InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "So you sacrifice everything?"

Cece (ceciliaw) wrote,
@ 2008-01-03 23:48:00

www.ceciliawarren.com/thegingerblog

Let Them Eat Cupcake!
By: Jennifer Knoff

Six years after publishing her first novel, Gingerbread, the story of Cyd Charisse and her wild ride through adolescence, Cecilia Warren is getting ready to publish the third and last book in the series. “It’s a really weird feeling,” She says. “Even though I’ve written two other non CC related books in the time between Gingerbread and now, I feel so attached to the characters in these books. They were my first. Cyd Charisse was my first.” Along with the second book in the Cyd Charisse series titled Shrimp, Cecilia has also written The Steps and Pop Princess, both of which have received rave reviews from both critics and fans. The newest installment of the series, Cupcake, is due out in early 2008 but Teenreads.com sat down now with Cecilia for a few Q & A's.

Teenreads.com: So why did you decide that Cupcake would be the last in the series?

Cecilia:Cyd is all grown up now. She's gone through high school drama and college drama too and I feel like she's ready to be off in the world on her own. I've written all I can for her. Maybe in the future the mood will strike me and I'll write some more but I don't see that happening for a long time, if at all. Sorry fans!

TR:What or who was your inspiration in writing Gingerbread?

C:Oh god. Um. I think part of her came from me and my childhood but a lot was just something I came up with. The culture in the book was what I saw when I was growing up in San Francisco. And, this is just an aside; people really don't call it Frisco. I used to see the surfers and the runners when I would go to the beach. Java was based on the coffee shop I used to go to when I was writing the book. But Cyd is not based on me. She is a representation of California as I saw it. The only think we really have in common is that some friends do call me CC.

TR:What can your readers expect to see in the last book?

C:What I did, or at least tried to do in my mind, was wrap up the entire storyline. I tied up all the loose ends and made sure that any questions or cliff hangers that I had left with the previous stories were answered. I also threw in a lot of fun new stuff, characters, situations, things like that, into the mix.

TR:You recently started a blog, is that right? Tell us about that.

C:Yea I did. Its not the first one I’ve had but this is the first one for my fans to read. I’ve put news and stuff like that on my website but I’ve never really done a “blog”. It’s called The Gingerblog. Get it? It’s a play on the book title but it could also refer to my red hair. I thought it was pretty clever. I’m hopefully planning to update it every one to two weeks the key word there being hopefully!

TR: Will fans be able to send in questions and things like that for you to answer?

C:Oh, of course! I actually love to hear from fans of the books. I do have an FAQ kind of section on my website that answers a few different questions that I get asked a lot but I’m kind of looking forward to being able to answer some more individual questions on the blog.

TR:Speaking of questions, we had announced that we would be doing this interview on the front page of the site and asked out readers to send in some questions for you. Would you mind answering a few?

C:Sure! No problem. Ask away.

TR:Okay, here we go. This one is from Sidney in Oregon. Cecilia, do you think Gingerbread will ever be made into a movie? I would love to see Cyd on the big screen!

C:Well Sidney, the short answer is no. I have gotten offers from producers but it takes a lot of time to turn a book into a movie. I haven’t said yes to any because I’m not ready for that just yet. Maybe sometime in the way distant future I’ll reconsider but as of now, I don’t see it happening.

TR:This next one of from Julia in Connecticut. I really love all of your books, Cecilia! You are my favorite author of all time. Are you working on any other books right now? And if you are, when are they coming out? I want to be the first in line for it!

C:First off, thank you Julia! I’m always glad to hear that someone likes my books. To answer your question, I’m not actively working on anything right now. I do have a few things started but nothing that will be coming out soon. Sorry! The only thing I have coming out is Cupcake in early 2008. You can be the first in line for that one!

TR:Next is Gina from Montana. I would love to be a writer and I have a bunch of stories written already. Is there any way I could send you one or two to get some feedback? I love your writing and really respect your work!

C: Thank you for thinking of me Gina and this is actually one of the questions I get at a lot at the website. I really would love to read your work, honestly I would. But I wouldn’t be able to read everyone elses work too and I don’t want to read one persons story and not another. It wouldn’t be fair. Thank you again for thinking of me but I can’t, sorry! But I can point you in the direction of some great websites where you can have other people read your stuff! They’re all listed in the FAQ on my website.

TR:This is from Samantha in Alaska. Cecilia, I just love the Gingerbread searies! I have some drawings that I’ve done of Cyd Charisse and all the other characters that I would love to send to you. How can I do that?

C:Wow, Alaska! Well Samantha, if you have a scanner or way of getting them onto the computer you can always e-mail them to my site. The address is ccwarren@ceciliawarren.com. If not then my mailing address is also on the site. I would really love to see them either way! Just don’t spend too much on postage from Alaska!

TR:Next is Kelly from Nebraska. I love all of your books including Gingerbread but I was wondering if there would be any sequels to your other books?

C:Well Pop Princess was written as a stand alone so that’s a no on a sequel to that one. But I am planning on writing a sequel to The Steps. I am not working on it at the moment but some plot notes are scribbled down on papers all over my desk. I can’t give you a date on it though, just that there will be one.

TR: Okay! Well that’s all we have for now. Thank you so much for sitting down with us Cecilia and good luck with Cupcake and all of your future work. We would love to have you back again in the future so keep us in mind when your doing your promo work!

C:I definitely will! Thank you so much for having me, I had a great time.

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