Your Questions Answered

Fan Mail: Thank you so much for creating such an amazing series and for responding to the questions and thoughts of teenage girls (and everyone else) with so much respect!

Question:
Ms. Naylor,
Sorry to add to your mail over the holidays, but I’ve been meaning to write to you since I began reading the Alice books when I was nine. At age 20 I’ve decided it’s time to echo everyone who has written to thank you for your creativity, generosity and wisdom in the Alice series and your responses to letters on the website. I’m another individual whose life has been so much better because of you. Your books and the advice that you’ve always provided to the community of readers helped me to get through adolescence and teenage angst with a sense of humor and the reassuring knowledge that my insecurities, interests, and desires were not only shared with many others but also completely ordinary! Your willingness to talk about issues like homophobia helped me stay sane in a small town and a narrowminded student body, where prejudice was prevalent but not often discussed. I’ve reread the books in the Alice series innumerable times, and I can still read any of them (as I often do when I’m home from college) and enjoy every page and plot line while identifying with and living vicariously through the characters. So although this doesn’t adequately express how grateful I am, thank you so much for creating such an amazing series and for responding to the questions and thoughts of teenage girls (and everyone else) with so much respect!

PHYLLIS Replied:
Your letter really made my day.  Thank you so much for taking time to write.  Sometimes sending in a manuscript feels like dropping it down a well, but when readers respond, it is very gratifying.  In another year, Alice will be off for college too, and I hope I can do justice to her then.  Have a wonderful new year.

Question: There is a boy at my school who has a crush on me…

Question:
I have a problem. It is quite trivial, but I would like some advice. There is a boy at my school who has a crush on me- he has had one for four years now- and I have been quite uppity toward him until this year. We have become friends, though nothing more; he is just the kind of person that I see as only a friend. Lately he has been trying to arrange outings between the two of us, and I have even gone to talk to him at a coffee shop out of pity (he basically backed me into a corner until I could not refuse). I don’t want to give him the wrong impression and I have told him this numerous times. It also feels very uncomfortable to see him outside of school and I wish I could kindly decline his offers permanently. Am I a horrible person? What can I do to remain friends with him but have a mutual understanding to not see each other outside of school? I would appreciate any advice you have on the subject.

In rereading this I see how immature it sounds but I will send it anyway; I only hope you can understand this from a 17-year-old’s point of view.

PHYLLIS Replied:
I don’t think you sound immature.  I think you sound compassionate, and it’s really difficult to turn down someone who likes you in the way that he does.  I think that perhaps you haven’t been as definite as you might think.  What needs to be done is painful, but the sooner the better:  Find a time when you aren’t hurried, when there is no one else around, preferably when you’re both sitting down.  Then tell him that you are friends, and you value his friendship, but you don’t have a romantic feeling for him, and it’s making you very uncomfortable when he keeps trying to get you both together out of school.  You will have to state very clearly that you’ll have to give up the friendship if this continues.  If he agrees, then change the subject, talk about other things, and see if he’ll follow your lead.

Question: i have a question is there going to be a movie for the Alice books because i think there should be.

Question:
hi ms.naylor, i have a question is there going to be a movie for the Alice books because i think there should be. BUT under three conditions you have to write the screen play, you have to be in the movie, and last but not least the characters in the movie can be famous they have to be teenagers who grew up like Alice,Liz,Gwen,and Pamela. not celebs that had limos at 16.

PHYLLIS Replied:
There IS a movie out about Alice.  It’s on DVD, and is called “Alice Upside Down.”  It’s based loosely on “The Agony of Alice,” and I’m not in it.

Question: Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO confused! PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Question:
Before i start anything i just want to say you are an AMAZING writer. You inspire me to write my very best. Now my question is about boys. Ok my ex and i broke up in late october but we still remain very close friends. Now he has a cousin that im also pretty close with. I think about my ex non stop! I know im not over him but at times i think about his OLDER cousin. I havnt kissed a boy yet because my ex was too shy to but his cousin has admited if we went out he would kiss me but i know i do not like him in that way. My ex is sweet and funny (and pretty darn cute) but when i think im over him, i just fall under his spell again! I would love to go out with him again but i would also love to have my first kiss. Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO confused! PLEASE HELP ME!!!

PHYLLIS Replied:
You are so excited about this, I’m afraid it may be a disappointment.  If the older cousin really wants to kiss you, why doesn’t he just do it?  Why do you have to “go out” first?  I think that right now you’re in love with the idea of being in love.  Kisses usually just happen–they don’t have to be planned.

Question: What town do the Malloys live in?

Question:
I really enjoyed your boys against girls series. You should write another book about the Hatfords and the Malloys. Maybe one about when the girls move back to Buckman. I also wanted to know if the boys move to Ohio and live next door to the Malloys. And I have one more more question. What town do the Malloys live in?

PHYLLIS Replied:
There are 12 books in the boys/versus/girls series, but WHO WON THE WAR? is the last one.  There are just too many other books I want to write.   The real town is Buckhannon, in W. Va., but I call it Buckman in the series.

Question: I just finished reading Almost Alice and I am sooo sad that Intensely Alice comes out in June. Can you tell me what that book will be about? Or at least something that can keep me fantasizing until it comes out?

Question:
Hi Mrs.Naylor! I’m a HUGE fan of your books and I especially love the way you interact with your fans. I still have the poster you signed and sent me years ago on my wall! I just finished reading Almost Alice and I am sooo sad that Intensely Alice comes out in June. Can you tell me what that book will be about? Or at least something that can keep me fantasizing until it comes out? By the way, I really love Patrick and always have. In Dangerously Alice, though, I started liking Scott because it seemed like Patrick was out of the story forever but in Almost Alice, I was so ecstatic when they sort-of got back together. Can you at least give me a hint about their relationship in the next book? *sigh* what will I do from now till at least June? =(

PHYLLIS Replied:
Not yet.

Question: I was just wondering are you going to write about…

Question:
Hi,this is the first time I ever written to you, and I just wanted to say I love the Alice books they’re wonderful and I enjoy them a lot. I was just wondering are you going to write about when Alice loses her virginity? To me that must be the biggest event that will happen in Alice’s life.

PHYLLIS Replied:
Yes

Question: So when can we expect an excerpt or description for Intensely Alice?

Question:
Hey, P.N.! So when can we expect an excerpt or description for Intensely Alice?   Just can’t wait anymore!!

PHYLLIS Replied:
The editor posts it about a month before publication–look for it next May.

Question: The cover for Intensely Alice, is that supposed to be Patrick and Alice?

Question:
I just have a quick question.. The cover for Intensely Alice, is that supposed to be Patrick and Alice?  I’m excited already. I’m looking forward to Intensely Alice. I hope there’s tons of Patrick to look forward too.

PHYLLIS Replied:
Yes

Question: i see you have a new book out cricket man. what is it about?

Question:
i see you have a new book out cricket man.  what is it about?

PHYLLIS Replied:
It’s a book for guys and girls about a 13 year old guy in 8th grade who has a crush on a 16 year old girl across the street.  Sort of.  And…something happens.  “Cricket Man” is one of my own favorite books, and I got the idea when we lived in a house with a pool and I always spent the first ten minutes of every swim in the mornings rescuing the crickets who had jumped in overnight.