Letters that move me

MY NEXT big literary project is an anthology of literature for young people.

And I am starting my call for submissions in the category of Letters.

I want people to write letters. 

I want to collect and publish these letters.

But first, the letters have to affect me. 

The letters have to impress me.

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The basics: I want letters that are only 300 to 500 words long.

If you want to go beyond 500, that’s fine for as long as the letter will not bore me to death.

I mean, that’s fine for as long as the letter encourages me to read on.

Go beyond 500 words if the letter really wants to go in that direction.

In the end, f*ck my PSN rules. 

Go serve literature.

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If the letter is meant to be 549 words, then let it be.

Just be aware that I am your first reader. And your gateway to publishing as far as this project is concerned.

If your beautiful 501-word letter fails to impress me, I have more reasons to turn you down.

And I can assure sure you that word count would be one of them.

Because however liberal I am, I really like playing god sometimes.

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I like letters that move from the personal to the bigger picture of our society and our world.

Or, you can, of course, have the reverse process, and start with the world picture and then zoom in to the most personal and private.

Letters that stay personal (or stay in the big picture) all throughout their length from salutation to complimentary close simply bore me. 

Like, there’s no movement, no transcendence of the situation.

Couldn’t people write about their personal suffering, and go to some bigger insight, maybe a bigger dream, a bigger hope, a better understanding of the world?

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What does your unrequited love say about human relations? Gender issues? Social class struggles and race relations?

What does tonight’s fireflies and the stars remind you of? What do they make you wish for?

What has the Covid pandemic made you realize? What has the lockdowns?

How did the pandemic improve or devastate your life? Your family? Your country?

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I like letters that start small.

That situate the speaker-writer, and make me consider his/her position. 

I mean, letters must orient me.

There’s a big difference between opening a letter with “I saw a beautiful butterfly today,” and “I wish you were here because I saw a beautiful butterfly today.”

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I also like letters that say, “I don’t know how to say this,” but proceeds anyway to explain how the writer feels about love and falling in love.

I like that people are able to write out their ideas about first love, or triumph through adversity, or understanding suicides and depression in 500 words or less.

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Of course, I don’t like letters that teach and preach morals. 

But if they are done well, I love them.

They just have to flow artistically though.

They should not sound forced.

They shouldn’t be so obvious.

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In the end, I think I like letters that reveal much about their writers.

I mean, that’s the almost unanimous comments about my memoirs.

Readers love the letters in my memoirs because they reveal so much of my relationships with people, and also because they clearly define my position and stand on certain issues.

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For this project, I want letters that speak to the Filipino youth.

Letters that guide them through the difficult phase of adolescence.

Letters that open their mind to the bigger world, and their even bigger responsibilities.

Despite social networking and fast Internet connections, many young people today think that they are totally disconnected from others.

That nobody really tries to understand them.

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Well, I hope that is not the truth.

And therefore, I want to encourage young people to encourage other young people.

I want young adults to give our young people some perspective. Maybe some survival techniques.

I want the older among us to show the way. Show options. Or possibilities.

Maybe I just want them to share how they themselves got through the pains and torments of adolescence. 

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Maybe I just want them to share the mistakes they have made.

The mistakes that made them what they are today.

Maybe I just want them to give the youth some ideas on how to avoid certain mistakes.

Maybe I just want them to say, “Between love and the one million cash, choose the one million.”

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Whatever you want to say to the youth, I want to read them.

If what you write is a good read, I’d like to share it with the youth. In a book of collected letters.

That sounds fair to me! Ambitious, but fair./PN