Nicholas Clark

January 15, 2015

Hi Mr. Pinkwater!

I'm a huge fan of your work. When I set about composing my first novel, I found myself setting it in a fictionalized analogue of Chicago and surrounds. My instinct was to borrow the wonderful geography of The Snarkout Boys, Lizard Music, et al.

Would it bother you if someone else composed a novel – with a voice that makes no attempt to resemble yours and a style decidedly more adult than that of say the Snarkout Boys books that took place in Baconburg, Hogboro and McDonaldsville? If not, would additional geography such as Puggle State University (an amalgam of Northwestern, Purdue, Penn State and Rutgers) and Igor Capri Gardens (a housing project referencing well known midwestern projects like Cabrini-Green, Pruitt Igoe and DC examples I'm more familiar with like Potomac Gardens and Barry Farms) be tolerable additions?

Many thanks for the hours upon hours of enjoyment and inspiration you've given me and who knows how many others.

Nick

I'll tell you what bothers me.  How is it that all these writers, many of them really good and/or famous, are more than respectful fans of my work, and I can't get a publisher to consider a novel by me?  Picture books, and little chapter ones, yes, I can sell those, thank God, so I'm not starving or anything.  But a novel?  Gornisht.



As to your question, I've never hesitated to help myself to anything I want.  It's perfectly likely anything you steal from me has been stolen from someone else, and that someone may well have stolen it.  The fact that you feel the need to ask bodes ill for your book. 



Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.