Layne Fargo, author of They Never Learn, returns with The Favourites, a gripping novel that reimagines Wuthering Heights in the high-stakes world of competitive figure skating. Inspired by Emily Brontë’s tempestuous classic, Fargo’s novel follows Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha – skating partners and childhood sweethearts whose fiery connection leads to both triumph and tragedy. In this article, Fargo shares how rediscovering Wuthering Heights reignited her passion for writing, helping her embrace creativity over perfectionism. The Favourites is a thrilling exploration of ambition, love, and legacy – one that Fargo hopes readers will enjoy as much as she loved writing it.
“Scholars and Goth girls alike will probably argue forever about whether or not Wuthering Heights is a love story. My novel The Favourites, which transports Emily Brontë’s passionate classic to the elite figure skating world, is absolutely a love story – but not only between my modern-day Cathy and Heathcliff, childhood sweethearts turned skating partners Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. The Favourites is also the story of how I learned to love writing again.
In early 2020, I quit my day job to be a full-time writer. (Impeccable timing, am I right?) Over a year later, I was still pinging back and forth between two different projects: one a skating-centric thriller, the other a Gothic romance. Neither novel was working, and I was growing increasingly panicked as my savings account dwindled and the COVID-19 pandemic raged on. I picked up a copy of Wuthering Heights, which I hadn’t read since high school, hoping for some inspiration.
What I found in those pages was so much more. I’d gotten so caught up in thinking about what readers, editors, the ‘market’ etc. wanted from me as a writer, I had totally lost touch with why I started writing in the first place.
“I had to let go. I had to listen to my creative intuition,
to follow my instincts wherever they led.”
Reading Wuthering Heights felt like traveling back through time to connect to my younger self – that bold, creative, badass girl who loved what she loved and refused to apologise, who saw herself in Cathy Earnshaw’s stormy emotions and untameable spirit. I wasted to write something for her.
So I decided to start almost from scratch, salvaging the few promising scraps of my two failed manuscripts and mashing them up into what would eventually become The Favourites. Like my heroine Katarina, I tend to push myself too hard, striving for perfection, and my writing process had always involved a lot of stress and self-flagellation.
None of that worked for The Favourites. Instead, I had to let go. I had to listen to my creative intuition, to follow my instincts wherever they led instead of trying to exert control over every detail. I had to learn to trust myself. The more I indulged in play, pleasure, and pure fun – from bingeing skating videos, to diving down obscure research rabbit holes, to blasting Taylor Swift and dancing in my desk chair – the faster the words came, and the better they were.
By the time the book was done, I felt like a different writer, and a different person. Sure, sometimes success comes from working harder and doubling down, but it can also come from easing up and embracing what brings you joy. It’s my sincerest hope that you’ll enjoy reading The Favourites as much as I enjoyed writing it.”
The Favourites by Layne Fargo is out now.
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