Weak solutions to love triangles in YA

[eileenmcilwain]

I thought I'd write this after reading several YA books featuring the dreaded love triangle. Love triangles seem to be really popular in YA at the moment, but to date I have only read one series where the heroine actually CHOOSES one boy over the other (in case you're wondering I'm referring to "Vampire Academy"). In the other books the authors seem to cop out and let outside circumstances make the decision for the heroine. Just a few examples of this are:

• The Katniss - Duty calls Boy 1 away from the heroine and she ends up with Boy 2 by default because he's the only one who stuck around
• The Bella - Boy 1 discovers his very own soulmate and stops pining for the heroine, leaving her free to be with Boy 2 without any lingering feelings of guilt
• The Calla - Boy 1 gets killed off before the heroine can tell him she wants to be with Boy 2 so she never has to hurt Boy 1's feelings
• The Aura - Boy 1 gets killed off but gives the heroine his blessing to be with Boy 2 before he dies
• The Zooey - Boy 1 turns out to be a jerk, Boy 2 gets killed off, and Boy 3 has such low self esteem he stays even though the heroine is doing the dirty on him

Love triangles are annoying at the best of times. The authors seem to think that showing two hot guys panting after their heroine is empowering for women, but in reality the heroine often comes across as indecisive, fickle, impulsive, and arrogant - none of which are very endearing character traits. Most of the time I end up hating the heroine so much I wish both guys would tell her to jump off a cliff! If the situation were reversed and it was two girls being led on by the hero, that would make the hero a total douche for toying with emotions of two perfectly decent girls.

So... if you're going to chuck your heroine's integrity in a blender by having a love triangle in your YA story, my suggestion is to have a STRONG resolution which redeems your heroine in the reader's eyes. Anything less than making the heroine face the music and tell one poor boy that he's not "the one" is unacceptable. Oh and none of this amicable-parting-of-ways rubbish. I want to see tears and tantrums! Most guys react badly to any insult to their ego. They don't just smile and cop it.

 

[missesdash]

This was pretty hilarious. I don't think I've read very much YA with a love triangle, so I hadn't noticed.

 

[amschilling]

LOL, nice summation of the books. And I agree. Love triangles do exist but they rarely end amicably. And a lot of the time it's two panting over one, but the one likes number three. *shrug*

I'm waiting to see what Cassandra Clare does with the Infernal Devices series. She's got one in there, and I have a definite preference. Just not sure how she's going to resolve it without killing one of the suitors off. So far she's got my respect for making it kind of messy, but we'll see if she can make it work in the end.

 

[justbishop]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but I have to disagree with the Katniss.

SPOILER AHEAD (highlight to read):

I never felt like Gale had a chance. To me, it always seemed like Katniss' inner conflict re: her love life was Peeta vs. solitude.

Anyway, my WIP has the boy desperately in love with the girl, who is unsure about him because they're BFFs, while he fends off a newly added minor character who has been after him for a while (though he obviously has no interest). I hope that doesn't make anyone seem weak!

 

[goldhorse]

Screw making them choose. Threesome anyone?

J/k, kinda?

Honestly, I'd rather the girl choose... messily and full of drama and tears. I say she gets up in his face and says 'look pal, hit the road'

 

[Zoombie]

Screw making them choose. Threesome anyone?

Yeah, I'm completely serious.

I'd love to see a menage a trois.

 

[eileenmcilwain]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but I have to disagree with the Katniss.

Anyway, my WIP has the boy desperately in love with the girl, who is unsure about him because they're BFFs, while he fends off a newly added minor character who has been after him for a while (though he obviously has no interest). I hope that doesn't make anyone seem weak!

While I agree with you to an extent *SPOILERS AHEAD* (HIGHLIGHT TO READ) it's not like Katniss makes Gale aware of the fact that it's Peeta or nothing. Gale made his feelings for her pretty clear and she didn't do or say anything to discourage him. In fact, she didn't do anything at all. She did the emotional equivalent of covering her eyes and hoping the problem would go away by itself... which it eventually did thanks to the author's intervention. For a heroine who had been strong up until that point, this made her appear weak and cowardly.

With regards to your scenario, there's a difference between being cautious and being uncertain. Wanting to be sure of her feelings before risking a perfectly good friendship doesn't make your heroine weak. Umm-ing and ahh-ing because she has no clue who she wants to be with does.

 

[Becca C.]

I'm reading a book with a love triangle right now and I'm actually not minding the dynamics so much. The romance is pretty minor, actually, and it's more like a complicated friendship between two guys and a girl where certain choices the characters make makes the friendship dynamics difficult.

 

[Zoombie]

We should write a love tetrahedral.

So, Character A is in love with B and C, while B is in love with A, C, D and E. C is in love with A, B, E and F...

...a diagram would help.

There.

Write it.

 

[Maxinquaye]

Why chose? She can have both!

Problem solved.

ETA: Or, in Zoombie's case, all six can have everyone. Yeah, that sounds fun.

 

[Zoombie]

Once of my favorite novels - Vigilant - has the main character being in a 8 way marriage with 7 other people. Not YA, but still an example of how we can write more interesting things.

