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Lol yeah. I know we discussed love triangles a hundred times over and we discussed this, too, but I just have to rant, I mean, say something, and also I would like to ask a question.
Did you ever notice how closely most YA books stick to the imprinting principle?
The first guy/girl MC meets at the beginning of the story will be the winner of the love battle at the end. I don't mean the first character they ever meet, of course, but the first love rival. If Alice meets Bob in chapter two and Sam in chapter five and then we have an Alice-Bob-Sam love triangle, Alice and Bob will be together at the end of the series.
I guessed a plot twist in a new book that way. MC meets a guy, sort of falls for him, then some events happen, she meets the second guy, sort of falls for him, too, then one of the guys is supposed to be a traitor and a villain. Even though everything pointed at the second guy being nice, I immediately guessed he was the bad seed.
Because he came second.
It is as if the reader is supposed to latch onto the first potential love interest and cheer for them from now on.
One of the few exceptions is the Childhood Friend trope. In which one of the love interests is MC's childhood friend.
You could argue, actually, that the exception only seems to be that way, because, being a childhood friend, the love interest has literally met MC first.
However, as a reverse trope, an existing romance is almost always bad. If in the first chapter MC already has a boyfriend or a girlfriend, this romance will most likely go belly up.
Same goes for the existing attraction. If MC starts the story already being in love with someone and the love triangle eventually develops, they will most likely end up with that person's rival.
However, if we see the beginning of attraction for both love interests, then the first LI will most likely win.
It's easy to dismiss it as another cliche, but I remember a screenwriting lecture where we were told about a similar effect and given a warning--do not present a character as if they belong to the main cast if you are going to throw the character away soon, and do not give a large hero entrance to a secondary character unless you are deconstructing on purpose. People get hooked on first impressions.
What do you think? Does imprinting work on you when you are reading a book?
Did you ever notice how closely most YA books stick to the imprinting principle?
The first guy/girl MC meets at the beginning of the story will be the winner of the love battle at the end. I don't mean the first character they ever meet, of course, but the first love rival. If Alice meets Bob in chapter two and Sam in chapter five and then we have an Alice-Bob-Sam love triangle, Alice and Bob will be together at the end of the series.
I guessed a plot twist in a new book that way. MC meets a guy, sort of falls for him, then some events happen, she meets the second guy, sort of falls for him, too, then one of the guys is supposed to be a traitor and a villain. Even though everything pointed at the second guy being nice, I immediately guessed he was the bad seed.
Because he came second.
It is as if the reader is supposed to latch onto the first potential love interest and cheer for them from now on.
One of the few exceptions is the Childhood Friend trope. In which one of the love interests is MC's childhood friend.
You could argue, actually, that the exception only seems to be that way, because, being a childhood friend, the love interest has literally met MC first.
However, as a reverse trope, an existing romance is almost always bad. If in the first chapter MC already has a boyfriend or a girlfriend, this romance will most likely go belly up.
Same goes for the existing attraction. If MC starts the story already being in love with someone and the love triangle eventually develops, they will most likely end up with that person's rival.
However, if we see the beginning of attraction for both love interests, then the first LI will most likely win.
It's easy to dismiss it as another cliche, but I remember a screenwriting lecture where we were told about a similar effect and given a warning--do not present a character as if they belong to the main cast if you are going to throw the character away soon, and do not give a large hero entrance to a secondary character unless you are deconstructing on purpose. People get hooked on first impressions.
What do you think? Does imprinting work on you when you are reading a book?