Writing in Public: Layne Fargo on why ice dance and Wuthering Heights are the perfect pair
Plus Brontë Easter eggs, literary revenge, and the ice dancers you need to watch if you loved The Favorites
When I was sixteen years old I moved to Colorado Springs to train with my ice dance partner. I had never harbored ambitions of being an Olympian or international competitor, but circumstances led me to this point, and all of a sudden I found myself training alongside some of the best skaters in the country: Ryan Bradley, Ryan Jahnke, Maia and Alex Shibutani (Maia’s head barely reached above the boards at this point), Piper Gilles, Rachel Flatt, and more. I was only in this intense environment for about a year and then my partner and I parted ways. After that split, I endured a series of unsuccessful partner tryouts (a story for another day) before hanging up my skates and starting my freshman year of college.
When I was going through my tryout year season, I kept thinking about what a great reality television show the whole thing would make. The experience is intensely dramatic: dozens of girls vying to partner up with the handful of currently partnerless male skaters; backroom dealings between coaches; parents offering young men apartments, cars, and salaries to skate with their daughters. Then of course there’s the drama between pairs already partnered and training. Everyone at the elite levels of skating knows that playing up the “are they dating?” question gets attention, and attention matters in a sport that’s so subjectively scored. The whole scene is festering with drama.
But not only has no reality show ever been created, but there’s been very little entertainment at all that’s captured the wild world of competitive ice dancing. So when I heard about Layne Fargo’s The Favorites all the way back in the summer of 2024, I was more than a little intrigued. I mean, this book is a Wuthering Heights reimagining set in the world of elite ice dancing—that basically sounds factory made in a lab for me. And I knew that if someone was clued in enough to know that the over-the-top melodrama of WH is compatible with the sport of figure skating, this story was in good hands. Sure enough, The Favorites is juicy, dramatic, campy at times, and also seriously invested in rendering the absurd world of this sport in writing.
I had so much fun reading The Favorites and as the fervor around the book increased approaching its publication last week, I reached out to Layne Fargo to see if she’d be willing to answer a few questions about her book. I needed to know how she learned so much about ice dancing as a non-skater herself and how she came up with this just-crazy-enough-to-work idea. I loved getting to chat with Layne about our favorite skaters, the programs we swoon over, the insanity of the Colorado Springs skating scene, and how readers who think her book is over-the-top don’t know the half of it! (Don’t believe me? Read this.)
I’m so excited to share this spoiler-free interview with you. I’m particularly thrilled that Layne graciously shared and linked to some great skating programs to watch if you can’t get enough of Shaw and Rocha. Enjoy!!
Sara Hildreth: Can you give readers a brief summary of The Favorites for those who haven't read it yet?
Layne Fargo: A modern retelling of Wuthering Heights about the toxic, decades-spanning romance between a pair of hot mess ice dancers.
I picked up Wuthering Heights, which I hadn’t read since high school, hoping to find some inspiration for the Gothic book, and instead I thought: what about a Wuthering Heights retelling with ice dancers? Then I thought I’d lost my mind (this was deep into the pandemic FYI, when we were all feeling a little unhinged!) -Layne Fargo
SH: Can you share your initial inspiration for the novel? How and at what point in the writing process did Wuthering Heights come into The Favorites?
LF: The Favorites came out of two other failed projects: a Gothic romance and a thriller about rival ice dance teams. I kept bouncing back and forth between the two, desperately trying to make them work but they just… didn’t. I picked up Wuthering Heights, which I hadn’t read since high school, hoping to find some inspiration for the Gothic book, and instead I thought: what about a Wuthering Heights retelling with ice dancers? Then I thought I’d lost my mind (this was deep into the pandemic FYI, when we were all feeling a little unhinged!), but my critique partner assured me it was a good idea. So I went for it and quickly found that mashing up Wuthering Heights and figure skating worked better than I could have imagined.
Sara’s note: When I heard about this premise I immediately knew it was genius because of partner swapping. The world of ice dancing is full of messy breakups and new partnerships and so is the Gothic tale of Wuthering Heights.
SH: What are some of your favorite nods to WH and the Brontës that appear in your novel?
LF: Pretty much all the character names are Brontë Easter eggs. Jane Currer = Jane Eyre + Charlotte Brontë’s pen name Currer Bell. Inez Acton = Agnes Gray (Inez is the Spanish version of Agnes) + Anne Brontë’s pen name Acton Bell. And of course Ellis Dean is Nelly Dean from Wuthering Heights + Emily Brontë’s pen name Ellis Bell!
