Five Feet Apart

by Rachael Lippincott

We hope the story of Stella and Will helps to bring awareness to this disease and, one day, a cure.

I received a phone call from a former teacher of mine and published YA author, Siobhan Vivian, in February of 2018 telling me about an opportunity that had popped onto her radar to take a screenplay and adapt it into a book. I (of course) said I was interested, and was put in contact with my (future) editor at Simon and Schuster, Alexa Pastor, and received a screenplay to read through so I could formulate a sample first chapter and throw my name in the ring for the book adaptation. It felt like a long shot, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight! I absolutely fell in love with the story. I poured over it in one sitting, laughing and sobbing my way through. From the desire to raise awareness about Cystic Fibrosis, to the beautiful romance between Will and Stella, to Poe, and Barb, and the complicated family dynamics. The writing spoke to me, much the same way it did when I read Mikki’s writing for ALL THIS TIME. I submitted a first chapter, and was on pins and needles for a week or two. I was truly floored when I actually was selected. Check out Mikki Daughtry's Kindle Notes and Highlights for FIVE FEET APART here: https://www.goodreads.com/notes/54508711-five-feet-apart/29270201-mikki-daughtry

I wonder, all too often, what it would be like to have lungs this healthy. This alive. I take a deep breath, feeling the air fight its way in and out of my body.

I remember when I was reading the section of screenplay pages I’d been given to construct a first chapter, Abby’s drawing was something that REALLY stood out to me. I think the screenplay scenes that were blocked off for my sample chapter actually opened with Stella’s friends physically in the room with her, comparing bathing suits and talking about the Stella-less trip they were about to go on. The drawing seemed like this beautiful entry point into Stella’s life, and a good place to start the book, her friends coming in a few pages later. The reflection and comparison to her own lungs, the zoom out of seeing it’s on a hospital wall, the introduction of Abby. This drawing has so much power throughout the story, and so much history and meaning to Stella, that I really wanted to include it, front and center, as a jumping off point for this story. Also, on a visual level, when people pick up the book it is smack on the cover. It’s the first thing they see. Fun fact, but I remember I actually had to change the description in one of the drafts to match the image depicted on the cover.

People are always looking at my cannula, my scars, my G-tube, not at me.

This part ALWAYS makes me think of that pool scene. The power in that moment where they stand there, battle scars and all, completely open to one another. Beautiful exactly as they are. Beauty in what they’d both experienced, its stamp left on their bodies. This particular moment comes right after Stella sees a young and happy couple coming into the hospital. It’s really her wanting people, wanting SOMEONE, to see her and love her completely. To see more than just the cannula and the scars and the G-tube. To see who she is beyond that, but also who she is BECAUSE of that. To go from this moment, to that scene in the bathroom where Stella looks at herself in the mirror, to the pool scene, we not only see Will becoming that person, but we also see STELLA becoming that person for herself. Accepting and loving and finding beauty in all of those parts of herself.

If I’m going to die, I’d like to actually live first.

We had a whole conversation about what going on the rooftop means for Will and why he does it. I remember Mikki said something like: “He goes to all of these places for these treatments, but he only ever gets to see them from the rooftop. He never gets to actually experience them.” And that’s really what’s at the heart of this line. More than anything, Will wants to actually be able to experience life. To walk through the streets of Paris, or go to Carnival in Brazil, instead of watching from a rooftop. He wants, more than anything, to use the time he has left to really live. In taking the screenplay and adapting it into the book, I knew from the outset that writing in dual-POV was the intention. I feel like Will’s perspective was really where I got to stretch my legs a bit, and scenes like this from the screenplay were really where I was able to nail down his voice.

I know in that moment, even though it could not be more ridiculous, that if I die in there, I won’t die without falling in love.

I mean, who ISN’T in love with Will after the bushel & a peck scene? This moment is so intimate and beautiful, and, really, it’s the moment that Stella completely accepts and gives into her feelings for Will. They both completely let their guards down. And, I mean, this is really IT isn’t it. Falling in love, experiencing love. It’s something we all want to do and have in our lifetimes. It’s this magical thing that is at the heart of it all. It can come when we least expect it, and, in Stella’s case, it can come in the shape of a rebellious, messy-haired boy that she can’t ever touch. This is her pretty much laying it out on the table. The moment of: Oh, YEAH, I may not make it out of this surgery, but at least I’m going out knowing I experienced THIS.

I’m tired of living without really living. I’m tired of wanting things. We can’t have a lot of things. But we could have this.

Will has really awoken this feeling in Stella. For the first half of this story, we see her organizing her med cart and making lists, and “living without really living.” Will has shown her that there’s more than just THAT. That taking these meds and doing the treatments is important so you CAN go out and live. So that you can do more than just want things, and instead actually EXPERIENCE them. They both know that they can’t have a lot of things. They both know they’ve missed out on so many things. Trips to Cabo, and time with friends, and plenty of everyday stuff that we all take for granted. Stella is putting her foot down here. She’s no longer just going through the motions. She no longer wants to just want. She wants to actually experience.

“Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me. From now on, I am the thief.”

THIS SPEECH. This speech. I didn’t change a single damn word from the screenplay. It was straight copy + paste. Is it possible to sit through this part and not sob? I genuinely do not know. This line is so huge. After everything she’s been through with CF, after everything it’s taken from her, this is Stella taking something back.

I didn’t know it was possible for a person to make old things become new again.

With this line, I think I really wanted to try and encapsulate that particular sparkly magic of when people first fall in love. How the most mundane things, or things you’ve seen or done hundreds of times, suddenly take a new shape. Everything looks different. Everything is bright and beautiful with them by your side. Stella has walked the halls of Saint Grace THOUSANDS of times. But, on this special night, with Will next to her, everything is transformed. She’s never experienced it quite like this.

“It’s just life, Will. It’ll be over before we know it.”

THIS line is probably the heaviest hitter for me. Throwing Will’s own words back at him. How powerful is that? I remember on the first phone call I had with Mikki and Tobias we really talked about the shift that occurs in Stella and Will, and how this scene, and the ones that follow directly after, show almost a complete flip. The diligently careful Stella is behaving recklessly, and rooftop-sitting, med-ignoring Will is the one that is now trying to err on the side of caution.

“We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe. I never understood the importance of touch, his touch . . . until I couldn’t have it.”

Totally what Mikki said here. It worked so perfectly for the movie to start and end with this monologue, but it wouldn’t have clicked for the book. That’s really what was at the heart of this screenplay-to-book process: Figuring out how to best transfer the story from one medium to another, while remaining faithful to what is on the page. That took many shapes, whether it’s adding descriptions that a movie goer would visually and naturally get, or changing the opening scene to the close up of Abby’s drawing, or writing from a dual-POV.

And then I know. I know he’s there even before I see him. Will.

In much the same vein, it was SUPER cool on my end to see how the screenplay shifted and changed as it got closer and closer to filming. Scenes that were added, scenes that were deleted, and how it impacted the rest of the story. People often bring up the ending difference, and I will note there WAS an edition of the screenplay that featured such an ending, set at an outdoor bistro, with Stella catching sight of Will across the street. The shift to the airport was actually a pitch from our editor at S&S, Alexa. And, I think it really echoes what Mikki said above about Will, which I feel to be true in my heart of hearts. That he IS still fighting. That he IS still hanging on. That he’s doing things HIS way.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Agree with Mikki! I so appreciate being able to give some more insight into readers favorite lines, and how FFA came to be. I even learned a few things I didn’t know! It has been a super cool experience working with Mikki on TWO books now, and I can’t wait for you all to check out ALL THIS TIME. The story that started it all! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892133-all-this-time