Much Ado About Love Triangles

Also known as “why am I doing this to myself?”

My WIP The Dreamless City has a love triangle in it. I decided that niggling little detail early on in my original plotting for my steampunk urban fantasy novel in progress. I wanted Nissa to have a romantic secondary plotline, but I didn’t want her to “get the guy” at the end of the first book. In theory, Nissa’s story is going to continue for at least a couple more books, so… as an answer to my conundrum, I decided to mire her in a love triangle and sort it out between Daschel and Reynard over a few books.

When working on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I wanted to be sure that both guys got equal screen time. Even without doing any research, I knew that I didn’t want it to feel one-sided. There’s nothing worse that liking any character and having them evaporate halfway through a story. Doesn’t matter if they are a love interest or the witty sidekick; don’t let me like a character then leave them stranded at the gas station. Ugh!

Doing My Research

I’m working though my outline again, really wanting to get this right. On that note, I decided to read up on some people who have bravely gone (or at least thought deeply about) into the darkness of love triangles before me.

Love Triangles {The Do’s & Don’ts of Writing Romance}
5 Tips to Creating a Love Triangle
The Art of the Love Triangle
Writing 101: Love Triangles
Writing Tip: How to Write a Love Triangle
Fiction Focus – The Love Triangle

Love Triangle Analysis

So after reading through the above blogposts, here are some ideas that I found helpful:

1. All three characters in a love triangle should be equally well developed. Just say no to the two-dimensional cliches.
2. Don’t let your love triangle become predictable, otherwise you have a love pair + a rival.
3. Make the character in the middle likeable, not a Mary Sue.
4. Let readers have a chance to cheer for each love interest. Make them both worthy of the main character’s affection.
5. Don’t leave any loose ends when resolving the love triangle. Readers want to know what happens to the one who was left behind.
6. Decide which love interest will end up with the main character. (Wow, that’s gonna be tough.)
7. The love triangle has to fit within the rest of the storyline. Don’t cram it in like the gloves, umbrella, and flashlight in the glovebox.
8. Consider the logistics of the love triangle. Why aren’t two of the characters together? What keeps them all apart?
9. Use the love triangle to create surprises for the reader. Reveal the love interests to the main character and the readers at the same time.
10. Don’t neglect the rest of the story.

The Great Swampy Middle

Muddling through my spreadsheet, complete with five rainbow-colored plot threads, is a mess.  I lose it somewhere between Big Plot Points two and three.  Herding everything back together in time for the musical finale (no, I’m not serious… unless you like that idea…) is too much to make tidy.  So it is back to the adding, subtracting, and reorganizing of things, hoping that a beautiful phoenix will rise from the ashes.

I think this also counts for my ROW80 post.  I haven’t written any words this week.  I’ve just been moving squares around on my spreadsheet.  Wish me luck to make it to Wednesday!!