In one of my earlier post I told you I was going to talk about different rivalries in fiction. I went over unused and uncommon rivalry which is sibling rivalry. Another type of rivalry , a common rivalry that is used in almost all genres of fiction today is the love triangle . And it has finally begun in my novel. Well… Sort of … How is this a rivalry? Let me explain further .
WHAT IS A LOVE TRIANGLE IN FICTION ?
A love triangle is a story trope that involves a rivalry between two characters competing for the love of a third character. In a love triangle the third character usually has to choose between the two characters that have fallen in love with them. It is usually between two guys and girl. These characters usually have to be well rounded to be believable.
A love triangle could either be the main plot in a story or a subplot to the overall story. From what I gathered over the years there is a 50/50 opinion about love triangles where people either hate them or love them. And the love triangle is mostly sometimes thought of as cliché . They are seen everywhere in every movie and in every book . Mostly common YA fiction where most books use it as the main plot .
Some well know book that have the love triangle rivalry is:
The Raven Cycle, by Maggie Stiefvater( a paranormal fantasy that concentrates mostly on a treasure hunt while slowly revealing the love triangle.)
Dumas’s classics The Count of Monte Cristo( features a love triangle strong enough to seek revenge and start a war)
The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith( two vampire brothers rival for the love of one girl )
These books that I mentioned above mostly have the love triangle as subplot except for maybe the last one.
This leads me in talking about my work in progress werewolf novel During The Blue Hour. I chose to go with a subplot for all the love triangles in m novels
Here is all my characters that have love triangles:
- ADRIAN-SIRENA- CRISTEN(1st book During the Blue Hour- subplot but the main love triangle subplot)
- GABBY- ELI-HELENE ( 1st book During the Blue Hour- lesser love triangle subplot , subtly mentioned )
- BASTIAN-IMANI-ROLLO (2ND BOOK – lesser love triangle subplot )
- IMANI – BASTIAN-MERCEDES -ROLLO-(2ND+4TH BOOK – lesser love triangle subplot )
- CRISTEN-SIRENA- CHEMSEN (2ND +4TH BOOK – main love triangle subplot)
- ELI-AMARANTHA- MARCUS – (3RD BOOK STANDALONE MAYBE / main love triangle subplot )
I’m going to narrow it down and just talk a little about the main love triangle subplot from my first and current novel I’m currently working on.
The love triangle subplot in this first novel actually will begin on the 12th chapter of my 2nd draft. Even though there are small hints throughout the story already . It won’t be apparent until this chapter.
The two love interest Adrian and Cristen won’t actually realize they have feeling for Sirena until after they find out she is a werewolf. Based on how they are raised they don’t really have any interest n romancing and mating with a human girl and I don’t explore that until maybe my 3rd book , in which case Eli will be the human that a new werewolf character named Amarantha falls in love with.
But anyways there will be sparks between them all that they will ignore up until chapter 12. Not only because they think she is human but because they also have their own goals .
Cristen wants help from the earth diver to get off the mountain but in order to do that he has to help Sirena.
Adrian wants to become the alpha and so he thinks he can use his new found knowledge about Sirena to do that.
This love triangle between the three will consist of a lot of jealously , betrayals and secrets .
The main Character Sirena will be interested in both of them and she will have a reason to be interested in both of them. They will be her first ever love interest.
She is interested in Adrian because he seems to understand her in a way. They seem to get along and she likes Adrian because he never seems to be afraid to tell her the truth of things no matter how harshly he delivers it. And she respects him for that. And also he ends up saving her most of the time.
With her falling for Cristen, he is reasonable, compassionate, and kind to her. He seems to understand her differently because he can easily read her emotions and see through her insecurities because of his powers and abilities. He connects her with his emotions and calms her emerging werewolf rage. And she is able to do the same , calming him of his werewolf rage since his powers are not fully developed as well.
I don’t have Sirena really going back and forth over them like a drag out decision . Time is of the essence and she really has no time to play teenage love games with the two werewolf boys . Because she is about to become a werewolf herself .
I only put in a little section within the novel where both Adrian and Cristen will give her an ultimatum to choose between them but she is like , ‘wait hold the phone’ . She is new to the whole boyfriend experience and feelings thing especially with them both being werewolves where they date differently. They don’t date . They mate and become pair bonds. (pair bonds is a real thing in the real world in wolf society. Check this article out about pair bonds) But in my novel they can’t officially mate until they get to the werewolf community anyway.
Another reason why they are rushing her to make a choice is because they have never seen another werewolf girl besides Imani. And Imani is Adrian’s sister who is the future pair bond to Bastian. Cristan always also saw imani as a sister so yeah . Sirena is basically the only werewolf girl right now they can choose from.
Sirena basically tells them they are both crazy and she is not going to mate with them .
This particular scene in my first draft that will soon be in my 2nd draft doesn’t mean Sirena doesn’t choose one of them . She does . I don’t want to really tell you who but there is a kissing scene between Sirena and one of the two boys. And the other boy is greatly devastated by Sirena’s choice.
This choice that Sirena makes will bring a lot of conflict between both Adrian and Cristen even though they already hate each other over the whole alpha situation( I talk about that type of rivalry in a different post) Her decision doesn’t make anything better in the story.
Even other characters hate her for what she decides. Let me just give you a little (spoiler). Her decision comes to a tragic buildup . She is never selfish about her decision and she doesn’t string them along but it’s just that the reveal of secrets and lies get in the way and makes her choice worse for everybody at the end .
This love triangle subplot is basically scattered mostly toward the middle and end of my novel. I can’t say that the three character actually fall in love perse . All three of these characters just have these new found feelings . They are all teenagers in this first novel . And they don’t know what their feelings are yet. But they will continue on to the next book.
The only two characters I can say that know exactly what their feelings are with each other are Bastian and Imani. But their true love will be tested in my later books and I don’t know where those particular love triangle storylines will go yet .
Did I need a love triangle in this first novel? No . I mean I could have done without one. I didn’t have one in my pre-draft screenplay version . But I just thought it would be fun to add more conflict to the story. I kind of like reading love triangles in other novels and thought I’d give it a try writing about one myself.
If you liked this blog post and you want to see more content involving my work in progress During the Blue Hour Follow , Like , share . But first LET’S START A DIALOGUE
DO YOU HAVE A LOVE TRIANGLE SUBPLOT IN YOUR NOVEL?
I want to know so let me know in the comments below.
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