named Sanjay and so I gave him that name. (If Sanjay ever reads my book, I hope he knows that my Sanjay is NOT him). For the rest, I had to do research. My good friend Basudha helped me with the rest (especially the last names!). A number of people have asked me about a sequel. I don't know. So far, Kate and Tyler have not been calling to me. I guess I like to imagine their lives spinning onward without me. But who knows! My next novel should be out by spring, and if you read it, I hope you will write me back. It's a different topic (more about cancer and friendship) but I hope you will like it. Thanks so much for writing, Mary. It made my evening! Jessica Inclán |
| Dear Jessica--I was lucky
enough to select your book at the library. I believe it was one of the best
books I've ever read. I promptly went out and bought a copy for my stepdaughter
who 1) lost her mother to breast cancer 2) has a beautiful 2-year-old daughter.
But the breast cancer is secondary; it was written so lovely and spoke so
clearly about the love between a mother and her daughter.
Thank you for a beautiful book - I will be sure and read your other novels. Thank you for having this web site so I could let you know what a wonderful book you wrote. Susan * * * * * * * * * * Dear Susan--Thank you so much for such a nice email. I feel honored that you bought the book for your stepdaughter, which bespeaks, I think, your good relationship with her. She's been doubly lucky, I guess, to have two moms. I am happy you are intending to read my next novels--the second will be out May 2002. It's titled The Matter of Grace. It's quite different in topic, but I hope you will like it. Again, thanks so much for reading and sharing my book with your stepdaughter. Jessica |
| Jessica,
I am writing you to tell you that I think that your book is great! It reminds me of some of the fears that every young female goes through when they have to face the trauma of pregnancy alone. I think that it is definitely reality based and should be read by any young woman who thinks that having a kid is a walk in the park. Sincerely, P.S. Please know that you are helping a lot of people out there by writing this book. * * * * * * * * * * Hi, Dana. Thank you so much for your comments. Without a doubt, my teenaged years were my worst, and I didn't even have to go through a pregnancy. I appreciate your comment that the book would help girls. That makes me feel good--I have received some letters from teenaged girls and they related to the story, too. I appreciate your comments very much. Jessica |
| Dear Jessica,
Started and finished "her daughter's eyes" yesterday. So real, so impelling. I felt I knew each of the characters intimately. I know how much I enjoy a book when I wish for a sequel. (Did Sanjay and Meera embrace Dee Dee----, and let the boys treat her as their half sister?) Keep writing, you have a gift!!! Nancy * * * * * * * * * * Dear Nancy--I'm not sure I have the sequel in me, but that is what folks want to know. I've gone to several book groups, and indeed, that's what people ask me. I have faith in Meera--she might seem cold, but she might just take on Deirdre's mantle. I'll think about it, I assure you! Thanks so much for your kind words. Jessica |
| I started the Her Daughters eyes tonight before bed. I had to put the book down after the girls return to school. I can't finish. I don't know why but I can't finish. I guess I am scared. Simple as that. I want
to know what happen, but the thought of where the story can go from here and what might happen to then all well you get the picture.
Lishon
* * * * * * * * * * Well, Lishon, Let me tell you. It ends up okay. No one dies. Nothing terrible happens. It's not easy for them all to get to the end, but it works. Does that help you? I hope you will finish. Everyone seems to think it has a "hopeful" ending. Jessica Inclán * * * * * * * * * * I just finished reading your book it was wonderful. I wrote to you about three weeks ago scared to finish reading the book. I got your e-mail and I thank you for you not of support. Well now I have finished the book and found it to wonderful. I love how the book ended with allowing the reader to contrive what happens to Kate and how she handles what the future holds. Your description of the characters and their inner thought left me wanting to captive. Thank you again for your e-mail. Lishon |
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