Are We Over-Analysing Stories?

08 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, book review, criticism, culture, film, film review, musings, story, writing

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book criticism, elements of good storytelling, literary theory, story, writing

An analysis on both the shortcomings and successes of capitalism and the disillusionment of a capitalist society and aversion to manual labour, the exploited proletariat, and the realities of Marxist socialism. With references to Ayn Rand, Soviet propaganda, and Bernard Manderville. That’s Wisecrack’s view of Bee Movie, anyway. To me it’s just a so-bad-it’s-good failed Jerry Seinfeld animated children’s film about bees that I watch when I’m drunk.

Also a woman fell in love with a bee

Why analyse stories?

I like most writers gained an interest in the field through English literature classes at school. I was encouraged to analyse and critique books, and later films at university, and never stopped. There’s nothing wrong with this as it’s both enjoyable and an essential part of being a writer. How can you hope to write well if you don’t know the elements of good storytelling?

There’s not even anything wrong with making analysis part of fandom activity. Often the most loyal fans are the most critical since they pay closer attention to the work. And being aware of the flaws in a piece of fiction doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy it. I could write essays about what is wrong with Tolkien’s books and the film adaptations, but I could also write twice as much on everything great about them.

I have a lot to say about Legolas’ mullet

The critic problem

Being so obsessed with stories has naturally led me to making extra money by writing book reviews, and occasionally posting reviews on this blog. The general structure of a review which was given to me by the editor is supposed to be:

The general plot of the novel
What works and doesn’t work about it
Who would enjoy the book and who should avoid it

In my spare time I enjoy watching reviews and video essays on Youtube. I even enjoy Wisecrack’s series of philosophy and deeper meaning videos, since it puts a lot of my favourite stories in an entirely new context that I never noticed before. Some online critics have even turned critiquing into an artform in itself, by making their videos both informative and funny. Tony Goldmark, who reviews theme parks on his show ‘Some Jerk With a Camera’ is my favourite reviewer since he uses his background in comedy music to make his videos half review and half comedy sketch show.

But even the critics I used to enjoy are deviating away from the formula that I obey strictly, something which was made even clearer during the recent Change the Channel fiasco. I’m not alone in feeling that some professional critics are getting a little too invested in what is supposed to be just entertainment and angry over what they deem as subpar. I understand that they care deeply about maintaining a high standard of quality in the industry. Yet even as a writer and part-time critic myself, sometimes I just want to scream at them ‘it’s only a story! Get over yourself. It’s not worth getting this angry’.

The rise in popularity of Youtube channels such as Cinema Sins has also created the idea that we need to nitpick every tiny detail of a work of fiction and that anything less than perfect is worthless. Yet nobody in history has ever created anything completely perfect (except for my parents when they made me!). Just look at their critique on Ratatouille. Did you even notice half of the ‘sins’ they bring up? Did it ruin your enjoyment of the film? Probably not. You were probably just paying attention to the story, characters, and great comedy, not minor continuity errors that nobody cares about.

Obsessively critical attitudes like this are part of the reason why people seem to be becoming more cynical and judgemental about media today and may even be putting off great artists from creating the things they love. Nitpicking is neither good criticism nor good entertainment. That’s why nobody wants to hang out with the person who teases you for every little thing.

The ‘wrong’ perspective

This can happen in English literature classes too. True most authors do write for their love of the craft, and with the average pay for writers being so low that’s the only real reason people should write. But what they don’t teach you at school is that more often than we’d like to admit, if you ask a writer the real meaning behind their work, they’ll answer ‘because I needed the money’ or ‘that’s the only way I could get the story to work’.

We tend to view Shakespeare’s plays as the height of sophistication which people quote to sound smart (I know I do). Yet we forget that at the time they were written, they were seen as populist entertainment, the same way that soap operas and sitcoms are generally viewed today. If you analyse them deep enough, you will find lots of bawdy humour, black comedy, and words Shakespeare made up just to suit the scene (did you know he invented the word ‘elbow’?). Some even theorise that he had to write his plays a certain way to entertain royals, not because he wanted to bore school children hundreds of years later.

This is happening even to more contemporary authors. Right up to his death, Ray Bradbury had people arguing to his face that his novel Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship, not a commentary on television like he intended.

I suppose having your work mis-interpreted is one of the risks of being an author. Then again, the entire point of literature, in my opinion at least, is that each reader is allowed to interpret it the way that they want. And if thousands of people view Farenheit 451 as a critique on censorship then there’s nothing wrong with that. There is something wrong with telling the guy who wrote the book that his own interpretation is incorrect and that theirs is the only right one.

