Today I bring with me a slightly odd, perhaps controversial subject, and I would love for all our readers to weigh in on this.
We've all seen the Love Triangle done to death in YA. Boy1 loves Girl, Girl loves Boy1. Boy2 loves Girl, Girl loves Boy2 and has to choose between them. (I don't even think I've read a book where it's been two girls after the same guy and he has to choose. Am I looking at the wrong books?) In all honesty, I find myself shying away from books when I know beforehand they have a love triangle because, to me, it's always so obvious from the start who she's going to end up with.
But...but...
What do you think about threesomes?
I'm talking about three people who all feel strongly for one another and are in a relationship together. Alternatively, I guess it would be one central person who is with two people at once, although the two aren't necessarily interested in eachother.
Obviously, this kind of situation would have a whole slew of tensions and problems beyond those of a regular one-on-one relationship. The three involved would need to be a tight-knit, emotionally inseperable trio. They're the threesome who you just can't imagine pairing two of them together because what happens to that third person? (I guess they're the Riku/Sora/Kairi's of the YA world, for any of my fellow gamers out there.)
Or maybe this threesome gives it a try, and all hell breaks loose and they realize, "This was a terrible idea!"
We're seeing popular YA books trickle onto the shelves dealing with issues like polygamy and the like, so obviously this kind of thing isn't unheard of. Weigh in, everyone! What do you think? Would you secretly (or not so secretly) root for your love triangle to hook up?
Ahhh Kelley . . . the way your brain works :D
ReplyDeleteI have NO idea. I think because I have a hard time wrapping around it for MYSELF, I also have a hard time wrapping my head around this.
Even in lgbt, I can feel the connection to the other, even though I've never been a boy in love with another boy, and even though I've never loved a girl that way. But there's something still that I identify with, making me love those stories as much as more "traditional" love stories.
I think most of me just thinks that there's no way for that kind of relationship to truly have a happy end for all three parties. I think that's what it comes down to, and as much as I love a mixed ending, I also love me a good HEA :D
The film Chasing Amy dealt with these sorts of issues. Not quite in the way you're talking about but pretty close. It would be worth a view if you've never seen it anyhow.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, Kelley! I'm not a jealous person, but I also don't share well, (at least when it comes to relationships) so this is a different concept for me to consider. Something tells me you could probably make it work in a story...if you write it, I'll read it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm torn. I'm curous so I would read a book with a love triangle like that, but I wouldn't make a habit out of it. I'm not convinced everyone would be happy in the end. The pain adn conflict would make a good story line, but at some point I feel it must end.
ReplyDeleteJolene, LOL, I get where you're coming from. Personally, I love non-traditional love stories that are messy and twisted and don't always have happy endings. (Though sometimes, all I want is a good romance with a happy ending as a pick-me-up.)
ReplyDeleteMark, that was such a great movie!!
Wendy, the WIP idea I'm working on now deals with this kind of thing, although it's definitely not something that's going to be all butterflies and rainbows. ;) Don't say that or I'll make you beta for me, LOL.
Cynthia, I definitely think it shouldn't be a trend, because it's a theme that would be very hard to pull off right. Even one that didn't end well would be interesting to me.
I think that would open the door to a lot of possiblities. I saw a documentary on polyamorous groups, and long term it only seemed to work out when all three people cared for each other and considered it to be relationship between the three of them, rather than the cases of one person dating other people who had no interest in each other. Not that that is wrong or can't work, it just didn't in any of these cases.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting one to me was a married couple who discovered they had both fallen in love with a family friend, and they ended up sort of bringing her into the marriage, but not like Sister Wives polygamy, like they all sleep together and love each other romantically. It was a really cool dynamic that would have to presenteda lot of challenges as well as benefits. I can see it easily being the inspiration for really cool novel.
Lucy, there's an old coworker friend of mine who was in a relationship that, at the time, I was sure was NEVER going to work. She started dating a guy who had a girlfriend. For awhile, the two girls knew OF each other but had never met, and I kept cringing, waiting for something bad to happen...
ReplyDeleteBut last I heard from Friend, she and the girlfriend had met, got along great, and the three of them were still happy. (Granted, their relationship was a fairly casual one; they weren't all living together or anything.) They've been in this arrangement for several years with no problems. Personally, it boggles my mind but it makes me realize such things ARE possible with the right combination of people.
I would definitely consider writing a threesome into my story and kinda already have. Love triangles are so done in YA but they'll go on forever, I believe. I don't mind them as long as they're done right. And in an interesting way; like what the journey holds. In real life, I'm not one to share...but I'd like to be in the middle. :D hehehe
ReplyDeleteyeah. I don't a mixed ending either. This is hard, lol. BUT I've been thinking on it all day.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Wendy on this, too - I don't share well ;D
It's REALLY interesting to see the mixed responses on the poll results! The 'yes' answers and 'no' answers are split almost evenly down the middle.
ReplyDeleteI love books that deal with different or controversial topics, so this would be very interesting to me. I don't think it should be a trend, but most things shouldn't really be trends or it becomes overdone and annoying. But I like relationships that don't always work out either, especially in YA. It feels more real...so that wouldn't be a problem for me, if it ended badly for one or all.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
I would read it; if it was any good, I would talk about it loudly all over the internet and to everybody I ever met. It's so important for alternative lifestyles to be acknowledged and discussed, for teenagers to be able to find themselves in literature. And while polyamory, either as a three-person unit or as sharing in some other way, isn't for everybody, it is a valid way to live and the urge to live that way is something young adults should be able to explore through literature...and through their own experience if that's the way they feel they can find fulfillment. I would hope that any such literature would emphasize the important rules of polyamory--emotional honesty, for example, is key--whether through "teaching moments" where the principles aren't followed and hurt results or just through good example; but mostly I just want it out there, where young people can learn about another way the world around them could work, for them, for their friends or family or coworkers, for the random strangers they meet on the bus.
ReplyDeletethree friends by myron levoy (an older book, but still available on amazon) dealt in part with the story of a bisexual girl who falls for her best friend *and* her best friend's new boyfriend; the book is told from the perspectives of all three characters. i would love to see more stories like that on the shelves.
ReplyDelete