Writing Blog Number 2 (continued)

20251224 The Love Triangle

The Love Triangle

In romance – and, recently, romantasy – the love triangle has become the main driving force of many books. Some blame Twilight but it has been around much longer than that. Really, Helen of Troy, Paris and Menelaus are a sort of love triangle, resulting in the Trojan War.
         They are a staple, it is just that lately it is almost expected that published romance-type works need one.
         So, this is to list the elements needed to write a decent one.

1) All 3 members of the triangle need to be formed characters
This is something that quite a few writers let their readers down with. One of the three characters is not as fully developed, and this gives away just who the lead protagonist will end up with. I will say this is not often with a female/2 males dynamic, but more common in a male/2 females situation. But in Handbook For Mortals, one of the many terrible plot things in the book was that one of the men chasing the MC was just a 2-D cipher. This leads us to:

2) Don’t make it obvious who is going to be the final couple
Readers want to be invested and cheer for their favourites – think Team Jacob & Team Edward from Twilight’s fandom – so if you make it obvious from the word go who the couple is going to be, that investment is diminished and the Love triangle becomes a Third Wheel. Again, look at Twilight – it was so obvious Bella and Edward were going to end up together, is it any wonder it got icky with Jacob?

3) Both members of the same gender need to be realistic
This means that, even if the writer knows who they are going to pair up, both the competing love interests need to have flaws as well as good sides. Too often the one who is going to end up with the MC is flawless, or the flaws are very minor. This is the one thing (ONE) Aster does okay in Lightlark – the two men after the MC have a lot of flaws and both actually come across as douchebags. Which is fine, because the MC comes across as a right cow as well.

4) The choice needs to be organic
We are not talking porn where the choice is purely sexual, or the choice is both. The MC needs to choose one of the suitors, and the reasons for doing so need to make sense in the context of the story and the world as developed throughout the narrative. It should lead to it naturally and gradually. When should the choice be made? Not at the very end, but normally right before the climax is what romance writers tend to recommend, though during the climactic scenes often works as well. If the choice happens early, this can work if the rejected one then becomes a jealous antagonist, but that is a different sort of story to the standard Love Triangle.

5) The choice needs to make sense
Everything in the story should subtly lead to the choice. Yes, the other suitor could have won, but the choice needs to make sense from the point of view of the MC making the choice. If it’s because the chosen saved the person, fine, but that needs to be developed, not just, “You saved me, I choose you.” Complex emotions are at play, and should be shown on the page.

The Love Triangle is a trope used often because it works. It can also work in other genres (scifi, western and, yes, fantasy) because it keeps the romance subplot from being a tacked on afterthought. It can interweave the romance into the narrative thrust of the story, especially if the rivals have to work together to save the MC from a big bad.
         Sometimes clichés and tropes are popular for a reason. And the reason here is simple – it fulfils a harmless fantasy. But the Love Triangle should involve more than a third wheel thrown in to make a bit of a conflict.