Marie Brennan on Love Triangles

[meganbmoore]

swan_tower, author of the awesome feminist fantasy duology Doppelganger and Warrior and Witch, has posted an article on love triangles here.

My opinion on 99% of the blasted things is fairly well documented, but this is interesting(make it really necessary or I'm gone, make it the main conflict and kill me now, have it there just for the angst and get chunked against something, and in all cases, there had better be something compelling to keep me going.)  I particularly like this part:

It might seem all dramatic and heroic to have one of your candidates die nobly at the climax of the story, but overwhelmingly readers want the heroine to make up her own damn mind. In other words, don’t cheese out of your own conflict; step up and take responsibility for developing your characters, and make them make the hard choices.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

but overwhelmingly readers want the heroine to make up her own damn mind.

This is also kind of why the love triangle resolution in the latest Mercy Thompson was a letdown. Because Mercy didn't choose. It was a sort of "You're not really in love with me. I knew this but was just waiting for you to realize it" sort of thing and wow, that sounds even more lame writing it out like that.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the impression I had from the first two books, too.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I never liked the "other man" dying to solve the love triangle. It felt like not only a cop out that cheapened the real relationship, but also unfair to the third wheel who did nothing more than love someone. I'm all for everyone ending up with an OTP in the end, much like a movie from the thirties.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's the "triangles as angst excuse" thing. No tolerance for it.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

And not make the choice obvious! Or if you make the choice obvious, don't have her hook up with the other guy for no apparent reason!

*shakes fist at Wolf Moon*

. . . I'm in a tangenty mood today.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

That's ok, I've been ranting/tangenty all week.

Wolf Moon?

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Fantasy novel that starts off with a good approach -- a note from the author said he wanted to, for a change, write a fantasy where the focus was on the characters instead of politics and worldbuilding and so forth; he also wanted to write a story where the werewolf was a good guy.

The story starts off with an evil magic worker/musician chasing down the poor guy in wolf form; he falls off a cliff to escape and some kindly fishermen drop him off at an inn. He's taken in, recovers, and meets the gang there: A feisty woman and her brother, a kind but reserved girl, and some other guy. I forget all the details, but anyway. They go about their day-to-day business, and he starts up a relationship with the reserved girl. Their friend the inkeeper, a tinker by trade, is expected back but is later than they'd hoped; wolf man decides to head out and lend a hand. The poor tinker's been attacked by thieves, so he wolfs out and kills them before they can kill him. Tinker thanks him and brushes off the weirder aspects of the event. A werewolf that fights for him is no threat, after all.

Then the evil magic worker/musician comes and uses his mind control harp to bend most of 'em to his will. He plays up a monster that attacks Feisty Girl's brother and kills him to resemble a werewolf attack. They turn on the poor wolf boy and he runs off, then decides to try and free his friends as thanks for what they'd done.

Magic Guy seduces his girlfriend and basically rapes her while she's smiling about how awesome he is. Feisty Girl manages to throw off the control, but Magic Guy notices and points out how easy it would be for her to die like her brother, so she plays along. Later, she sneaks out and helps poor Wolf Guy. They plan an attack, and she's pretty awesome all around. The big moment comes, and she destroys the magic harp while Wolf Guy takes on Magic Guy. And it's no easy task -- she's knocked out by the power released from the harp, and Wolf Guy goes to kill the baddie. Then his girlfriend, freshly raped by the nutjob and now in full control of her mind, screams for him to stop and not kill Magic Guy. While Magic Guy is actively trying to kill him. He does anyway, and in the epilogue he's still with his girlfriend but Feisty Girl (who, the book shows, would be so much better for him) had at least recovered from the magic blast.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

*waves at Pearl Harbor*

Just the movie that came immediately to mind, and didn't go away

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

eeeh...she made a choice, and the movie decided it was the wrong one and offed the better guy so the one who dumped everyone, ran off to be a hero, stayed away for ages and then threw a hissy fit that people had the nerve to go on with their life when they thought he was dead could get the girl.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

ITA about forcing characters to make choices (preferably hard ones) and responsibility for their own actions. I'm always carping about it as an editor. Also, one of my favorite romantic triangles ever is John vs. John over Aeryn. *sigh*

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Aaah...responsibility...I especially love it when we're supposed to forgive behavior because they're angsty because...mommy and daddy wanted them to live up to their responsibilities.

The sad thing is that a good triangle is compelling, but most are just excuses for angst and/or conflict.