Gail Carson Levine
Gail Carson Levine
Gail Carson Levineis an American author of young adult books. Her first novel, Ella Enchanted, received a Newbery Honor in 1998...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth17 September 1947
CountryUnited States of America
david experience husband interest led lyrics music produced theater wrote
My interest in the theater led me to my first writing experience as an adult. My husband David wrote the music and lyrics and I wrote the book for a children's musical, 'Spacenapped' that was produced by a neighborhood theater in Brooklyn.
bunch direct earlier enjoy experience helping job life might people somewhere thinking today work
Most of my job life has had to do with welfare, first helping people find work and then as an administrator. The earlier experience was more direct and satisfying, and I enjoy thinking that a bunch of people somewhere are doing better today than they might have done if not for me.
closer grew vivid
I have a very vivid memory of the way my parents spoke, and the 50's that I grew up in are closer to the 20's, I think, than today in many, many ways.
cinderella decided realized ten
I had to write something and couldn't think of a plot, so I decided to write a Cinderella story because it already had a plot! Then, when I thought about Cinderella's character, I realized that she was too much of a goody-two-shoes for me, and I would hate her before I finished ten pages.
anthology charter elementary grew high member poems poetry published scrabble york
I grew up in New York City. In elementary school, I was a charter member of the Scribble Scrabble Club, and in high school, my poems were published in an anthology of student poetry.
drew happier hardest
I found that I was much more interested in writing and that I didn't like the illustrating at all. I had always been the hardest on myself when I drew and painted. I am not hard on myself when I write. I like what I write, so it is a much happier process.
applaud children encourage flights spelling stand
Encourage children to write their own stories, and then don't rain on their parade. Don't say, 'That's not true.' Applaud flights of fantasy. Help with spelling and grammar, but stand up and cheer the use of imagination.
kids
Sometimes the kids come up with better endings than the real story.
good ideas respect stupid
My good ideas are shy. But if they see that I treat the stupid ideas with respect, they come forward.
authors liked safe seem
Most of the authors I liked were dead, so it didn't seem like a safe occupation.
It feels presumptuous to think of writing for adults.
child kids learn stories time
If a big person invests time in reading, kids learn reading is important, the child is important, words are important, stories are important.
Ideas sometimes come from nowhere, and sometimes they take lots of thinking.
wrote
I wrote as a kid, but I never wanted to be a writer, particularly. I had been drawing and painting for years and loved that.