Female Speaker: Obviously, you're all here today because you know
who Gail Carson Levine is and what she writes.
[applause] What you might be interested to know is
that she started writing by first telling herself stories.
So let's listen to what she has to tell us about her story.
Please welcome -- [applause] Gail Carson Levine: Hi.
I am really overwhelmed by the numbers of you.
I'm very grateful to you for coming.   Thank you.
I have a question for you before I start.
How many of you have read Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Wand?
Okay, great, because I'm going to talk for a little while
about Fairy Haven and -- I said it wrong, Fairy Dust
and the Quest for the Egg.
Okay. I'm going to talk about the sequel, which has just come out,
Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand.
And I really -- just a sec.   I hate podiums because I'm shorter
than they are and they get in the way.
So anyway, I need to introduce you a little bit to Fairy Dust
and the Quest for the Egg before I start to tell you about this one.
How many of you have read Peter Pan by James M. Barry?
Great. That was maybe my favorite book when I was growing up.
I was in love with Peter.   I wanted to marry Peter.
I thought Wendy was an idiot for going home.
So then, I had the opportunity -- the people at Disney came to me
and told me that they were thinking of starting a series
about the fairies of Neverland.
And they asked me if I would write the first book, and if I would set
up the world of those fairies.
So I was thrilled at the chance to go to Neverland.
So they also showed me a beautiful picture of a dove that had been used
by Disney when they were doing Bambi.
And I fell in love with the dove and she becomes Mother Dove.
And Mother Dove sits on an egg that holds the magic of Neverland.
Can somebody tell me what the magic of Neverland is?
[low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Yes, in Neverland people don't grow old.
So, it's that egg.
And fairies, and this was not my invention, but fairies are born
when a baby laughs for the first time; another fairy is born.
And I thought that the best way to introduce the reader to the fairies
of Neverland was to see everything through the eyes of a new fairy.
So Prilla is the new fairy who's born and she comes to Neverland
and discovers that every fairy in Fairy Haven has a talent.
And Prilla does not know if she has a talent or what it is.
So part of the book is discovering what her talent is.
And another part of the book is that something terrible happens
to Neverland and Neverland needs saving.
And Prilla is part of it, but part
of it is a water talent fairy named Rani.
And Rani demonstrates her talent to Prilla,
because Prilla is trying out lots of talents.
And Rani reaches into a tub of water.
She's a water talent fairy.   If you reached into a tub of water,
and drew your hand out, what would happen?
Can somebody tell me?   Yes, can you shout?
[low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Yes,
the water would run right through your fingers.
But when Rani lifts out water, it stays in her hand.
And she pinches the water here and she pulls it there,
and she makes a water fish.
And she passes her hand over the fish and it starts sparkling.
And then she balls the fish up in her hand and she starts bouncing it,
and it bounces back into her hand.
And then she starts throwing it in the air and she catches it.
And then she misses, and it falls on the ground and it rolls.
And it lands at the foot of Prilla.
And she says to Prilla, if you can pick up the water,
you're a water talent fairy.
And so you have to read the book to see if she does.
But in the course of the book, Rani has to go to the mermaid Soop
and get a mermaid's comb.
And Soop is willing to give her the comb but she wants something
in exchange and she wants a magic wand.
And the fairies of Neverland do not have magic wands,
they have fairy dust, which is Mother Dove's feathers.
When she molts, they ground them up and they're fairy dust.
So, but Rani really needs the comb, so she promises Soop a wand.
And then the book ends.
And in the second book, Soop wants the wand
and Mother Dove does not want Rani to bring her the wand.
It's because Mother Dove thinks wands are dangerous.
Can anybody tell me why a wand might be dangerous?
[low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Exactly,
because if you have a wand, you have absolute power.
And you can get into a lot of trouble with power.
So I'm going to read to you from the beginning of the book, but first,
the book starts with a song that Soop sings,
because mermaids are fabulous singers.
And it's sung in Mermish, and Mermish is different from English.
Mermish is a language with no consonants.
Can somebody tell me what all the vowels are?
Yes? Child Speaker: A-E-I-O-U.
Gail Carson Levine: A-E-I-O-U and sometimes Y. So I'm going to sing --
and of course, I'm not a mermaid, and so I'm not that sort of singer,
but I'm going to do my best.   This is a little bit of Soop's song.
Now, it's a very sad song, and Soop accompanies herself
by pounding the ground underwater with her tail.
And I can't do that.
