Marianne Levy
About Author
Before she started writing books, Marianne was an actress. Not the incredibly famous sort, though.
After graduating from Cambridge University she appeared in a few TV shows and did a bit of comedy on Radio 4. She has been in one film, in which she managed to forget both her lines.
Since then, Marianne has written for The Story of Tracy Beaker, introduced America's Next Top Model and been the voice of a yogurt.
She lives in London, and spends her spare time eating cheese and hassling other people's dogs.
Author link
http://www.mariannelevy.com/Marianne_Levy/Home.html
Interview
ELLIE MAY CAN DEFINITELY BE TRUSTED TO KEEP A SECRET
JELLY PIE
AUGUST 2013
The very famous child actress Ellie May is back in this glorious, glamorous tale of secrets, stardom and friendship. When Ellie May finds herself staying at a hotel with the fabulously famous star, Kiko, she struggles to keep it a secret! Chaos ensues as Ellie's abilities to keep a secret - or not - test her new friendships to their limit.
Author Marianne Levy, herself a trained actress, tells us more about what inspired the Ellie May books. See also Ellie May Would Like to be Taken Seriously for a Change and Ellie May is Totally Happy to Share her Place in the Spotlight.
Q: Is Ellie May based on anyone you know?
A: Ellie May is fun and confident, someone who doesn't ever think of the consequences of what she does, and she's also a bit of a show-off....
I'm afraid to say she does remind me a little of myself as a child because I always wanted to be a famous actress, so she is what I wanted to be when I was a child. I acted in every school play and went to as many auditions as I could find my way into. Then when I grew up I became an actor for ten years - but I was never very good and I never became famous.
As a child I would have loved to have been famous and the centre of attention. Now when I go into schools they ask if I am a famous writer and I feel I am when I am a school, although it only lasts for an hour and it never happens at home....
Q: Have you ever had a famous moment?
A: One of my most amazing moments was going to the Get London Reading event this summer. I did a reading from my book, just before Rupert Everett did his reading! I do really like all the showing off side of being a writer and being in front of an audience and getting children excited about reading.
Q: How do you approach 'celebrity culture' in your books?
A: When I go into schools it's all about instant celebrity; I find that children all want to win the X Factor or Britain's Got Talent. It makes me sad that children think that 'following their dream' means they will become instantly famous and that that will solve all their problems.
In my books, Ellie May is already famous but readers can see that it doesn't solve all her problems; she's still human. But the cult of celebrity is huge and when I ask young people, 'what would you like to be in your wildest dreams?', it's not to be an actor or a singer, but a famous actress or singer. So I write about being famous but I hope that readers don't get to the end of the books and think Ellie May's life is perfect because she's a celebrity.
I also think that the way to deal with things like how young people feel about celebrities isn't to ignore it, but to explore it. I wanted to write a book that children would be interested in and excited about but that also had good morals. In the first book, Ellie May's fame is counteracted by a character who is trying to protect a nature reserve and is more interested in looking after worms and climbing trees than in stardom.
But I should probably add that I'm also the kind of person who likes buying nice clothes and reading magazines - and I'm not ashamed of it!
Q: This story is all about whether or not Ellie May can keep a secret - can you?
A: Keep a secret? I'm hopeless at keeping secrets! I once had dinner with a few old friends and at some point in the conversation I had a terrible urge to spill the beans on an old secret I'd been told, so I can understand this terrible urge to share a secret even though you know no good will come of it - and you'd be mad if any of your friends shared your secrets!
But I also think that people shouldn't share their secrets. I don't think it is entirely the fault of the person who tells the secret. You have to be careful who you tell your secrets to in the first place.
Q: Do you have a favourite Ellie May story?
A: I like all three Ellie May books differently. The first book is a favourite because it was the first to be published although I felt that I had done a better job with the second book and I thought the illustrations were great. I love the way that Ali has illustrated the books, she's got the spark of fashion and sweetness of Ellie May just right. I think the third book has the best plot, though.
Q: Are you writing another story about Ellie May?
A: I'm not writing a new Ellie May book at the moment, I'm writing a book for teenagers and something else for junior readers.
