Saturday, December 1, 2012

Love-Triangles - I love 'em!

So far, I've written mostly Romance novels which are pretty traditional. Boy - girl - struggle - love.
But what I love to watch on tv and in film are love-triangles. I have a triangle with a twist in my Christmas Read, Angel All Year, which has my angel Angela torn between two men, one alive and one with her as an angel.

Here are some of my favorite love-triangles....

Haven - Will Audrey go for Nathan or Duke?
Grey's Anatomy - well there are loads of complications in Grey's, but the Mark/Lexie/Jackson combo was great - until recently, obviously! and when they added in a serious girlfriend for Mark, that made it even more watchable!
The Vampire Diaries - I'm getting slowly sucked into VD, and am starting from Season One over Christmas to find out what I've missed-jumping in mid-stream. The Elena/Damon/Stefan triangle is just delicious!
Revenge - The question Will Emily choose Daniel or Jack kept me glued to the screen.
The Good Wife - Alicia's torment choosing whether to stay with her cheating husband, Peter, or to embrace a new, enduring romance with Will...
True Blood - Sookie - Bill - Eric...Heck, she should just go Alcide!
Twilight - Bella-Jake-Edward? Did she make the right choice?

I could go on and on. Because everything I watch seems to have compelling triangles in it.

I guess the love-triangle addresses a fundamental issue. Does the heroine want the steady, good-for-her man who's in the wings, or will she choose the wilder love interest, that she just can't resist? What makes it even more interesting is when she starts with one, moves on to the other, and then the first love moves on, and she wants him back! Or the scenario when she catches the wild one, he becomes devoted, and in true human-nature fashion, the other lover (who doesn't need/want her any more) becomes the human equivalent of catnip!

I love love-triangles. I think I'd like to write some. But the only way to write love-triangles is to give enough space to show all the relationships, and conflicts, so instead of a stand-alone book, I reckon a series would be the way to go, to show all the different permutations and love affairs that make up a complex life with love lost, love found, love rediscovered.

Surprises are the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top, the element that makes ordinary extraordinary.

Now, tell me what love-triangles you've loved that I've missed?

5 comments:

  1. I agree Sally, can't resist a love triangle! Not sure whether you've read Hunger Games (you should, if you haven't!) but there's a angsty love triangle in there. As if the series needed another reason to keep me turning those pages! x

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  2. Hi Madelaine - I haven't (shame on me!) even though both my daughters keep telling me to. Will definitely go and steal it from them now! :)

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  3. In 'Haven', that seems to have changed to who will Audrey choose: Nathan or Chris?

    I love a good love triangle story too, Sally. Which reminds me that I still have one on my hard drive needing to be finished...

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  4. Hi Sally, I'm as addicted to The Good Wife, Twilight and Vampire Diaries! I wonder why? Because of the love triangle?

    I loved Angel All Year and the triangle there, poor Angela!

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