So you can help me out by clapping very slowly.
[singing] [applause] Thank you.
There's more song, but -- I used to take singing lessons,
and when I sang and I practiced at home,
our dog Baxter would come up and howl.
So anyway, here we go.   For her part, Soop was enraged.
She'd given Rani a comb in exchange for a wand, and she wanted the wand.
She had plans for it.
She was convinced Rani was taunting her.
Taunting means teasing.
By returning to the lagoon every day --
can anybody tell me what a lagoon is?
Yes, what's a lagoon?
Loud. [low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Not exactly.
Okay, somebody else?   Yes? Child Speaker: Swampy?
Gail Carson Levine: Swampy?   It's a body of water.
It's like an arm of the ocean.   That's not what you said, is it?
No. But, that's what it is.   So, next time.
She was convinced Rani was taunting her by returning
to the lagoon every day without it.   Soop wanted to vent her anger.
When you vent your anger, you show it.
But fairies were beneath her.
What does it mean for somebody to be beneath you?
Let's see -- yes?   Child Speaker: To look down on them?
Gail Carson Levine: Yes, you look down on them.
Exactly. So for a month after the hurricane, she did nothing.
Finally, one night she was too angry to sing.
The next morning she didn't dive when Rani arrive.
Rani was thrilled.   Her glow flared.
All the Never-fairies are surrounded by a glow.
She wept happy tears.   "Oh, Soop, oh Soop."
She wanted to say the fascinating things she'd practiced
for this moment about swimming and fish fins and underwater castles.
"Oh, Soop."
Soop smiled pleasantly until Brother Dove left.
Brother Dove brings Rani everywhere and you'll find
out why in the first book.
Then she reared up so she was balanced precariously
on the tip of her tail.   What's precariously?
Anybody know what precariously -- yes?
Child Speaker: Dangerous?
Gail Carson Levine: Yeah, dangerously.
Unsteadily, on the tip of her tail.   The smile vanished.
"You promised.   You promised and I have waited.
I've waited patiently."   This wasn't true.
She was angry the first day.
"When will you fulfill your promise?"
She flopped back down on Marooner's Rock and whispered menacingly,
"Beware a mermaid's wrath."   And wrath is another word for anger.
Rani dabbed at the seawater and sweat
on her face with a leafkerchief.
Anybody know what a leafkerchief might be?
It's a handkerchief made of a...?   Audience: Leaf.
Gail Carson Levine: Leaf, yes.
"I want you to have it, but" -- "If you want me to have it,"
Soop said, "why don't I have it?   I need to get it."
The only other time they'd met, Rani had told Soop
that Never-fairies didn't have wands.
They had fairy dust and Mother Dove.   "But Mother Dove won't let me."
"Excuses. Watch, little fairy."   Soop beckoned the water below.
How do you beckon?   That's what you do, yes.
"My name is Rani."
Here comes the hardest word in the book.
Rani smiled ingratiatingly.   Can anybody tell me what -- yes?
[low audio] Gail Carson Levine: More than sweetly.
More than sweet -- gratefully, yeah.
If you really wanted somebody to like you,
and you think that person doesn't like you, that's how you'd smile.
You'd smile ingratiatingly.
Automatically, Soop said, "I am Soop."
Then she frowned.   She didn't want to be polite.
"It doesn't matter what your name is.
Watch the water."
It rose higher and higher on the rock, up to the hem of Rani's skirt.
"Fulfill your promise.   Bring a wand to our castle.
The water is rising in your Fairy Haven."
"Don't!" Rani's water talent wasn't strong enough to dry up a flood,
not even the combined talents
of every water talent fairy would be strong enough.
A flood would destroy Fairy Haven.   "Oh, don't."
"Bring me a wand."   Soop dived.
So now, you also have to read the book to see what happens.
So I'm ready for questions.   You can ask me -- oh, wonderful.
You can ask me about anything.   Any of my books, anything.
Yes? Child Speaker: When did you first start writing?
Gail Carson Levine: When did I first start writing?
I first started -- well, when I was in elementary school I was a member
of the Scribble Scrabble Club.   In fact, I was the president.
And I wrote through elementary school and I wrote into high school.
And then, in high school, I took creative writing from Mr. Pashkin,
and he wrote across my stories and my poems very nice things.
And I discovered my notebook not too long ago.
And then I came to one story and he wrote on the top
of it, "You know your problem?   You're pedestrian."
Can somebody tell me what the word "pedestrian" means?
