A “letter” to Jon Krakauer.

Dear Jon,

Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Jack Russillo.

I hope this letter finds you doing well.

I am an aspiring writer currently living in Seattle and attending the University of Washington and I want you to know that you have quickly become one of my favorite authors. I read Into the Wild a couple years ago and I finally got around to reading Into Thin Air this summer. Both were excellent. During the summer, I made a trip to Europe and the latter was the book that accompanied me along the way.

The way you write is so clear and displays all the minute details that are necessary for telling a good story but not in such a way that it seems persnickety. Every time I had a further question about what something was or how (insert character’s name here) did something, you would go on to explain it in the next sentence or paragraph. It’s an absolute pleasure to read this type of writing. As a young writer, that’s something that I aim to do and reading your work is helping me to see how a professional writer works and how I can apply that to my own writing..

Aside from your unique style of writing and interesting thought processes behind what you write, your subject matter is something that I can relate to. Let’s take the outside world as an example.

Considering the fact you’ve lived in Washington for part of your life, I hope that you’re familiar with the San Juan Islands in the northwest part of the state. I grew up on Orcas Island and, because of that, I will always have a special place for nature in my heart. I crave it. I just don’t feel right if I don’t go on a hike or nature walk at least once a week. Hell, a bike ride helps but it just isn’t the same. Being raised in a place like Orcas Island, a place so full of natural beauty and with such little human impact, has quite an effect on a person. I never fully realized that until I moved to Seattle to attend college and was shut off from hiking whenever I wanted or even finding a truly quiet place to sit and think. I grew up with seven acres of fields and forest to frolic in and my grandparents had a place with nearly 50 acres and beach access on the other side of the island. I was raised surrounded by nature and, because of that, I’ve grown accustomed to it having a big presence in my life. Reading those two books of yours has made me think that you are probably fairly similar to this.

And please correct me if I’m wrong. After all, I’ve never met you so what do I know?

Eventually, I would like to take my vigor for nature and be able to write about my or others’ experiences while out exploring exotic places, much like you’ve done so well. The way you described the scenery of looking out from Everest, I felt like I could see it myself. Even the descriptions of the physical feelings, as awful as they were, were excellent.

I’m very sorry about everything that happened while up on that mountain. Mother Nature decided not cooperate with the aspirations of humankind that horrific night and my deepest condolences go out to you and all involved in that tragedy. But, regardless of how you, your wife, or anybody else may feel about that ordeal, I want you to know that you wrote about it well. From my standpoint, your recollection was unbiased and simply a well-written story of an unfortunately true story. I hope that you don’t feel too badly about what happened or what you wrote, because you should be proud. It was an unlucky series of events. I just wanted to commend you on a well-written book because, despite the content, it has become one of my favorite books.

Oddly enough, it’s actually inspired me to do a bit of climbing. I’ve always been an avid hiker, but I’ve done little mountain climbing and it’s something I’ve always to become more experienced in. While I don’t intend to scale anything like Everest — not that I could afford to anyways — I would like to get into the sport more-so than I am now. Plus, living in Washington, I have plenty of opportunities to do so at my disposal. If you have any suggestions for hiking locations, I’d love to hear them.

I am very curious how you began your writing career for magazines like Outside and National Geographic. How’d you get connected with them? Who’d you talk to? What kind of prior experience did they ask for? If you have any advice for me, I’d appreciate it a ton. You’ve lived such an interesting, well-traveled life and I’m in awe. It may sound strange, but I want to follow in your footsteps. That’s probably just the fan side of me speaking, but it’s true. Maybe not all your footsteps, maybe not even a lot of them. But you certainly stepped in the right place a few times and I am only seeking a little guidance in acquiring the same opportunities as you’ve had.

So, if you have any suggestions for me at all, I’d love to hear them. As of now, I write for The Daily, the university newspaper, and I write fairly regularly on Medium.com trying to build my social media presence and practice my ever-improving writing skills. Aside from those, I don’t know much else of what to do to help me on my way to one of my dreams, which is writing for National Geographic.

If you’re ever in Seattle, let me know and I would love to buy you some coffee or tea or anything else. Hell, if you ever make the trip up to the San Juan Islands, I’d gladly give you a tour and show you all the cool hikes to go on. They aren’t anything super glorious, but you’ll hardly see another human amongst the gorgeous natural scenes and, in my biased opinion, they’re well worth the two hour drive up from Seattle and ensuing ferry ride. And, if you want, feel welcome to reading any of my work here on Medium.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, thanks for taking some time out of your life to read this letter. Please know that your writing has made me hungry to get out into the world and to start writing about it. In the short time since I’ve started reading your work, it’s already had a positive influence on my own writing and my life. Keep it up.

Sincerely,

Jack Russillo