I wanted to share this article because it highlights something we all hope for as writers, but don’t always get to see play out so clearly in real time:
https://apnews.com/article/heated-rivalry-winter-olympic-569baff2ce0ae2e...
Heated Rivalry started as a novel, became a series, and then it… showed up at the Olympics. Not metaphorically. Literally.
Athletes are talking about it in locker rooms. They’re naming things after the characters. Fans who had never followed hockey before are now showing up to games. NHL ticket sales are up over 20%! There’s even conversations about how a story like this could influence real players to feel more comfortable being themselves.
That’s a pretty incredible trajectory for what is, at its core, a character-driven romance about two people navigating identity, pressure, and connection inside a very specific world.
It makes me think about how powerful specificity can be in writing. This isn’t a broad, watered down concept trying to appeal to everyone. It’s very specific. Hockey. Rival teams. A hidden relationship. And yet, that specificity is exactly what made it resonate far beyond its original audience.
There’s also something interesting happening in how the story extends beyond the script itself. Once it’s out in the world, audiences take ownership of it. They carry it into conversations, into culture, into places you never could have planned for when you were writing those scenes.
Are you aiming to write something with that kind of emotional and cultural ripple effect, or do you stay focused purely on the story in front of you and let the rest happen naturally?
And if you’re curious to dig deeper into how Heated Rivalry works from a storytelling perspective, Stage 32 is hosting a FREE webcast breaking down the pilot this Friday, March 20th. You can sign up here: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/heated-rivalry-breaking-down-...
*If you can't attend live, signing up will ensure that you get the full recording to watch at your convenience from anywhere in the world.
