We chat with author Maggie Horne about Freddie and Stella Got Hot, which is a sassy and sapphic YA rom-com all about getting revenge and falling in love.
Hi, Maggie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m Maggie, and I write books about weird, gay kids and teens. I’m Canadian, but live in the UK with my wife and a small collection of kids, dogs, and rabbits. My hobbies include gazing adoringly at everyone I just mentioned, watching the worst reality TV humanity can produce, and reading books about Gross Women.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was hyperlexic as a kid, so when I was really little my parents’ party trick was getting me to read birthday cards to freak the other parents out. But when I started kindergarten, our school librarian read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and that was the first time I remember thinking about the way words went together that really made my brain start firing.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone
- The one that made you want to become an author: Chrysanthemum again! I have a Chrysanthemum tattoo so I feel especially qualified to shout about it
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Right now, The Compound by Aisling Rawle
Your latest novel, Freddie and Stella Got Hot, is out January 27th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Mean girls are actually sad!
What can readers expect?
Basically: A lot of chaos, girls being unmitigated terrors to each other, lesbian yearning, a lot of almost-kisses, and property damage.
Freddie and Stella Got Hot is a revenge rom-com (have we come up with a snappy name for that, yet?) about Freddie and Stella plotting to take down their former best friend Levi, who abandoned them when they started high school to ascend as their private school’s it girl. But Stella’s plan to rob Levi of the scholarship she’s been hoping to win since middle school quickly goes off the rails, and Freddie realizes she needs Levi’s help to stop her before she takes it any further.
Where did the inspiration for Freddie and Stella Got Hot come from?
I really wanted to put my own spin on a classic teen movie – Mean Girls, Heathers, and newer ones like Bottoms and Do Revenge were the main ones spinning around in my head – and stuff it full of queer girls, basically! A lot of the time, a relationship or character arc comes to me first, and I create the plot around it. I liked the idea of a love triangle being told from the point of view of one of the branches, not the center of it. Freddie and Stella both had feelings for Levi, and it impacted all of their relationships in different ways. Getting to put that dynamic onto a more out-there, wild revenge story was a ton of fun.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I enjoyed writing a lot of this one, but I always especially love writing romance – and since the international sport of lesbianism is pining, that’s always my favorite part. Any of the moments where Freddie and Levi have a chance to speak privately were the most fun, since they both had a lot of really intense feelings that came out in a lot of different ways. My favorite was probably a moment between the two of them that involves Freddie’s kitchen island.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Honestly, the biggest challenge for me while writing anything is the fact that my life has a tendency to get really busy as soon as I’m on deadline! Between getting the offer for this book and now, I’ve moved twice, bought a house, started a new job, and my oldest started school. Finding the time (and some days, honestly, the motivation) to sit down and write while all of that was going on was tough at times, which is why there’s a very big, soppy chunk of my acknowledgements dedicated to talking about how grateful I am for everything my wife does to keep me and our kids alive when I’m on deadline. (Love you, bug!)
What’s next for you?
I can’t talk too much about anything concretely right now, but my goals for this year are to write as much as I can – some of it similar to Freddie and Stella, some of it VERY different!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
Rebecca Barrow’s first novel-in-verse, Doe, is out in June and I can’t wait to finally see it on my shelf! I was also a massive iCarly fan when I was younger, so I’m really excited about Jennette McCurdy’s fiction debut, Half His Age.