I can’t get too specific about this one because it’s a spoiler, but there’s a character whose last name came from a real-life person who said some not so nice things about Emily Brontë back in the day — so giving their surname to this particular character is my petty literary revenge.
SH: You do an incredible job of building the world of elite figure skating. How did you go about researching everything you needed to know about ice dancing? I’m interested in everything from where you learned about moving up levels and local competitions to what brackets and choctaws are to what it's like to be an elite competitor in the sport.
LF: Since I wrote the book primarily during COVID lockdown, almost all of my research was online or from reading books, especially memoirs by skaters. I have a library science background and absolutely love to research — like it’s hard for me to stop researching and actually write the damn book. All the old issues of U.S. Figure Skating’s official magazine have been scanned and are freely available online, which was a treasure trove. The articles were useful, but so were the cheesy 90s and early 2000s-era ads!
SH: My favorite sections of the book were the documentary transcripts. You nailed so many different voices in these sections! Which characters were the most fun to write?
LF: Ellis and Inez were the most fun, because I got to bring in my snarky, queer, extremely online perspective on Kat and Heath’s often tragically heterosexual life choices. The true fun was in creating the contrast between characters, though — contrast in their perspectives about the events covered in the documentary, and also contrast in their voices. I have a playwriting background, and establishing distinctive characters through dialogue alone is such a fun challenge. It was such a dream to have those parts of the book brought to life by a full cast of talented performers too — including actual Olympian Johnny Weir as Ellis!
Ellis and Inez were the most fun, because I got to bring in my snarky, queer, extremely online perspective on Kat and Heath’s often tragically heterosexual life choices. -Layne Fargo
SH: For readers who want to go down an ice dance rabbit hole after reading your book, can you share some of your favorite programs or skaters they can look up on YouTube?
LF: I always tell people to start with the gold-medal-winning iconic ice dance classics: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s ”Bolero” from the 1984 Olympics, and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s Moulin Rouge! program from the 2018 Olympics.
Some other programs that have major Shaw & Rocha energy include Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue’s “Caught Out in the Rain” free dance, Virtue & Moir’s “Say It Right” exhibition program, and this ultra-dramatic program about a toxic relationship by Lorraine McNamara and Anton Spiridonov.
And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s gorgeous Wuthering Heights program from the 2023-2024 season. My jaw dropped when I found out they were doing a WH-themed free dance, I was yelling at the TV like, SEE Wuthering Heights and ice dance DO go together!!
Sara’s note: I echo all of these suggestions and have a few to add: Virtue and Moir’s “Perfect” exhibition program in which they look utterly in love; Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje’s “Je Suis Malade” for the dress alone (that off-the-shoulder detail is to die for!); and this interview with Hubbell and Donohue that is extremely Shaw and Rocha.
SH: Is there anything you’d like to share about The Favorites that you haven’t gotten to yet or any question that you wish someone would ask you, but no one has yet? [Very vague spoiler ahead.]
LF: Again don’t want to get into spoiler territory, but I’ve been genuinely surprised by how many people are upset about the book’s ending, which is by far the happiest, most wholesome ending I’ve ever written (and maybe ever will write…). I considered a lot of different conclusions for the book, but only this one felt authentic for these particular characters and their eternally messy interpersonal dynamics. As an author I take it as a huge compliment, though, that readers have such strong feelings about these characters and how they wanted them to end up!
SH: Do you have any book recommendations for FictionMatters readers?
LF: If you enjoyed The Favorites, I think you’ll also love the novels Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli, Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura, and Dances by Nicole Cuffy. Also figure skater Gracie Gold’s gutsy memoir #Outofshapeworthlessloser is a must-read! I wish I’d had it when I was writing The Favorites, she really takes the skating world to task in a way that would make Katarina Shaw incredibly proud.
You can find The Favorites on Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and your favorite independent bookstore. You find out more about Layne’s work on her website and by following her on Instagram.
FictionMatters is a home for avid reader of literary fiction looking for great book recommendations alongside thoughtful and scholarly explorations of the reading life. If you’re looking for weekly recommendations for books that matter, consider subscribing today!
For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!
This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!
Happy reading!
Sara
What a wonderful enhancement to the reading experience! Thank you, Sara! The only thing missing is a video of you ice dancing. (Maybe someday we’ll get to see you skating?)
Loved this book so much, I did it on audio and it was just so fun. A perfect escape that was needed during January.