Hey, all! Super stoked to bring you a new interview – this one with Sara Fujimura, author of the upcoming figure skating rom-com “Every Reason We Shouldn’t”! (You can check out my review of that here: REVIEW: “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” by Sara Fujimura).
I love to watch skating (all kinds), but I am not particularly good at it. What inspired Every Reason We Shouldn’t was Apolo Ohno’s autobiography No Regrets. I was completely fascinated by the account of his teenaged years. Specifically, when Ohno was at the crossroads and wondering if he should quit the sport all together because his raw talent was no longer enough. Jonah’s character actually came to me first, and Apolo Ohno very much influenced him. I saved the crossroads story for Olivia though. I have two ultra-talented girls (now young women) in my life, and I got to see—thanks to their moms—what it’s like to be that one-in-a-million teen and all the unique challenges that come with being that high level of athlete/performer. One is a dancer and the other a singer, but I wanted a girl who was into ice sports to work better with Jonah’s character. As super cheesy as it is, I love The Cutting Edge. I wanted to write an updated (and much more realistic) version of the movie with teen skaters.
Thank you! All of my books have a lot of “fact behind the fiction,” but ERWS had a steep learning curve for me. I started as a journalist, so I take my research very seriously. I read everything I could and watched countless videos and tutorials. I also sought out people who were experts (or at least experienced) in all the areas I am not. Do you know who has a ridiculous depth of knowledge on everything figure skating? Author Courtney Milan. Her remarkable, super nit-picky notes helped me take this book to the next level. Obviously, it paid off if I passed your test despite being a crap skater in real life myself.
3. What would you say your “mission statement” as a writer is, and how does “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” tie into that mission?
“I write stories for adventurous, intelligent, globally-minded teens who aren’t afraid to love someone outside of their own ethnicity.”
One of the biggest compliments I’ve gotten for ERWS is that people feel like my characters are people they would want to be their friends. Yes, Olivia and Jonah are unique and sometimes straight-up “extra,” but I think they mirror my readers who are maybe unintentionally looking for someone like themselves.
NOTE: Question #4 could get a little spoilery! Proceed with caution if you haven’t read the book yet.
4. After reading “Every Reason We Shouldn’t,” one of the things I’m most conflicted about is how I’m supposed to feel about Stuart (Egg), Olivia’s pairs partner. Given his actions at the end of the book, he comes off pretty strongly as a jerk, but he’s also, before that, a decent friend and partner to Olivia. Thus, I’m very torn between seeing him as the villain for abandoning her and seeing him as a sympathetic but flawed friend. Obviously, readers like me have to make that call themselves (I’m leaning towards “selfish jerk” right now), but what do you, as the author, think of Egg: sympathetic or deplorable?
People may disagree with me, but I sympathize with Egg, who is at a crossroads in his life and makes a wise (if a bit jerky) decision to put himself first for a change. Egg knows he’s not good enough to skate at an Olympic level and for him to invest another four years of his life to live Olivia’s dream would be unauthentic. (On a smaller scale, think about the people who may sit first chair in their high school’s band, but don’t go on to study music at college. Music can still bring them joy even if they know they don’t have what it takes to play professionally.) ERWS wasn’t about Olivia winning a gold medal either, and not all my readers are on-board with that. I wrote it for all the teens standing at the crossroads in their own lives. For when the thing they love the most (and maybe have a ton of raw talent for) has suddenly gotten too hard and they are questioning if they are at the end of their journey or if they should push through the pain/frustration to see if they can make it to the very top. It’s one thing when you are injured or cut from a team. There the decision is made for you. It’s when YOU have to decide whether to continue or not that things get interesting (and more relatable to many people). That’s what I wanted to explore in ERWS. To keep Egg and Olivia together was the safe choice and wouldhave held both of them back from being the best versions of themselves. And as much as I would love to have gone all Cutting Edge with Olivia and Jonah, *every* skater (including former German Olympic pairs skater Mirko Goolsbey) said that it would be impossible.
End of spoilers! You’re safe again 😉
5. To wrap up, this is sort of a standby question for me in author interviews: how would you describe “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” in six words?
Yuri on Ice meets Cutting Edge
POST-INTERVIEW PERSONAL CAVEAT:
Having gotten the author’s insight on her book, I can honestly say that I love “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” even more. Thinking about the theme of crossroads in this novel, I’m brought back to the moment in tenth grade when I had to make my final choice: whether to pursue skating even though I’d hit a plateau and had little time to train anymore, or whether to focus on academics as I had been doing my first two years in high school with the added bonus of being able to pursue theater with my extra time. Though I was never even close to Olivia’s level as a skater, it was an all-consuming passion for much of my childhood, and I’d given up a lot to pursue it even at the level that I did. I’d spent every single morning of each summer between 6th and 11th grade at the rink, put countless hours into training, and, sadly, probably wrecked any chance I ever had at developing a healthy body image by the age of 16. So that feeling of grasping at straws that you feel when you realize it might be time to move on from a dream is one I felt wholeheartedly. As you can probably guess, I quit skating, and if I’m honest, I don’t regret it. But I’ll always remember how hard those last months were, realizing I was never going to reach my childhood dream. (And that feeling kind of never goes away. Ms. Fujimura’s example of the musician in their school band was almost uncanny because I’ve also played the violin since I was nine. As I struggle with tricky runs in the Tchaikovsky concerto that most of my orchestra friends could play in their sleep, I face the realization that I have to figure out how music, a passion I’ve pursued practically forever and am never going to “make it” in, will play into my life as I prepare to graduate from high school.) For a senior in high school, that stuff is huge and never really lets up, so knowing that “Every Reason We Shouldn’t” was written about a character who feels the same way, with the intention of bringing comfort to teenagers who don’t know what comes next for their passions, makes me love it all the more. This book came to me at just the right time, and I hope those of you who choose to read it come March (and I hope all of you do) feel the same way.
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