Yes? Shout.
[low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Yes, a pedestrian is somebody who walks.
But it has another meaning.
Does anybody know what that other meaning is?
Child Speaker: Boring?
Gail Carson Levine: Boring, very good.
Yes. So he said -- he did not only say that my story was boring,
he said that I was boring.   And how did I feel?
Anybody, how did I feel?
Yes? [low audio] Gail Carson Levine: Sad, mad.
I was very upset and I was very confused.
Did he tell me how to make myself not boring?
No. He didn't tell me what was wrong with my story that made it boring.
I was very embarrassed.
I was so embarrassed that I couldn't ask him what he meant.
And I did not write again for 25 years.
I mean, I didn't write stories.   I wrote memos, but not stories.
And now, there is a moral to this story.
Can anybody guess what the moral to this story is?
Yes? Scream it.
Child Speaker: Even if you are embarrassed,
you should still ask what the people meant.
Gail Carson Levine: Even if you're embarrassed,
you should ask questions.   That's one wonderful moral.
Any other morals?   Does anybody else hear a moral?
Yes? Child Speaker: [inaudible] Gail Carson Levine:
Don't let one bad opinion bring you down.
Absolutely.
And if you show your writing or your drawing or you expose your singing
to somebody who tells you you stink at it, never be kind enough to show
[applause] On the other hand, writers need criticism.
So we need the kind of criticism
that tells us how to make our work better.
Like, "I don't understand how your character got
from the bedroom to the woods."
That's helpful, because we can then figure out and see
where the reader got lost.
That's an example of useful criticism.
So what happened is that one day, I was a big reader,
and one day in 1987 when I was 39 years old --
so you can figure out how old I am -- I was meditating.
And I love to read.
And I started to tell myself a story.
And it was an art appreciation book for kids
and nobody would publish it.   But that's what got me started.
And then I took a class in writing and illustrating for children,
and I thought I would illustrate, because I was a painter.
But I discovered that I loved the writing.
And then it took me ten years to get published.
So I started in 1987.   More questions?
Yes? Child Speaker: How did you get from the final copy of your book
to actually publishing it?
Gail Carson Levine: How did I get from the final copy of my book
to actually publishing it?   Which book?
Child Speaker: Any book?   Gail Carson Levine: Any book?
Okay. It's about the same.
If you're not published -- are you writing and you're not published?
Okay. If you are not published and you want to write for kids,
there is a wonderful organization called the Society
of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, scbwi.org,
and it's very welcoming and I joined it.
And it was very helpful for me in becoming published.
If you are a kid and you're writing, if you Google on "young writers,"
you will, you will find ways to get published.
So just Google on "young writers."   But then, once the book is finished
and I do have a publisher it takes about a year.
I send it to my editor.
She writes me letters telling me what she likes
and what's very wrong about my books.
And then I revise and then she sends me another letter based
on the revision, and then it goes to a copy editor,
and then I revise based on what the copy editor has told me,
and then it starts to get into something called bound galleys
and starts to go out to stores.
I do not write in every book -- for those of you who are little,
I do not write the words in each copy of the book that you have.
They're printed on very big printing presses.
But before it ever goes to my editor,
I belong to critique groups, lots of people see it.
I revise many, many, many, many -- and you can string out that many
as long as you want -- times before I get it to my editor.
And I just woke up to the fact that there's a line
of kids waiting to ask questions.
So yes? Child Speaker: Where did you get your idea for the book Fairest?
Gail Carson Levine: Where did I get the idea for the book Fairest?
Well, my editor asked me if I could write another book
in the world of Ella Enchanted.
And since Ella is based on Cinderella,
I thought I should write another one that's based on a fairy tale.
So the other most powerful fairy tale to me is Snow White.
So I thought I would do Snow White.
And then, when I thought about it, I re-read the story,
and if you remember the original Grimm story is Snow White has skin
as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black
as ebony, which is very black.
Now, close your eyes for a second and think,
white snow, blood lips, ebony hair.
Do you think this is a beautiful combination?
So I thought, no, it's not.   So in my book, Snow White is ugly.
And this is -- and that's where I got started.
So that's how I got the idea for Snow White.
Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: I want to suggest to other people
who have questions that there's a line,
so I'm going to keep picking people from the line.
So, we may not be able to get to everybody, but if you want a shot
at a question, I think you should get on the line.
Yes? Next?
Child Speaker: Why do you write fairytales?
