Hello!
It’s blog tour day! Today is my stop on the blog tour for the brilliant Rebel With a Cupcake. I can’t tell you how excited I was when the email dropped in my inbox. Anna kindly took the time to answer some questions for this Q&A post, I hope you enjoy reading them. I highly recommend giving the book a read, too. I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end!
Happy reading!
1) Can you tell us a little bit about Rebel With a Cupcake for those who aren’t familiar with it?
Rebel with a Cupcake is about a sixteen year old girl called Jess who is confident and loves to cook for her friends and family as a way of showing that she cares for them. However, a wardrobe malfunction one Own Clothes Day leads a confrontation with a bully, setting off a chain of events involving going viral and having to face her deeply hidden insecurities.
2) Where did the inspiration for the book come from?
I’ve been a teacher at a girls’ school for many years. On Own Clothes Days I often ending up with a crying child who felt that they were wearing the wrong thing or that they didn’t look ‘right’. That and a writing exercise I did on my MA in Creative Writing was the start of Jess. I then wrote a very, very rough draft as a Nanowrimo project in 2011. A few years and seventeen re-writes later – ‘Rebel with a Cupcake’ was born.
3) This book deals with themes such as fat shaming and dieting. Did you do any research before writing it?
It’s a topic close to my heart. I read up on blogs and articles on the topic just as a matter of course. Unconscious ‘fat shaming’ seems very normal in our society and it’s something I experience a lot. I feel that being confident in your own body is such a precious thing but in my experience, it’s something that needs to be worked on and it takes a while to get there when you live in the society which we do.
4) Do you have a favourite character and why?
So many – I do love Gran and I love her hidden stories. I had the most funny writing the Lauren scenes. But Jess is the child of my heart!
5) What was your writing process for Rebel With a Cupcake like, did it differ from the process for Tulip Taylor?
Rebel is in fact my first novel, it’s just it was published abroad before it was published under this title in the UK. My writing process for Rebel was more intuitive. I had no idea where it was going and had to re-write the second half twice in the process of re-drafting for the US version. With Tulip, I had a much clearer idea of the plot and where it was going which meant there were five drafts not seventeen.
6) Now for some fan casting. If you could, who would you choose to play the lead roles in a movie adaptation of Rebel With a Cupcake?
Beanie Feldstein would be an amazing Jess! Gran could be Maggie Smith – now that would be incredible. I’d love Lena Headey to be Mum. Dad should really be Shaun Rider or Liam Gallagher. Alex has to be Rupert Grint of course (or a slightly younger model of him). For Matt, I suppose Harry Styles might do…
7) What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Wakenhurst by Michelle Paver. I love her writing and sometimes a girl needs a good gothic tale.
8) Can you tell us anything about your next project?
I have so many ideas! I’ve a rough version of YA project about a girl who is having a mid teen crisis but I’m taking some time off from that. Currently, I’m losing myself in a middle grade project which I like to describe as a cross between ‘The Durrells’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.
Author Information:
Anna Mainwaring read ‘The Lord of the Rings’ at the age of seven and hasn’t stop reading since. After studying English at university, she took the bizarre decision to follow a career in corporate banking. This made her sad so she left, went travelling and trained to be a teacher. When not teaching, writing or hiding from her children in the study, Anna can be found in bookshops, cafes or walking slowly up big hills.
Author Links:
Website: https://annamainwaringauthor.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anna_Mainwaring
Fantastic Book Dragon 
This is such an insightful Q & A!
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This was so much fun to read – I love reading author interviews!
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