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How to write a love triangle: Get the inside scoop from Joya Ryan, Tiffany Snow & us

Love triangles are like romance crack to me – put a good one in any story and I’m immediately, helplessly hooked. I’ll swallow any other problems in the story without complaint, buy into any world and hope desperately for the redemption of characters who I know I really should have given up on. At Piatkus, we’re lucky enough to this October publish two authors who excel at creating love triangles – Joya Ryan and Tiffany Snow – and even luckier that they’ve agreed to share their trade secrets on writing love triangles.


Love triangle rules à la Tiffany Snow – author of the Risky Business trilogy

  1. Decide how far the love triangle will go. There are various degrees of “love triangle” and in my opinion, a TRUE love triangle is one where the heroine falls in love with BOTH heroes. For instance, did anyone really think Jacob ever had a chance with Bella? Or that Ashley and Scarlett were ever going to get together? But having a heroine fall in love with two different men is a tough scenario to create believably. And then comes the next question: will she have sex with both men? And, if so, how to do that without turning women readers against her? (Women readers are very tough on heroines, especially when it comes to the heroes they adore.) But a love triangle doesn’t have to go that far, as we’ve seen many times in fiction. Just know and have a plan for how and why and how much the heroine will be emotionally involved with each hero.
  2.  Don’t go for the easy way out. Locked in a love triangle and don’t know what to do? Death starts looking pretty darn good — for one of your heroes, that is. Kill one off and voilà! The heroine’s choice is made for her. Or, Option B, have one of the heroes do something so reprehensible, the readers (and the heroine) are left with no choice but the alternative. Stay true to your characters and dig deeper for that reason why one love story is going to work out and the other one won’t.
  3. Be Prepared for the Fallout. Unless the love triangle is erotica, someone’s going to lose in the end. Romance readers get emotionally invested in characters — that’s one of the many reasons they’re the best! And with that investment comes disappointment and sometimes anger when a love triangle doesn’t end to their satisfaction. I think every romance writer of a love triangle has had the hate messages and angry emails at the end of a series (or during) when their preferred hero doesn’t get the girl. The old saying is true: you can’t make everyone happy. Be sure to stick to YOUR vision for the story and give readers a reason to follow your emotional logic. Don’t pull a rabbit out of the hat at the end and expect readers who’ve faithfully followed (oftentimes for many books) to be pleased. End the love triangle in a way that justifies the work put in to creating it.

 

Love triangle rules à la Joya Ryan – author of the Reign series

  1.  Friendly Competition: There’s nothing wrong with a bit of friendly fire when it comes to getting the girl. Keeping dude one and dude two in check with each other keeps the heat revved up and the scenes spicy. Going for the girl can be a tricky match, so each guy has to bring his A game.
  2.  Earn it: One of the best parts of writing a love triangle is pitting two strong men, not against each other, but against themselves. They want the girl? They have to earn her. Why are they the best man? How can they prove that to her and the reader? That key element of breaking down the hero and showing what he’s really made of and why the heroine should be with him is what keeps the story constantly spiraling forward.
  3.  Mr. Man Must Be Unique: Each hero in the story has to have his own flare. He possess something the other hero doesn’t and it’s that something that the heroine needs. Each man has different skills, strengths and taps into a special side of the heroine. It’s the men’s uniqueness from each other and from other men that keep the reader going back and forth on who to cheer for. Because they’re both awesome in their own way!

 

And finally, here are three points from an editorial point of view, as I had a think about what really makes them work for me as an editor:

  1. Make the choice difficult. Too often, I see love triangles made up of the ‘right on paper’ choice and the maverick choice that you just know is the only one who’s capable of making the heroine truly happy. Don’t get me wrong, I love that too (I’m basically a sucker for anything involving three characters and a choice for the heroine to make) but where this doesn’t work is if much of the excitement in the story is meant to flow from who the heroine ends up with. If both men aren’t deeply appealing in their individual ways, it can make for a very frustrating read. It becomes harder to sympathise with a heroine going back-and-forth over this kind of choice, which automatically distances your readers from the story.
  2. Explore the difference. I find the most compelling triangles occur when each hero brings out a different aspect of the heroine – the more you can tie her choice in with the heroine’s character arc, with the kind of person she wants to be, the more powerful the story is likely to become – the stakes will be higher if we believe that her ultimate choice will also impact her overall character.
  3. Give the heroine agency. It can be very easy for a heroine in this situation to become somewhat passive – someone who keeps being rescued, who is helplessly overcome every time one of the heroes makes a move. Though initially compelling (everyone can understand how she might feel!), without a heroine who has the gumption to make her own choice and fight against her feelings, as well as rebel against the situation as a whole, may begin to lose reader sympathy – make sure she’s got her own story and develops as a character in her own right. What, apart from each of the men, does your heroine want?

 

Want more love triangles? Of course you do, because THEY ARE AWESOME. We love this list of 26 unforgettable TV triangles, in order of time sustained . . .

 

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