Love Triangles

I know.

Love triangle has become a taboo term in YA. They're overdone! They're unrealistic! They're melodramatic! They anger me so much I need to use exclamation points to express myself!

Yes, they're overdone, yes, they can be unrealistic, yes, they can be melodramatic. But, they can also create suspense, they can make your characters more sympathetic, and they can be an adequately dramatic plot-device. They can be awesome.

There's an important love triangle in my current WIP, so I've been interested in exploring what makes my favourite love triangles so successful. Using the example of Jason/Lyla/Tim from Friday Night Lights, I'll share what I've found. 

For those of you who haven't seen the first season of Friday Night Lights, there will be spoilers below. Also, if you haven't seen Friday Night Lights, why not? Get thee to a DVD store, Netflix, Hulu for you lucky Americans, and watch all five seasons. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be all WTF at season two, and it'll be good times. Promise.

So, the Jason/Lyla/Tim saga can be summed up with this quote:

Lyla: What do you want to talk about, Tim? The fact that you're sleeping with your paralyzed best friend's girlfriend?

Uh, yeah. Jason and Tim were best friends, on the football team together. Jason and Lyla were together, the perfect quarterback and cheerleader couple. Jason becomes paralyzed after a football accident, and his relationship with Lyla suffers. Lyla turns to Tim, they have sexy!times, Jason finds out, Jason tries to fight Tim, at one point they run off to Mexico...you know the story. Here's a fan-made video I found that showcases all the teenage angst of their triangle, set to one of my favourite songs:

This is what I think makes this love triangle successful:

• Everyone is connected. Love triangles are often two guys who love the same girl, but have no connection to other (except, perhaps, for a shirtless fight over her.) Jason and Tim, however, were teammates and best friends. This leads to:
• High stakes. If Tim gains Lyla, he loses his best friend. He also loses the respect of his teammates, since he betrayed their paralyzed hero. If Lyla gains Tim, she loses Jason. She also loses her perfect reputation--as is shown so well in the episode It's Different for Girls--as she cheated on her paralyzed boyfriend. Lyla's also a Christian, and after she has sexy!times with Tim, she says, "I just hope I don't go straight to Hell for this." All of this gives the audience a reason to be invested in the outcome of this triangle.
• Love. It's easy to see Jason and Lyla as couple who are together because they're supposed to be, but I think the show makes it clear that they do--or, at least, did--love each other to some extent. It's easy to see Tim and Lyla as a couple who are together just to rebel, but considering their constant on and off relationship, the audience knows they love each other as well. Tim's guilt over Jason's accident and everything else he does for Jason, even after Jason ends their friendship, shows that he loves Jason.
• There's no Good Guy and Bad Guy. I think most Friday Night Lights fans shipped Tim and Lyla over Jason and Lyla, but I don't know of any who hated Jason. No matter who you want to be together, the show encourages you to root for everyone's happiness. 

Many of those points are connected, which I think shows that a good love triangle needs two factors: three well-developed characters readers care about it, and confusion. Invest your readers in your story, create suspense through confusion as to who should be who with who, and you'll be on your way to writing a successful love triangle.*

* Take all of my advice with a pound of salt, especially since there are always exceptions.