We chat with author Rufaro Faith Mazarura about Skate It Till You Make It, which is a fake-dating hockey rom-com following newly appointed women’s ice hockey captain for Team Great Britain Ari Shumba and aspiring photographer Drew Dlamini.
Hi, Rufaro! Welcome back! How have you been since we last spoke for Let The Games Begin?
I’ve been great! It’s a few days before the Olympic start, I’m currently in the middle of watching new episodes of Bridgerton and I’ve started to see cute Valentine’s day storefronts and decorations so I’m really getting into the spirit of the season.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was a huge bookworm as a child and always knew I wanted to be an author. While I tried to write a few stories when I was growing up, nothing really stuck until my final year of school when I started writing a novel as a distraction from exams and revision. I didn’t finish the story, but I got around fifteen thousand words into it and loved the experience so much that I began to write standalone chapters, fanfic and short stories. I ended up doing a literature and creative writing degree at university and I’ve never looked back
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
- The one that made you want to become an author: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Your latest novel, Skate It Till You Make It, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Yearning, Uncertain, Romantic, Vulnerability, Winter.
What can readers expect?
Skate It Till You Make It is a real slow burn romance. While the characters are fake dating
Where did the inspiration for Skate It Till You Make It come from?
I watched a lot of sports documentaries and movies while working on my first book Let The Games Begin and while that novel was about a male sprinter, the stories I found myself the most drawn to were those about women athletes. I found hearing them talk about the extra set of hurdles they’d had to overcome, the institutional barriers that got in their way and the sisterhoods they formed fascinating. So I knew that I wanted to write a sports novel centred around a woman. Watching a scene in a sports movie with male athletes having a slightly distasteful locker room talk style conversation made me wonder what that would look like with a group of women. A feeling that inspired me to write the first chapter of Skate It Till You Make It and chose a sport that felt associated with strength and intensity.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I live in London which has quite mild seasons, so it’s rare to see serious snow in the winter. So I was ridiculously excited to write all of the scenes where they’re outside during a snowfall or step out to a thick blanket of snow. I think at one point in the novel Ari says a sudden winter snowfall is the closest thing she’s experienced to magic and I felt the same way each time I got to write about her and Drew having a romantic moment amidst the snow and ice.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I think one major challenge was trying to write a romance that felt convincing when the characters have so much little time together. I was adamant about keeping the bulk of the story within the confines of the Winter Games but that meant condensing the start of a relationship within a short amount of time. But it was a fun challenge because the fake dates gave me the opportunity to write in conversations and interactions for the main characters to get to know each other and accelerate their relationship despite the short amount of time they get to spend with each other.
Do you have any sports romance recs for our readers to pick up next?
I think my favourite sports based love story is The Favourites by Layne Fargo, a Wuthering Heights adaptation set in the world of Olympic figure skating. I loved Alexa Martin’s American Football romance novel Intercepted and I’m about to start reading Face Off, Chelsea Curto’s romance about two ice hockey rivals just in time for the Olympics.
What’s next for you?
I’m someone who has a few dozen new ideas every month. I’ll fixate on a plot and set of characters for a week and then decide to change everything in a split second. Which is to say that I’m not *completely* certain! But I really enjoy writing stories set in interesting locations where characters are pulled out of their everyday lives and thrown into a situation that forces them into some sort of character-defining experience. And I really enjoy writing love stories. So whatever I write next, I’m sure it will include all three of those things.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I have an ever growing stack of books piling up beside my bookshelf that I’m so excited to finally get started on. At the top of the list are Firstborn of The Sun by Marve Michael Anson, Chaotic Energy by Stephanie Yeboah. I also really want to get my hands on Local Heavens by K. M. Fajardo and This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum.
