The Outsiders

The Outsiders

S. E. Hinton

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Dear Reader,

It is very difficult for me to write about myself, and especially The Outsiders, which was written at a horrendous time in my life, was published by a series of mind-boggling synchronicities, and has gone further than any hour dared dream. But I'll give it a shot. I wrote The Outsiders when I was sixteen years old. Actually I began it when I was fifteen, as a short story about a boy who was beaten up on his way home from the movies. But I didn't just write The Outsiders I lived it. Looking back, I realize how important it was to me to have another life at time. To be someone else. To deal with problems I had to face, and write my way to some sort of understanding and coping. This is all in hindsight. At the time, I was about the social situation in my high school. I desperately wanted something to read that dealt realistically with teen-age life. I knew I was going to be a writer. I love to write. I began in grade school, because I loved to read, and liked the idea of making stories happen the way I wanted them to. By the time I was in high school I had been practicing for years. So I was both elated and not surprised when I received my publishing contract on the day I graduated from high school. The Outsiders has taken me many places I never dreamed of going. It introduced me to people I would never otherwise have met. Although the names Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillion, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, and Ralph Macchio are familiar to most people, and conjure visions of movie stars and glamour, I remember a group of sweet, goofy, incredibly talented and at the same time incredibly normal teenage boys. I was involved in every aspect of filming the movie version of The Outsiders, and the memory I cherish most is of hanging out with 'my boys.' I owe Francis Coppola a debt of thanks. Not only for the respect, kindness, and friendship I personally received from him, but for the fact he made the movie for the fans of the book. He shot a faithful adaption, consulting me for everything from locations to wardrobe, but it was the fans of the book he wanted to please. And as far as I know, he is the only director to go back and assemble a more complete movie (The Outsiders Complete Novel DVD) because those fans asked him to. Fans. I receive letters from every state, from dozen foreign countries. From twelve-year-olds and forty-year-olds. From convicts and policemen, teachers, social workers, and of course, kids. Kids who are living lives like those in the Outsiders. Kids who can't imagine living lives like those in The Outsiders. Kids who read all the time. Ones who never before finished a book. The letters saying "I loved the book" are good, the ones that say "I never liked to read before, and now I read all the time" are better, but the ones that say "The Outsiders changed my life" and "I read it fifteen years ago and I realize how much it influenced my life choices" frankly scarer me. Who am I to change anyone's life? I guess the best reply is "It's the book, not the author" and "It's the message, not the messenger." A lot of the time I feel The Outsiders was meant to be written, and I was chosen to write it. It's certainly done more good than anything I could accomplish on a personal level. If this sounds like I am overwhelmed by the decades of incredible response to what began as a short story I started when I was fifteen years old, well, I guess that's the truth.

Stay Gold,

S. E. Hinton