Of course, it WAS sci-fi, but YA can have Sci-fi!

 

[Maxinquaye]

Polyamory would be an interesting challenge, yes.

 

[bickazer]

Um...I genuinely, unironically like love triangles....? (Don't shoot me!)

To be fair, I tend to prefer it when they resolve in OT3s...which usually requires the guys to like each other as well, not that I'm complaining.

 

[maybegenius]

I am that weirdo who misses the incredible angst that came with Dawson's Creek and characters walking away from people they'd loved their whole lives to be with the person they never thought they could. STEP OFF I WILL LOVE DAWSON'S CREEK AND ITS AWFUL SCRIPTING UNTIL THE END OF TIME, OKAY.

 

[Zoombie]

Um...I genuinely, unironically like love triangles....? (Don't shoot me!)

To be fair, I tend to prefer it when they resolve in OT3s...which usually requires the guys to like each other as well, not that I'm complaining.

Or one of the guys can be a bisexual shapeshifter...

Just saying!

 

[bickazer]

Or one of the guys can be a bisexual shapeshifter...

Just saying!

Does it count if one of them's an android who's technically sexless but considers himself male? XD And the other will do anything that moves?

Now I'm wondering how things will work out in the bedroom among these three....

 

[Maxinquaye]

Bisexual shapeshifter genderbender polyamory? Anyone?

 

[bickazer]

I approve of the direction this thread has taken. ~_^

 

[Zoombie]

Does it count if one of them's an android who's technically sexless but considers himself male?

Well, it's just a simple attachment that'll fix that!

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Bisexual shapeshifter genderbender polyamory? Anyone?

Don't encourage the zoombie!

I don't like love triangles because the ones I read tend towards this: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, should I get with this Utter Douchepumpkin, or this really nice dude? If she goes with the nice guy it's too trite, and if she goes with Sir Douchepumpkin of Misogynyville, it's enraging.

 

[Maxinquaye]

Don't encourage the zoombie!

Never mind the zoombie, I should not encourage myself.

*opens scrivener to start outlining*

 

[eileenmcilwain]

Not quite the direction I thought this thread was going to take, but it's interesting nonetheless lol!

 

[Parametric]

Love triangles are annoying at the best of times. The authors seem to think that showing two hot guys panting after their heroine is empowering for women, but in reality the heroine often comes across as indecisive, fickle, impulsive, and arrogant - none of which are very endearing character traits. Most of the time I end up hating the heroine so much I wish both guys would tell her to jump off a cliff! If the situation were reversed and it was two girls being led on by the hero, that would make the hero a total douche for toying with emotions of two perfectly decent girls.

If the situation were reversed, we wouldn't call it "toying with people" or "leading people on". That's what those indecisive, fickle, impulsive girls do. Boys can be interested in two different girls without being judged for it. It's girls who get the hammer of societal disapproval dropped on them from a great height.

 

[justbishop]

Sorry, tried to re-spoilerify the quoted text, but there's not a gray that matches...just try not to read the white text if you don't want Hunger Games spoilers!

While I agree with you to an extent *SPOILERS AHEAD* (HIGHLIGHT TO READ) it's not like Katniss makes Gale aware of the fact that it's Peeta or nothing. Gale made his feelings for her pretty clear and she didn't do or say anything to discourage him. In fact, she didn't do anything at all. She did the emotional equivalent of covering her eyes and hoping the problem would go away by itself... which it eventually did thanks to the author's intervention. For a heroine who had been strong up until that point, this made her appear weak and cowardly.

With regards to your scenario, there's a difference between being cautious and being uncertain. Wanting to be sure of her feelings before risking a perfectly good friendship doesn't make your heroine weak. Umm-ing and ahh-ing because she has no clue who she wants to be with does.
[/COLOR]

I will agree on that point. I do wish that Katniss had said something to Gale. Even "I'm not ready, sorry" would have been more satisfying than the big fat nothing she actually did to handle the situation.

I am that weirdo who misses the incredible angst that came with Dawson's Creek and characters walking away from people they'd loved their whole lives to be with the person they never thought they could. STEP OFF I WILL LOVE DAWSON'S CREEK AND ITS AWFUL SCRIPTING UNTIL THE END OF TIME, OKAY.

Don't encourage the zoombie!

I don't like love triangles because the ones I read tend towards this: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, should I get with this Utter Douchepumpkin, or this really nice dude? If she goes with the nice guy it's too trite, and if she goes with Sir Douchepumpkin of Misogynyville, it's enraging.

OMG, these two posts just started my day off right!

 

[eternalised]

I'm actually a bit of a love triangle fan. That said...

Why are there no love quadrangles? Or hectadrangles, or whatever the heck you call them.

Girl, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy and...boy. (Something like reserve harem in anime). I've never read a book or series that goes like that, although it would probably be entertaining. I don't see these relationships building up properly in one book though, but in a series it would be intriguing. The MC doesn't always have to stay with the first choice either, and there can be multiple teams.

I have an "idea" for a YA love triangle which would eventually lead into a threesome. I'm not sure the YA market is ready for it though. It would also just be a minor plot point, but considering the world would end the day after, I don't see why not. People do a lot of crazy things when the world's about to end.