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Author Piers Anthony: The Inspirational Story Behind Letters to Jenny

Do you enjoy reading true stories that make you smile?

By Justiss GoodePublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Image supplied by Open Library

If you’re a Piers Anthony fan, chances are you are already familiar with the story behind the story of his book: “Letters to Jenny.”

This outstanding author who has so many bestselling titles to his credit is truly an inspiration to the profession of writing, but also, just in general.

Anthony’s connection to his readers took on a whole new meaning, when he wrote a book, that included one of his real life fans. The fan was Jenny, a young girl with a disability, and who was in love with the magical characters that Piers Anthony is known for creating.

Her mother would read to her and see the sheer delight the girl had for the books and for the author. Imagine the girls delight at receiving correspondence from her favorite author.

The Story Behind: Letters to Jenny by Piers Anthony

A description of the book provided insight into the story behind the book Letters to Jenny. Here is what it said:

Anthony wrote a letter to Jenny, proposing that he create a character patterned after her, in his next Xanth book, Isle of View. The character is Jenny Elf, an elf of the Elfquest variety (another of her favorite series), which has a pet cat named Sammy (Jenny Gildwarg was a lover of animals). Jenny Elf has become a regular character in the Xanth series.

Anthony received a letter from Jenny’s mother, in which she describes reading previous letters to Jenny. On asking her about the elf character, Jenny smiled.

Jenny made much progress, communicating (at first) by blinking her eyes. (As of this writing), Jenny still uses a wheelchair.

Inspiring other writers is a side effect of inspiring your readers

When I learned about this story years ago, I was truly inspired as a writer. Being a self published author myself, I wanted to learn how to connect with readers on a more personal level.

This story helped me to appreciate that when we writers create stories that inspire our readers, we often inspire other writers as well. I was just breaking into the whole self publishing world, but I knew I wanted to have the same kind of effect on my readers.

That’s one of the reasons I love getting to know what motivates other writers to create the stories they do.

With the genuine interest this man bothered to show this reader, I think Piers Anthony is not only an exceptional author, but he is an exceptional person!

My son is a HUGE fan and he knows all there is to know about Mr. Anthony. From what I’ve been told, this is just one among many of his inspirational stories, as evident by the primary character featured in it.

In case you’re wondering, Piers Anthony did just as he said he would do with his next book.

Isle of View is the thirteenth book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony and Jenny is featured in it.

Here is what it’s about:

“It is up to Jenny, a girl from the world of Two Moons, to save him. Dolph finally has to decide who to marry: Electra or Naga Nada.”

I’ll bet Jenny just loved that!

The many works of the imaginative Piers Anthony

While I'm certainly not a big a fan as my son or any of the other longtime Piers Anthony fans, I definitely enjoy his work.

One of the lesser known facts about this incredible author, is how very unpretentious he is, in spite of his incredible fame and fortune.

When you visit his website, the first thing that stands out, is how very basic the site is. There are no frills, special effect features, or huge book images glaring back at you from the home page.

From what I'm told by one of his biggest fans (that son of mine), Mr. Anthony actually works on his own website. The official web address is: http://www.hipiers.com

Clearly, this well-known, well-liked, and well-established writer has no need or desire to make a showy display of things. Why would he with the endless mountain of titles in his bibliography, including his much loved Xanth series.

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FOLLOW JUSTISS GOODE FOR MORE REVIEWS, NEWS, ADVICE, SELF HELP, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR STORIES. HELP IMPROVE YOUR BODY & YOUR PSYCHE - Enjoy a little bit of Justiss every day :-)

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About the Creator

Justiss Goode

Old crazy lady who loves to laugh and make others smile, but most of all, a prolific writer who lives to write! Nothing like a little bit of Justiss every day :-)

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