Gail Carson Levine: Why do I wrote fairytales?
I love fairytales.
I loved fairytales when I was growing up.
I loved them because they're so exciting.
There's never a moment in a fairytale that's boring.
And I loved them because I loved all the exotic stuff in fairy tales,
the cloaks of invisibility, the seven league boots
that take you 21 miles in a step, the tablecloths
that fill themselves and serve food forever.
And I love -- nowadays, one of the things I love
about them is that they're so goofy.
Fairytales are the goofiest things going.
If you think about The Princess and the Pea.
They're looking for a true princess.
And how do they find that true princess?
They find her by finding somebody
who can feel a pea under 20 mattresses.
And what does a princess become after a while?
Can somebody tell me what a princess turns into?
Yes? Child Speaker: A queen.   Gail Carson Levine: A queen.
And is a queen a powerful position?   Pretty powerful.
She can chop off people's heads.
And so, do you think she should get that job because she can feel a pea?
And it's particularly appropriate in Washington,
How would it be if we got our presidents by feeling a pea
under all those mattresses?
There may be a lot of thoughts on that subject.
And so that's why I love fairytales.
I have a -- excuse me -- I'm very interested in love at first sight,
because it strikes me as very strange.
In Sleeping Beauty, he falls in love with her.
He's never met her.   She's asleep.
All he knows about her is that she's pretty and she doesn't snore.
[laughter] In Snow White, it's even worse.
He falls in love with her when he thinks she's dead.
So it's all very strange, and it's entirely interesting.
Child Speaker: Thank you.
Child Speaker: What grade were you in when you first started writing?
Gail Carson Levine: I was in elementary school,
I think about third grade, when I started writing.
Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: A sign has been flashed.
I have 10 minutes.   Okay, yes?
Child Speaker: What was your favorite book
that you've written so far?
Gail Carson Levine: My favorite, I think, of my books is maybe Dave
at Night, because -- how many of you have read Dave at Night?
Great. It's about a boy who's an orphan,
who's sent to an orphanage to live.
And my father was an orphan who was sent to an orphanage to live
and grew up in an orphanage.
And he would never talk about it and it made me very curious.
And so -- and then when I was 38, he died.
And I decided to write a book making up his childhood.
And his name was Dave.
So that's why it's a special book for me.
You know, I do want to mention one other book.
How many of you like to write stories?
Okay, I have a book called Writing Magic.
How many of you have read that book?   Wow. Okay.
That is a book for kids about writing stories.
And if you don't know it, it may give you great comfort.
So -- Child Speaker: Thank you.   Gail Carson Levine: Oh,
there's another line, and I didn't even know.
Yes? Child Speaker: What inspired you to write Ella Enchanted?
Gail Carson Levine: What inspired me to write Ella Enchanted?
I was taking a writing class
and it was the first time I'd taken this particular class,
although I'd taken others.
And I had to write something, and I couldn't think of a story.
And I had just read Beauty by Robin McKinley.
How many of you have read that book?
If you like Ella, you're sure to love Beauty.
I love that book.
It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
So I though maybe I could do a retelling of Cinderella.
And then, when I started to think about Cinderella I didn't like her.
She is so disgustingly sweet and I didn't understand her.
I didn't understand why she was so nice to those horrible stepsisters
and that horrible stepmother.
So, I was in trouble until I came up with the curse of obedience.
And then, I was able to write the book.
So the idea came from Cinderella, and then the Curse
of Obedience came from understanding her.
Because she's not sweet, and she gets revenge whenever she can.
Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: Okay, I'll take two
from this side, since I neglected you.
Yes? Child Speaker: Are you working on a book right now?
Gail Carson Levine: I'm working on a third book in the Disney series.
And it will be called Something and the Quest for Something Else.
[laughter] And I also have a book coming
out from Harper Collins in May called Ever.
And you have to be 10 and up for that one
and it's a Mesopotamian fantasy.   Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: Yes?
Child Speaker: If you could, would you go back
and rewrite a book that you wrote?
Gail Carson Levine: If I could, would I go back
and rewrite a book that I've written?
I'm pretty happy with the books that I've written.
However, I don't generally read them again, but if I read pieces to kids,
I always find things that I wish I could change.
And when I listen to the audio tapes, I always find things
that I wish were different.
And there's a moral to this story, too.
And the moral to this story is there is no such thing as a perfect book.
If you are trying to write a perfect book or a perfect story, forget it.
It cannot be done.
