Irish writer Cecelia Ahern burst onto the literary scene in 2004 with her debut novel P.S I Love You. The novel went on to be a best seller, remaining at number one for nineteen weeks in Ireland.Ever since this success the young writer has had a string of hit novels including Where Rainbows End, If You Could See Me Know and A Place Called Here.2008 saw the release of the big screen adaptation of P.S I Love You starring Academy Award winner Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. I caught up with Cecelia to discuss her new novel Thanks for The Memories, the success of P.S I Love You and what the future holds.
Your new book is Thanks for the Memories can you tell me a little bit about it
Its about a woman who, after a tragic accident, needs a blood transfusion and she receives this from a male donor. After this they feel this link with one another and starts experiencing some of is lifetime memories, his skills his passions his desires and his knowledge. So she is thanking him for the memories, so in effect he has saved her life really.
You did a degree in Journalism and Media Communications how did you make the jump from that to writing novels?
I knew I never wanted to do print journalism we did creative writing courses and radio courses and film production, so it was a very broad course. And after that I decided that I wanted to do film production so it was somehow developing ideas so it was all related. Then I came up with the idea for P.S I love you and started writing, until them writing had just been a hobby.
So you had no real intentions to be a writer at all?
No no the funny thing is ever since I have been a kid I have been writing diaries and stories and everything all the time. And I would read back over them and go oh what do I want to do with my life? Maybe I could do this or maybe I could do that it never occurred to me once that I was writing everything down all of the time.
So being a writer, when you love doing something it doesnt feel like a job, so I didnt consider writing as a proper job it was just something that I did for myself. It was only when I left school and started writing up my CV and finding my place in the world that I though well why dont I show the world the things that I love to do the most and turn that into a job.
And getting a book deal can be quite a long process a few manuscripts are knocked back before you do land a deal but I believe that it was the complete opposite for you?
It was very fortunate really I found an agent, which is what I thing every author should do because I wouldnt know what to do or who to go to in the industry, so I worked with my agent for a while and when I had written ten chapters she submitted them. They bought it on ten chapters, which is pretty amazing really.
And is it true that it was actually your mother who encouraged you to get it published?
Yeah it was because literally I was staying up all night and sleeping all day writing this book , I wasnt leaving my house, I wasnt doing anything my life had stopped while I was writing this novel. So she was reading it chapter by chapter and was loving it, and I know that mothers are all encouraging, but she really had a great reaction to it and told me to send it to someone and I did.
And how does the writing and idea process work for you?
Well I physically write long hand because I just love writing, its all part of it for me, I just love getting a pen and putting it on paper and writing. Im not one of those nine to five people I dont do a certain word count per day I just write whenever the feeling hits me and thankfully when Im in a story, thats most of the time, it takes over.
Im an all or nothing person so Im quite focused I just throw myself into it and forget to live in the real world (laughs)
Ideas come from many different places really, mostly because Im daydreaming all of the time and constantly living in my head, so everything that I see turns into some sort of story and I just follow this bizarre little path that my mind takes me.
Your novels quite often focus on relationships, particularly family and friends, why do you so often focus on this aspects of your characters lives?
I just like to write about peoples life journeys we meet characters that are facing something difficult and they are just trying to fix themselves and find their way back again. And for me friends and family are so important and relationships that is what life is about and I suppose if you are writing about someones life then you have to write about the people in it that makes them why the way they are.
Over the last couple of years you have been incredibly successful with P.S I Love You, Where Rainbows End and If You Could See me Know how much pressure do you feel under to produce another best seller?
I dont thankfully, this is the great thing that I havent felt since the beginning, I felt more encouraged by everything that has happened and every time something new happens I get more and more excited and I want to come up with more ideas and more ideas come to me in my excitement.
Thankfully its evolving in the right way, maybe in ten years it will hit me (laughs). But no the ideas are still flowing and I dont feel any pressure Im not afraid of failure, of course I dont want to fail, but what would happen if I dont meet a deadline? Well I would just go in and we would have a meeting with my publishers I always thing that you can, not necessarily talk your way out of something, but discuss it with people.
Your debut novel P.S I Love You has been made into a movie how did all that come about?
At the same time I did my publishing deal my agent sent it out to film companies as well and Warner bros came back and were interested in it. Im just a writer my agent does all the magic stuff, deals and things, its just incredible.
And what did you think when you read director Richard LaGraveneses screenplay?
I absolutely loved it actually. I was fine not being involved because at that stage I had just written the book and I was trying to understand the publishing world never mind stepping into something that was bigger than that, and it was the right time of me to be doing that.
I just loved somebody else interpretation of my story. I very much saw the book as my baby and the film was his and I thought he did a fantastic job he captured the whole heart if the book, to me that was the most important thing not where it was set or who played who but that he captured the message of the novel
But were there any aspects if the novel you wish he hadnt changed?
No because what had changed is they took it out of Ireland, it's set half in New York half in Ireland, but I was happy that they went to Ireland at all because I thought that they wouldn't, so that was a bonus.
They introduced a new character called , William, which is in the book anyway, but he represents the character in the book they just made him bigger, which is fine, and they changed the personality of Daniel, who is hilarious, he's a very different character but I thought that it worked.
He did it all for reasons you can't put a book as it is on the screen. I suppose what I did miss actually was the big family because I loved her brothers and those relationships but there were too many stories to put in a film so I understand why he did that.
And what did you think of the cast, in particular Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler?
Amazing. Hilary Swank is actually one of my favourite actresses of all time, and I'm not just saying that, but when they run a few names pass me that were possible I just jumped at her name, immediately I was like 'oh please her' because I absolutely love her.
And Gerard Butler it as scary when I met him because he looked just like I imagined the character to be it was like seeing a ghost, so he must have thought I was a stalker because I kept staring at him. And when I met them I just kept thinking of them as Holly and Jerry, as the characters, and it was so bizarre for me that people that I had created from nothing were walking around, talking, breathing and saying words that I had said I found it all very surreal.
I read that you were on set in Ireland how was that?
It was brilliant, I went to New York as well on set which was great, but I really enjoyed it. I found it really bizarre actually just seeing all those hundreds of crew members and extras and the cast just from an idea that I had had at the kitchen table and I found that from that one little idea can turn into an absolute dream, the little child in me was jumping up and down.
If You Could See Me Know is also getting the big screen treatment is that true?
Yeah well they have all been adapted now If You Could See Me Know and Where Rainbows End have been bought by Gold Circle and my fourth novel A Place Called Here has bee bought by Touchstone for a TV drama. So all those are in the pipeline, If You Could See Me Know is in the process of hiring a writer.
And finally what is next for you?
I'm working on my sixth novel, which will be out at Christmas time, and I have got more television ideas to work on. I have more Samantha Who?, which stars Christina Applegate, so I'm constantly working on that, it's a half hour comedy for ABC.
Cecelia Ahern's new novel Thanks For The Memories is out now. P.S I Love You is released on DVD 12 May.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Cecelia Ahern