I enjoy writing junior fiction but it's an age where children are often more sophisticated than their reading age. So while you're writing for a fairly sophisticated child, you have to write in a way that will keep them engaged and is right for that age. When I get it right, I love it.
It's odd to be writing something that isn't about Ellie May. It's also a lot longer I now have to write 50,000 words and I have no idea how people turn out 100,000 word blockbusters....
Q: Do you plot all your stories before you start to write them?
A: Yes I do, I plot and plot my stories before I start to write. I know a lot of writers plot their stories as they write them and Enid Blyton never knew how her stories would end. I tried to do that when I started out and my writing was okay but it wasn't great. It might take a couple of months to get it right, and it's boring doing it, but I know my writing is better when I plot the story in advance.
Q: What are the best and worst things about being a writer?
A: The best thing is the sense that you can finish a book and be proud of it, like this Ellie May story. When a book goes out into the world on its own, it feels a little magical. I got a letter from a girl in Morocco who had read one of my books and I thought, I have never been to Morocco but Ellie May has!.
The downside is that it's really difficult. I have this sense that I have to just write as much as I can and I feel guilty if I spend time doing other things like twitter....
Q: What else do you do?
A: I am writing full time although I sometimes do copy writing and I write a bit for the press and magazines, as well as short stories for magazines, and I do occasional voice-over work. It's not easy to make a living out of writing for children but I'm not one of those people who can balance four jobs and five children and write between between 4am and 6am!
Q: Where do you write?
A: I usually write in my study at home but it can get very lonely so sometimes I go to my friend's house and he writes his book in one room and I write my book in another room, or even to my husband's office! I write 9am to 6pm but not at the weekends.
Q: What's your favourite place to escape to?
A: The place I like to visit most is Japan, where I've just been for my honeymoon. I've been there a few times and I love Tokyo. Normally when you travel you have things like the internet and television to connect you with the world you already know; never really feel like you've got away from home. But in Tokyo you can travel for five hours and you won't understand a thing and you don't see any westerners either. Ellie May would love it!
ELLIE MAY WOULD LIKE TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY FOR A CHANGE
JELLY PIE
AUGUST 2012
Ellie May is a child actor and famous beyond belief, as well as very rich and well known in fashion circles. But Ellie May decides this is not enough, she wants to be taken seriously, and so she looks for a proper cause to believe in, so that people don't think all she is interested in is shoes, handbags and the latest fashion. However, finding the right cause is harder than she thinks it will be and doing the right thing is harder still....
Author Marianne Levy, who has also worked as a actress (including playing the voice of a yoghurt...) talks about her new book, Ellie May Would Like to be Taken Seriously for a Change (published by Egmont Books).
Q: What do you like most about Ellie May?
A: She turned up in my head pretty much exactly as she is now! It's strange, really, I seem to know everything about her already, how she speaks and what she'll do. I think it's probably because there's quite a lot of me in her, and that includes some of her bad qualities as well as the good ones.
I think my favourite thing about Ellie May, and the one that's most fun to write, is just her huge enthusiasm for life. I love putting her in a situation and watching as she hurtles, very cheerfully, into a total and absolute disaster.
Q: Why did you decide to make her a celebrity?
A: I had Ellie May's character before I knew she would be famous. I knew I wanted her to be flawed and fun and energetic. And I wanted her to be some kind of VIP so that she'd have the power to make big things happen.
At first I thought she might be a princess, and then I remembered the Princess Diaries. My next thought was, 'how about a film star?' and the very second I'd come up with that I knew I had a book.
Q: Does Ellie May show that being a celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be?
A: Well, the book is, on the surface, about celebrity, but I suppose the message is more general; that life is difficult and complicated for everyone.
It's so easy to think, 'if I were just famous / rich / popular / pretty / whatever then everything would be perfect'. And of course, those things do change the day to day nature of your life, but underneath you're still human, and everyone has problems.
They may be slightly different problems from the ones you have now, but they stem from the same causes; friendship, ambition, fear, love, jealousy and so on.
Q: What offends you the most about the cult of celebrities?