If you went to the Library of Congress and read every book
in there, there would be something wrong with every one.
So what we try to get to is the best I can.
That's what I try to do.   Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: Okay?
Yes? Child Speaker: Who are some of your favorite authors?
Gail Carson Levine: Who are some of my favorite authors?
I have five minutes left.   Oh, the pressure.
There are two young adult books by an author named Joan Abelove,
one is called Go and Come Back
and another is called Saying it Out Loud.
Do any of you know either of those two books?
Well, they are more than worth reading.
Patty McCormick I think is here.
Patty McCormick is a wonderful writer of young adult fiction.
I love -- everything that I've read by Joan Aiken I love.
Let's see who else I love.
Sharon Creech, I think you cannot go wrong with Sharon Creech.
Suzanne Fisher Staples I think is great.
I hope you will all read Peter Pan by James M. Barrie.
As a kid I loved the Anne of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery.
So, those are some, and as soon as I leave I'm going to think
of about 50 more, but that's what I can think of right now.
Yes? Child Speaker: Can I ask two questions?
Gail Carson Levine: No, no.   There are too many.
I'm sorry.   There are too many people waiting.
Child Speaker: How did Rani get to the dragon's cave?
Gail Carson Levine: Okay, how did Rani get to the dragon's cave?
In a balloon carrier.   She got there in a balloon carrier.
So, that's how.   Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: A balloon carrier.
She was in the carrier and it's held up by a balloon.
And it's hard to see on the cover of the book,
but the cover of the book is a balloon carrier.
Yes? Child Speaker: Recently I read Writing Magic,
and I'm wondering how long it took you to write.
Gail Carson Levine: To write Writing Magic?
Child Speaker: Yes.
Gail Carson Levine: I think it took me
about six or nine months to write.
That was one of the easiest books I've ever written.
It just flowed out.
But it flowed out because I'd been teaching kids to write.
I volunteer -- I live in Brewster, New York.
If any of you are here on vacation and live near me,
I teach kids 10 and up every summer.
I volunteer at the Brewster Public Library on Thursday afternoons.
So I got to know what happens, I think.
Have you found it helpful?
Child Speaker: Yes, I've enjoyed it very well, very much.
Gail Carson Levine: Good, thank you.
I think I have an idea of what happens
when kids write and when I write.
So it's all in there, or a lot of it is in there, and there are exercises
that I love, like turn someone you dislike into an animal.
Describe the animal.   Write a story about it.
That's another example.
Yes? Child Speaker: When you wrote Ella Enchanted and it was
about Cinderella, what did you use as the base for the two princesses?
Gail Carson Levine: What did I use as the base for the two princesses?
I tried to use the 12 dancing princesses
and I could not get it right.
It took me two years to write that one.
And it was -- until I wrote Fairest,
it was the hardest book I ever wrote.
And then Fairest won out by a long, long distance.
But anyway, I couldn't get it.
And so it's not any known fairytale, it's an original fairytale,
because it kind of grew into that.   Child Speaker: Thank you.
Gail Carson Levine: Two minutes left.
Okay? Yes?
Child Speaker: How did you come up with the characters for Fairy Dust
and the Quest for the Egg?
Gail Carson Levine: How did I come up with the characters?
Well, I wanted Prilla to be new and sparkly.
So I was thinking new and sparkly when I wrote Prilla.
And I wanted, I wanted to have a character who wasn't
so wonderful, and that's Vidia.
And I had to think about how she could be not so wonderful.
And so, Vidia is totally --
she's a fast flier and all she cares about is flying fast.
And she will kick you out of her way to get to what she wants.
And then, Rani, who's named after my sister, is based on as friend I had
when I was little who was very generous and outgoing.
So that's how I got her.
And Mother Dove came from that picture.
So it depended -- and I get characters from the part
that they have to play in my story.
So, in The Princess and the Pea, I needed a character
who might feel a pea under all those mattresses.
So she's allergic to everything.
Okay, maybe this is the last question, I think.
Yes? Child Speaker: Are there going to be any more stories in the world
of Ella Enchanted and The Two Princesses of Bamarre?
Gail Carson Levine: Are there going
to be any more stories in the world of Ella?
I don't know.
There's going to be nothing with Ella.
But I don't know.
And in Two Princesses, I have a vague idea,
I just haven't gotten back to it.   So, it's possible.
I want to thank you all for coming and for asking me great questions
and laughing in the right places.   [applause] [end of transcript]