Analyse at your own will

It is enjoyable to look for the meaning and symbolism in fiction and to write it into your own stories. But I’m against the idea that all stories need to be layered in symbolism or have a deep and important message. Stories can be read and written just for fun, not because we want to play a game of ‘spot the symbolism’. Some stories can just be about an exciting adventure or two people falling in love, not a veiled essay on the Irish potato famine.

Maybe Bee Movie is a genius deconstruction of capitalism. Or maybe it’s a dumb animated movie about bees which is fun to riff on with friends. At the end of the day the only thing that really matter is what you thought of it.

Top eight writing fumbles which ruin a good story

02 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Common Criticism, criticism, romance, story, tv, writing, writing advice

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Tags

good story turned bad, story, writing a story, writing advice, writing tips

Have you ever found yourself getting really into a work of fiction – binge watching entire seasons at a time, buying all the merchandise, or gushing about it on social media – but later on you find yourself hating the work you used to love? Sometimes it is simply a case of our tastes changing naturally over time, or sometimes it’s a change in the writing staff or management. But often it is due to the writer making a bad decision which turns even the most loyal fans away. These are some of the biggest writing mistakes which ruin a good story which you should avoid in your own writing:

Abandoning the premise

While some bad stories fail to live up to their premise, others abandon theirs altogether and alienate their existing fanbase. For example, say you have a gritty, relatable drama about regular working-class characters but then halfway through the characters suddenly win the lottery and it turns into a comedic farce about living amongst the wealthy elite. Those are two excellent premises on their own but switching from one to another in the same continuity is just a slap in the face to any fans who enjoyed the original premise.

Forced romantic conflict

I love romance plots with a burning passion, but I completely despise those which are inserted into a story for the sake of it, or which rely upon outdated or unpopular plots such as a love triangle, affair, or misunderstanding. If you do want to include a romance plot or test the couple, at least make it meaningful and fitting with the story and characters.

A delve into darkness

It is beneficial for a story to become increasingly dark as it goes on, since it gradually ups the stakes and provides deeper conflict. Yet more writers seem to be under the impression that they need to make the story as dark and disturbing as possible early on, which only makes the characters unlikeable and the story too depressing to follow or finish. Game of Thrones is probably the main cause of this trend, yet what most people don’t realise is that despite the increasingly dark tone, there still remains an element of hope that our favourite characters may still survive and fix everything. That is what keeps us enthralled with the series, not the endless stream of blood, death, and rape.

Dragging out the drama

In a failed attempt to keep fans interested, some writers drag out their conflicts almost indefinitely, or at least way past the point when they should have been concluded. This can actually have the opposite effect in turning fans away from the plot, since they have little incentive to follow it if they don’t believe it will ever be solved. Similarly, if you introduce a mystery or burning question into the narrative, don’t drag it along further than it needs to, otherwise the fans will stop caring.

Hitting the reset button

Have you ever reached a satisfying conclusion for a season of a tv show or a book in a series, only for the author to suddenly undo it all at the very end, or set up yet another long string of incredibly similar challenges for the characters to face? It fails because it makes the entire journey you have just followed feel completely pointless, and hints that the next instalment will just be a rehash of the first. If you are writing a series, build upon each new instalment with something new and the fans will stay interested for as long as you write it.

Too many plot twists

Plot twists are like rollercoasters; exiting when ridden one at a time, but if you ride several one after another then you’re just going to feel sick. If you have too many plot twists or plot twists which are too close together, the fans will barely be able to catch their breath before the next one comes along. Generally, I would say limit yourself to only one or two plot twists per book or season and give the fans plenty of breathing room each time to process them.

An unsatisfactory ending

Whether the story ends with joy or tragedy, it at least needs to be satisfactory and fitting to what the rest of the story has been building up to. No matter how good the rest of the story is, a bad ending will taint the entire thing and leave fans raging.

Which writing mistakes do you think ruin a good story? What has made you hate a story that you used to love? Tell me in the comments below!

Writing Lesson of the Week – I Gave up on Short Stories…Almost

18 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in musings, self publishing, Short story, story, writing, writing advice, writing lesson of the week

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creative writing, publishing, publishing short stories, short story, short story writing, story, writer, writing, writing competition, writing contest

I used to write a tonne of short stories and probably have a whole box full of incomplete ones in my parent’s attic. That’s because when I was studying Creative Writing, we were often assigned short stories as it was a much easier way to complete a writing exercise and for the tutor to assess our writing ability. I kept this practice up in the few years immediately following graduation and did fairly well. The first story I submitted to a contest was placed and included in an anthology. But that was 5 years ago and I haven’t had any success with short stories since then.

