Writerly Ways

In addition to this writely ways, I have a writers post over on my writing blog that you might find interesting. 100 things meme writing negative characters

The love triangle: most people love them, others don’t but it’s undeniably a good way to introduce drama into the story. Overwhelmingly, YA novels include some form of the love triangle to the point I’ve seen some reviewers calling it cliché. Maybe so, but there are so many simply because it sells so very well.

While I’m loathed to use Twilight as an example for anything, those books did take the love triangle to new heights with all the Team Jacob/Edward crap. It does prove, however, the power of a love triangle to drive a story forward. Let’s look at another vampire book, older and far less suckier, no pun intended. Dracula, at its core there are two separate love triangles. Lucy and her men, most notably the doctor and the American. Lucy stood for the salacious female nature and true to Victorian times, her wantonness in enjoying the triangle, was rewarded with the punishment of being killed and turned into a monster. Mina, on the other hand, is more prim, more torn between Dracula and Jonathan (which is far more subdued in the book than it is in Coppola’s remake). That said, the original readers of the book were just as excited about that triangle as modern tweens are with Edward and Jacob.

Of course, the down side of a triangle is that one group of fans is bound to be disappointed. I’m still a little disappointed that Harry Potter didn’t end up with Hermione but that doesn’t diminish my over all love of the series. Generally speaking, there eventually has to be a choice. Now I have written polyamorous endings for my triangles but that’s not going to fly if I’m writing a YA.

The tricky part is to make sure the final choice makes sense. It’s always more satisfying that the resolution feels right for the characters. Sometimes the triangle includes a real douchebag of a character and it’s never not been eye rolling to see that character being the one selected.

It’s the dynamics of the triangle that makes it so fascinating and popular. Watching how the characters interact, the trials and triumphs of being in the situation capture the imagination. There is also a very dark side of love triangles. I find them just as fascinating. Turn on ID Discovery channel to shows like Scorned! Love Kills, Deadly Women, Wicked Attraction etc and see the flip side of a triangle. What happens when one of the members can’t deal with not being the one selected? What happens when one of them pits the other two against each other? The drama increases ten-fold but of course, these don’t usually lead to happily ever after. However, if your story doesn’t require a HEA, then it could make for some really powerful writing.

Yearly word count –

33321 / 75000 words. 44% done!

Scarred –

21938 / 25000 words. 88% done!

Staples – vampire short story, editing

Long Live the Little Knife – old vampire short story, editing

Until the Ice Break – worked on a scene @ 700 words

Machiavelli Moon, Splinters – failure across the board.

A lazy day

alternatively titled dad can bite me but more on that later.

I decided I needed a day off. I've been working 7 days a week on something or other all semester. So for me taking a day off means working on my writing. I got a couple scenes done and hopefully I can get some of my springkinks done. I REALLY need to get my beta readers for my original fic sorted out and stuff sent to them!

I got my fma_cya prompt. Oooo, now what to do with it. I need to mull.

I've also been sitting around buying jazz cds and tea. Also thinking about why in the hell Microsoft 8 would get rid of dvds. I just read that it's still like a 10 billion dollar a year industry. It's not dead yet. Oh it will be but I think most of us still have dvds. new stuff is going blu-ray all the time. It's like um, what?

3 page article on privacy issues and facebok That's worth the reading.

As for Dad, he's driving me nuts with this house hunt. He doesn't want me too in town because everything there is either from the 1900's or 1950s (too old, too 2-story or too squatty), he doesn't want me out of town because it'll have septic tanks and lp gas or propane. So I point out the double wides and they're no good. I point out the cottages and there's something wrong there too. 'you know you just can't get rid of this if you don't like it. it takes at least 5 years to make the break even mark.' Every house i've shown him sucks. Well that is partially true but he needs to either find a way to be helpful or shut the hell up.