Actually, I'm not too bothered about it, in and as of itself. Humans are social creatures, we're all fascinated by other people's lives, and my feeling is that being interested in Mollie from The Saturdays isn't so different from hearing news about the weird family across the road.
My worry is more that people seem to see the idea of being a celebrity as something to aspire to on its own, as though just being famous can make you happy. Why would it?
There may be an initial thrill, but what's fulfilling about being recognised? I can see the attraction in wanting to be an amazing actor / footballer / singer / politician, but just wanting to be famous for fame's sake seems terribly sad, and a real waste.
Q: Did you feel you needed to research celebrity magazines for this book?
A: I'm not really one for magazines beyond the ones that come with the Independent and the Guardian, but even there, you can see that fascination with celebrities creeping into all sorts of things.
I had a chat with someone who'd edited a celebrity magazine, and spoke to a couple of famous people, too, which helped me get a sense of what it is like to be in the public eye.
Q: Why did you choose saving a nature research as Ellie May's cause? Are you a fan of slugs and stinging nettles?
A: I wanted Ellie May's cause to be as far away from her glossy world as possible, and so a nature reserve seemed like a good choice, as it came with mud and worms and insects. The character of Lettice is partly based on my little sister. When we were small she was always grubbing around with snails and slugs at the bottom of the garden.
Q: If you were as famous as Ellie May, what would your cause be?
Golly, there's a big question. I remember a while ago, I made a new year's resolution to support a charity and had a look round at some of the biggest ones on the internet.
There are a million deserving causes out there, and I found choosing between them horribly, heartbreakingly hard. On a related note, I know lots of people sneer at celebrities when they use their fame to help charities, but I don't.
Q: And what would be your biggest treat?
A: A little house somewhere warm and sunny, on a hillside, surrounded by fields and flowers. And a way to get myself there.
Q: As well as exploring things like friendship and the environment, Ellie May is also very funny - how important is comedy in writing for children, do you think there are enough funny books out there?
A: No, I don't! There are a lot more than there were a few years ago... but you can't ever have enough funny books. It's strange, because when it comes to TV and films for kids, almost everything is funny, but somehow, this isn't the case in children's books.
I don't see why books have to be serious (which is not to say that they shouldn't be, there are loads of incredible serious books). I just really like funny books and I always have, so as far as I'm concerned, the more there are, the better.
I'd also say that many kids find reading difficult and intimidating, and using comedy is a good way to get past those barriers.
Q: What next for Ellie May?
A: I'm just finishing up the second book, 'Ellie May Is Totally Happy To Share Her Place In The Spotlight'. We're going to see Ellie May making a Hollywood movie.
She'll be starring alongside a beautiful girl called Fleur. But Ellie May likes to be the centre of attention, and when everyone starts getting excited about Fleur's performance, let's just say that Ellie May doesn't handle it very well....
Q: How does your writing day go?
A: I'm lucky enough that I can spend a fair proportion of my day writing, and so the challenge is to keep disciplined. I try to write in office hours and give myself evenings and weekends off while I still can, because I know that one day I might not be able to any more.
So my working day mainly involves sitting at my desk with my enormous cat sprawled asleep in front of me, wrestling with tricky bits of plot.
When I want a treat, I have a couple of friends with dogs, and so we'll go for a romp around Hampstead Heath. I'd like to say it helps with my writing, but I don't think it does, especially. Waiting for inspiration doesn't seem to work for me, I just have to spend hour after hour, day after day at my desk, and eventually I'll have a book.
Q: What do you do to relax?
A: My friends and I have a cheese club; once every few weeks we'll meet and do terrible things to some very smelly cheeses. Otherwise, I like to travel to interesting places, read, watch stand up comedy and sitcoms, go for long walks in the countryside and eat lots and lots and lots of food.
Q: Any tips for budding writers?
A: Write the sort of book you like to read.
It took me years to realise this, and I wish I'd thought of it sooner. I think people often write the sort of books they think other people want. Maybe that works, maybe it doesn't. But I believe you're most likely to write the book that you're happiest with and that is truest to your voice if you're working within the genre you love best.