I have written a few short stories since then and submitted a few to contests, but otherwise I have all but abandoned short stories. I used to set targets for how many stories I was going to submit in each year and fell behind every time. This year I have submitted a grand total of one story, and that was only last month. This is because once I became serious about completing my novel (which is very close to the end of the second draft!) and getting published, I realised that I only have a certain amount of free time each week for ‘personal writing’. Working on a short story takes time away from my novel, meaning it will take me longer to complete it and it is more likely that I will miss my self-imposed deadline.

There are some exceptions, like when I get a really good idea that just won’t leave me alone. If I read about a contest or publication I am particularly interested in and think I have a shot at then I will submit something to them. That’s why I have still submitted a few stories to Magic Oxygen, since they plant a tree for every story they receive.

I’ve also taken a quick break from my novel right now because I read about a publisher that accepts the type of writing I do and I had an old story lingering on my hard drive that I’m adapting for that publisher. Even if they don’t accept it I can always submit it to another publication or even publish it as an Amazon short. That would actually give me a good test run for when I eventually publish my novel.

The only problem is that the short story is now running away with me and becoming longer than anticipated. And I’m becoming overly attached to the characters in the same way I do with my novel characters. And it may turn into a novella. This might have been a mistake…

The Villain Redemption Story. Part 3 – How to Write a Villain Redemption Story

04 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in Common Criticism, culture, fantasy, story, villain, writing, writing advice

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novel writing, story, story arc, villain, villain redemption, writers, writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing tips

In this series, I’ve previously looked at why you should consider a villain redemption arc, when is the right time in a story to redeem a villain, and the things to avoid. Now it’s time to finally look at how to write the villain redemption arc.

Just like with any good writing trope, a villain redemption story relies on one important ingredient – A story arc. In cartoons, you may see villains changing their tune completely with the minimum amount of convincing, but that is mostly due to time constraints. In a novel, particularly in a fantasy story, you have more space to write an ongoing story arc to show the villain’s gradual change. In real life, people don’t change their entire attitude in a single day or after hearing a single heartfelt speech. It takes years for that sort of change to happen. Here are a few other ways that you can write this story arc:

Leave Hints Throughout the Story

Similar to dropping foreshadowing throughout your story, leaving some hints that your villain has the potential for good will help when it does come time for them to change. It goes beyond ‘they’re evil but still love their pet dog’. Even the worst people in history had loved ones and pets they cared for. It could instead be an indication of the outside forces that turned them bad or having them show a hint of sympathy at a time when they didn’t need to.

Research Real Life Cases

All good writers do their research, and the same is true here. It is useful to look up some real life examples of former extremists who changed their attitudes to see how it can happen realistically. Check out this story of a former member of a South African militia. You can see that there was a key moment when he realised that he was on the wrong side, but it only came about after a long period of doubt, and even that wasn’t enough for him to leave the militia immediately.

Show the Consequences

So the villain has left their evil ways behind, now they can join the good guy’s team and fight evil themselves, right? It isn’t quite as clean as that. Actions have consequences and even if the person has been forgiven and is trying to redeem themselves, they will have to deal with these consequences and travel a difficult road to redemption.

First there is the emotional weight they have to deal with. How do they feel when they realise the thing they’ve believed in their whole lives was a lie? Do they respond with denial, depression, or by turning their anger against a new target? It isn’t always easy for people to abandon their old lives, especially if they still have family ties towards it.

They don’t have to be completely perfect straight away, but can instead transition into being good, or at least better than they were. It is more realistic, and holds more emotional weight, to show them accidentally letting out an offensive slur, acting aggressively, or holding onto old habits rather than immediately opening a puppy farm. And of course, there will still be a lot of guilt for them to deal with.

Make the Punishment Fit the Crime

Sure he killed dozens of people, but at least he didn’t eat their flesh.

Even if you want your character to be forgiven, they should ideally have to undergo some form of punishment for their crimes first. A reader will feel cheated if a former villain immediately gets away with everything they did just because they said ‘I’ll be good from now on’. Similarly, if a villain has taken steps for redemption but still receives an unfair punishment, the reader will feel equally cheated.

Subvert the Tropes

As much as I’ve said that there are certain tropes that should be avoided, you can still put interesting twists on them to create a unique story. Take the mind wipe, for instance. Instead of brainwashing the villain into their own ideology, suppose the hero has to do it because they have no choice (I seriously thought this was how Gravity Falls was going to end). This opens up the possibility for the hero to question their own morality, having a sort of redemption arc of their own. Perhaps they could use it as an opportunity to teach the villain how to use their powers for good. And what could happen if the villain does get their memories back? The story possibilities that come from subverted tropes are endless.

