Trope Talk: Love Triangle
So, you want to write a love triangle…
Ah, a hugely popular romance trope back when I was a child. Every young adult fiction used it. Twilight was pretty famous for it — between Bella, Edward, and Jacob. The Mortal Instruments did have a love triangle between Jace, Clary, and Simon, before it was dissolved.
What exactly is a love triangle? It is when a character — usually the main character — has to choose between two potential love interests, both of whom usually seem equally appealing to them.
Why Do People Like Love Triangles?
Well, I, for one, am not a big fan of this trope generally. Although I dislike it a lot more when I’m writing it, because it is not easy to do well. Of course, there are people out there who love it, so let’s dive on in and see why.
If you’ve been following my Trope Talk articles for a while, you would already know what’s coming. Indeed, people like love triangles because they like to feel special.
Imagine having two people trying to show you they cherish you more than the other. They are fighting for you — you are a person that warrants their tireless efforts to court you and win you over.
How romantic is that?
Not only that, but jealousy often plays a big part in most love triangles. Naturally, one or both of the people fighting over the character in the middle is going to be jealous of the other, and they would want the middle character to spend more time with them.
Indeed, the second reason that people like love triangles probably because they want to feel wanted by someone else. As social creatures, we tend to crave human connection — in other words, we want to be accepted and liked for who we are.
Love triangles can be immensely popular because of these reasons. If you want to write a love triangle in your own story, then there are several things that you have to consider.
Your Characters’ Chemistry
Yes, I will be referring to the character in the middle as the main character from here on out, mainly because this is commonly the case.
It is normally the case that the two love interests are of conflicting personality, so you need to ensure that they can love your main character equally, or at least to a certain extent.
This means that your main character needs to have a personality type that has good chemistry with the two love interests.
A familiar scenario that you may know consists of the main character, an upstanding citizen, who is being fought over by a punk character, and someone of high social status.
These rivals in love are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet they both love the main character. Your main character needs to be able to gel with the both of them, so as not to make the romance of either seem unrealistic.
Ramping Up
The competition between your rivals in love tends to start out slow. They are still testing waters, not quite sure what the other would do yet.
Perhaps they can start with kind acts, like helping the main character carry their textbooks. After that, these acts can escalate to taking them home when they’re drunk, or even by serenading them at the window.
The trick is to start small, before getting bigger in scale, and perhaps even complexity. This helps to make the budding relationships smoother and more realistic. Besides, it eases readers into the love triangle without making it too bombastic at the start.
Jealousy
This is your best weapon in when writing this trope to really make your readers heart wrench and throw your book across the room. Hopefully not the latter, though.
Because your main character would be spending time with both love interests, there will inevitably be a scene where one of them is jealous of the other. This is the perfect time for you to raise the tension through the roof.
It’s time for your jealous love interest to take action and continue to fervently court the main character.
You can have your two rivals have a direct confrontation. Of course, you would have to know how to diffuse the situation. The common solution is that the main character breaks up the two rivals before it can escalate.
Resolution
The final part of the love triangle is knowing how to resolve the problem. And this is usually the hardest part, because you need to provide a satisfactory resolution to all three characters involved.
For example, you can’t just randomly kill off one of the love interests because you don’t want the main character to end up with them. There was no point in their death besides furthering the main character’s relationship with the other love interest — this would only serve to frustrate readers.
If you are not sure how to resolve your love triangle, here are several ways that you could use…
- Kill Off a Love Interest: Aren’t you thinking: didn’t you just tell us not to do this? Well, if you kill off the love interest to further their character development, then it would be fine. As long as their death has meaning to the story, it is most usually fine.
- Have a Love Interest Move On: When your main character ends up with one of the love interests, you can have the other move on. Maybe they find themselves enamoured with another character, or maybe their feelings for the main character have faded.
- The Love Interests Fall in Love: Pull a reversal on this scenario and have the love interests fall in love with each other instead! It would be an interesting drama for your main character — and possibly your readers — for sure.
- Polyamorous Relationship: Perhaps your three characters can fall in love with each other and end up in a polyamorous relationship. Their little quips and squabbles can bring them closer to each other and even result in something more…
- The Main Character Dies: Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter if neither the love interests get the main character if the main character isn’t there anymore. If this happens, your love interests can choose to reconcile or not, but either way, they’ll move on.
Conclusion
In general, you need to have to have a clear idea of the dynamics of the relationships in your love triangle before you begin writing it, as well as an understanding of how it would end. Increase the tension incrementally, to create a smoother transition from friendship to love for your main characters and their love interests.
Lastly, remember not to objectify your main character, particularly with the phrases you use, such as “You are mine.” It can imply that the love interests see them as nothing more than an item to be won, and thus you perpetuate a toxic relationship.
Love triangles can add a little spice to your story, but whilst it is appealing, it does take skill to do it right. It’s best to practice writing a couple before actually inserting them into your story.
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