Fantasy Love triangle Remix

So I wanted to try a slightly different spin on the classic love triangle. It is effectively diving the Main Character's attention between a best friend character and a romantic interest.

The only real difference from the standard fare is that the friend character serves as intimate emotional support for the Main character as well as his protector. The MC is more or less a non-action hero so helping her sort out her problems is about the only thing he can do to pay her back for her protection. (Put simply She is effectively the RPG hero proxy of the story.)

The romantic interest is too stubborn for her own good and has unwavering faith that the MC doesn't need to be coddled to deal with his closet skeletons. Said skeletons WILL drive him insane if ignored.

Circumstances also puts the MC and the RI in a situation where they cannot be open about their relationship. Leading the BF to a false lead.

With the RI there's chemistry and they are in similar life situations. There is friction on a regular basis that makes the romance firey but not hostile. The RI is nobility to his peasant status. She is roughly a year younger @21

With the BF, they get along well. Very well. They never argue and always see eye to eye. Despite their differences they understand each other. More or less peers socially. She is a year older @23.

So. Knowing only that. Who would be the favorite for 'winning' the love triangle?

The "favorite to win" shouldn't depend on which character sounds better on paper as a stripped down summary, it should depend on which one is the better match for the character in question. Which would require actually writing the characters within the setting and plot and seeing how they interact, and what feels most natural a progression.

That is to say, you shouldn't be asking us this at all. You should be writing the story and then maybe coming with an actual draft and asking us whether the romance as written is good or not.

I guess I should have mentioned that, the story is written. I was looking for a at a glance judgement that relationships occasionally get at a far. This happens with real relationships when people deem someone no good for another person. I was simply curious to see what people naturally gravitated towards.

Well then you'd be better off just letting somebody read the story. Right now all I see is shallow descriptions of fictional people I've never seen anything of, which is utterly meaningless if you're trying to gauge reactions for this kind of thing. You aren't going to find out if a romance works by floating the summary of it.

Edit: To clarify, to me this is one step below saying "this fic ships Character A and Character B, and Character A and Character C." At least in fanfiction, that at least gives me a point of reference if I've experienced the original work of who the characters all are, though it still doesn't tell me whether or not the story is actually good.

In this case, there isn't even a point of reference, because this isn't a fanfiction of something I've already seen/read (presumably).

edited 15th May '12 3:00:59 PM by Flyboy

You're right of course. Just trying other approaches. For those interested the details (and chapters) are in the link on my sig. This being a site about tropes, I thought there might be trends as far as what love interest tends to succeed over another. As an example. In anime and media I grew up with, the childhood friend almost always got the shaft.

edited 15th May '12 3:19:52 PM by Dimanagul

There's no reason to play to the expected stereotypes of what "should" happen if you don't want to. Who says the childhood friend can't win? The billion shows already out there? Well fuck them, you aren't writing those shows, you're writing you're own thing, so you should go with what is natural and good for the characters you have, not with what other writers decided worked for their characters.

By other approaches I meant for analysis, not execution. I find it interesting that people gravitate towards certain archetypes over others.

That kind of analysis would go better in Trope Talk, then.

Point taken. Still a bit of a new blood here.

Ok, after some thought I realized what I was getting at.

Two timing is a very serious matter in real life and fiction alike, but it seems that it's generally accepted to have a female friend even if you're involved or married. If said friend is the only factor in keeping you alive and safe isn't there a bit of a morale conflict as to what a 'girlfriend' really is?

Is the definition of girlfriend really just who you sleep with? I was building the romance in my story on a relatively straight forward romance but the 'competition' is a really a series of misunderstandings. Naturally bad things happen when you keep secrets from friends, but what if the person you love asks you to?

There's also the complication that when your friend is providing you deep emotional support a bond develops between them and if the person you love (in a relationship) isn't providing something crucial it's an instant mess. Thankfully messes are fun to write. Especially when the shit hits the fan when inevitable truth comes out.

From my point of view, and personaly experience love blossoms in several ways. What are some circumstances that your characters would justify participating in a love triangle intentionally or not?

In my story's case Derrek has a deep and meaningful friendship with Naida, the person that protected him since his arrival in Pange. Both of them lay focus on each other's mental health rather than each other's passions. Over time and because of this bond of trust, romantic feelings are bound to follow. I'm having alot of fun with the traditional role reversal of Derrek being the 'Damsel' in the relationship. I haven't gotten to the point where I've written any infidelity between them, because the whole 'they got drunk' thing is so tired.

His relationship with Zammela starts the way many real relationships begin, physical attraction (it is a bit more complicated than just "He thinks she's hot." Think literal magnets here). As they learn more about each other a real connection blossoms. There's also the fact human nature tends to flip the bird at people that say 'you two shouldn't be together.' I'm having a lot of fun with the mixture of Zammela's irrational demands. Despite this, being a green eyed jealous monster is not among them.