I watched Heated Rivalry

[conuly]

and then read the books, and I gotta say, I think the author and I fundamentally disagree on a key principle of storywriting.

I believe, strongly, that if you have two viewpoint characters, or two love interests, or two viewpoint characters who are also love interests, then they need to have balanced problems - and, ideally, the interaction of those two characters should affect those problems in some way - by making them realize that they have problems, by making them realize that those problems aren't so bad, by solving or exacerbating those problems - who knows? But they need to start off with the same level of problems, and then by the end of the plot those problems need to have been changed in some way.

And pretty much that never happens in these books. Just look at the two that make up the TV show. We have two couples.

In one couple, Shane has loving and supportive parents, he's in his home country, and while his parents could've been a bit more proactive about saying that it's okay to be gay, he doesn't believe they'll reject him for it. He doesn't think his teammates will. His girlfriend doesn't reject him.

Ilya comes from a notoriously homophobic nation, his father was abusive and now has dementia, his brother is just awful, his mother killed herself. If he comes out, he can't go home to Russia. He's not totally fluent in English. (Shane appears to be totally fluent in French....)

He has all the problems. Shane has one problem, and that problem is Ilya. (Well, two if we count "Ilya" and "being gay" as two separate problems, which I guess he does, but at any rate, Ilya has the exact same problems so it's a bit moot.)

The second book featuring them is more of the same, by the way - Ilya continues to have more problems than Shane does, from being on the losingest team in the league to having lost touch with his friend in the move to still being totally in the closet and now suffering from depression.

These problems are not balanced. This relationship cannot solve any of Shane's problems, because his problems are relatively trivial, and meanwhile Ilya's problems are all over the place with regards to Shane's effect on them.

And it's the same with the first book (Kip and whats-his-face). Hockey player can't come out because nobody's ever done it before in the NHL oh god no. Also his parents are dead and his team is basically his family. His boyfriend has a supportive family and friend group, and his only problem is that his hot hockey player boyfriend won't come out. That is a serious problem, but again, not balanced even a little bit. It can't be balanced when one person's problem is the other person. (I guess Kip also has the problem of being poor, but since he refuses to be a sugarbaby we'll just ignore it. Nobody's solving that problem.)

I mean, the books are fine and all, and I have 5 hours a day during the overnight shift in which I have nothing to do but read (and I guess get the floors really clean), but problems need to be balanced, and this is an issue with all of them.

Balanced problems are not "My family sucks, but I've built a family of choice instead, and also I hate that you're trapped in hockey even though it makes you miserable" vs "I agree on both those points, but I can't figure out how to extricate myself from hockey". Balanced problems are "I appear to be super put together, but my family is terrible and, consequently, I push people away" and "My life is super chaotic after my traumatic breakup and my self esteem literally could not be lower, but actually my family is amazing and I just need some support to get my life back in order" or "I do well in school and my parents indulge me, but they'd withdraw that love and support in a heartbeat if I ever stepped out of line" and "My family couldn't care less if I lived or died, and they certainly don't care that I struggle in school, but hey, at least I can do what I want".

If the problems do not balance, you cannot resolve them in a satisfying way. Just making the guys smooch and have feelings is not resolving their problems.

This opinion on problems was brought to you by: The Overnight Shift! I have so much time on my hands, guys!

Comments

[zavodilaterrarium]

I don't necessarily notice if problems aren't fully balanced, but it definitely is jarring when they're extremely imbalanced. If one character has a mountain of Bad Things in their life but other focal characters are pretty much unburdened, then it feels like that one character IS the plot (or punching bag) while everyone else floats around them, which isn't the kind of thing I like to read.

Hell, even in real life, the idea of personally getting very close with someone who simply has not struggled sounds... uncomfortable, I guess? Like, I don't want people to suffer, but it's just really hard to connect intimately to people who live in a totally different reality. Not impossible, but you have to do a LOT of work to make it "balanced", whether in fiction or reality.

[conuly]

Yeah, putting aside the balancing issues, it's also clear to me that Ilya is her favorite character, even in the books which have nothing to do with him.

[ioplokon]

I watched the show & thought it was fun. I mostly agree with your analysis of their problems, but I do think some of Shane's issues are implicit. The big one is that Montreal is a pressure cooker & they could have shown that more explicitly (and probably not had him win back to back cups so quickly even tho that was cool and awesome) - and the pressure is especially high on French-speaking players... He gets to read whatever trash Rejan the racist puts out about how there aren't enough Quebec players & the names on the jerseys are Strange (legit a column that was actually published, implicitly about Nick Suzuki). He can't put the radio on bc the talk shows are vicious (they kind of show this with the NY guy, but the difference in Montreal is how inescapable it is). Every time he goes outside, there is an extremely high chance someone wants to talk to him about the power play. Because he speaks French, he has to do way more media appearances & gets thrown out there after a loss... It's still not the level of what Ilya is dealing with, but it is a lot & is kind of present daily, whereas Ilyas issues are more looming.

I think they probably skipped a lot of this bc it is maybe a bit boring to show on TV, but I do feel like it is implicitly part of their dynamic.

[melannen]

Huh, interesting. I can see why that feels like a problem with these books but I also feel like that's pretty common in standard romances? One character has All The Problems and then Love Interest appears and either solves them or causes more or both, but Love Interest's problems aren't really the point. Or some times it's the opposite - Main Character shows up to solve and/or cause problems for Love Interest with the power of Love and Main Character Energy. But it never occurred to me lack of balance would be an issue with that formula.

That usually *isn't* how it is expected to work in fanfic, though - in fanfic I feel like we're usually supposed to be equally invested in both characters, they're The Two Characters. (Especially but not exclusively slash). The romance solves and causes problems for them both equally. If it's mostly focused in on The Character With All The Problems we file it as H/C or whump or something instead. I don't think I've ever really seen the difference pointed out that way though!

I haven't read these books (didn't get in before the library waitlist exploded) but from what I hear they are sort of weirdly situated between fanfic and standard romance so it kinda makes sense they would miss that balance.

[conuly]

An unbalanced romance might work with just one POV, with a skilled writer, but I don’t see the point of showing both viewpoints if they don’t both have issues.

[althea_valara]

EWWW. I was going to give the books a try because of the hype surrounding the show, but was already feeling cautious about it due to a librarian friend saying the books were bad, and you just nailed why I wouldn't like them. In a nutshell, THIS:

If the problems do not balance, you cannot resolve them in a satisfying way. Just making the guys smooch and have feelings is not resolving their problems.

This is probably why I enjoy Courtney Milan's books so much. BOTH love interests have problems! And yeah, the problems are pretty balanced in her books. She's also one of the rare romance authors who can make me believe the couple is actually in love with one another and not just blinded by lust.