There are a lot of villain redemption stories which weren’t handled well. But those that are become some of the most emotional, interesting, and though provoking stories of all. Be sure to focus on the story arc and avoid the pitfalls and you can have a unique redemption plot in your own novel.

The Villain Redemption Story. Part 2: When to Redeem Villains

05 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in Common Criticism, culture, fantasy, film, musings, story, tv, villain, writing, writing advice

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novel, novel writing, story, story arc, villain, writing, writing advice, writing tips

I previously wrote about the villain redemption story and why it is such a great story to write about. But just like with every type of story, it can only work if it is done correctly. There are villain redemption stories which work and ones which don’t work. When is it right for a villain to be redeemed and when should they be left as they are? I’ve listed some examples of both to help identify when the right time to redeem a villain is:

The Comic Villain

Cartoonishly comic villains such as Discord, Gideon Gleeful, or Dr. Doofenshmirtz were all funny villain characters but they could also be genuine threats, and sometimes even outright terrifying. This type of villain can be redeemed since they are rarely the standard big bads so it is easier for readers to relate to and even sympathise with them. Funny villains are often much more incompetent compared to their darker counterparts so we can buy that they can be converted to the good side.

Story Potential

As I mentioned, there are countless numbers of stories you can have with a redeemed villain. It is often an ongoing process that can stretch over several books and provide your readers with many moral questions to mull over.

The Morality Pet

Ideally someone needs to show the villain the error of their ways and inspire them on the path to goodness. The morality pet trope is ideal for this, by providing the villain with a change in perspective, giving them something they can care for, and showing the readers their good side in how they protect and care for that person.

When not to redeem villains:

For the Sake of Drama

While the villain redemption story can increase drama, using it purely for the sake of increased drama rarely works well. There needs to be a reason for the drama to exist otherwise it will seem forced and unconvincing. Don’t shove in a redemption arc into your story just for the sake of it either. If you look at your story and find that a redemption arc doesn’t fit into it anywhere, then don’t feel as if you need to include one.

The Moral Guardian Ending

I call it this because a villain redeemed at the very end of the story with no build up feels like an ending suggested by a focus group or a concerned parent’s union and not by the author. If you have your villain change at the very end just for the sake of everyone feeling happy and getting along, the concerned parents may be happy but your readers won’t be. It is much better to redeem a villain with an ongoing story arc, and even with good characters struggling with viewing them as good, instead of at the last minute.

Mind Wipe

A common way that writers try to force in the Moral Guardian Ending is not by having the villain decide to change but for the heroes to turn them good by use of magic. This is problematic for two reasons. First of all, it is assuming that good and evil are easily identifiable, when as I discussed earlier they are in fact subjective and sometimes even ambiguous. Secondly, it doesn’t look too good when the hero essentially mind rapes the villain into thinking exactly as they do. If the villain did something like that then everybody would be saying how terrible it is.

The Care Bears were the real villains all along…

Irredeemable Villains

While many villains can be redeemed, there are others who can’t be redeemed and shouldn’t. These are characters who you want to see punished. In Disney’s adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo spends the story as a murderous bigot so it is intensely satisfying when he is flung down to hell at the end. If a villain has no reason to be forgiven for something truly evil then they shouldn’t be, by either the characters or the author. Otherwise readers will be wondering why other characters are showing sympathy for a villain who doesn’t deserve it or why they should feel any sympathy themselves.

Next time I’ll be taking these last two posts together and detail fully how to write the villain redemption story.

The Villain Redemption Story. Part 1: Why Redeem Villains?

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in Common Criticism, culture, fairy tale, fantasy, film, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, story, villain, writing, writing advice

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character, character development, drama, hero, plot, story, story arc, villain, villain redemption, writing, writing a villain, writing advice, writing tips

In classic storytelling there are two types of characters, good guys and bad guys. They both serve important purposes. The hero is intended as the person we should all strive to be and who’s story we want to follow and watch as they succeed. The villain is needed to provide a foil to them, give the hero somebody to fight, create conflict by keeping them from what they want, and show us what we shouldn’t try to be.

In recent years, writers are starting to deconstruct classic villain tropes and present different types of villain. There’s the anti-hero who fits in a morally grey area (Game of Throne’s Tyrion Lannister), the protagonist villain (Lolita’s Humbert Humbert), and the redeemed villain (Ebeneezer Scrooge, perhaps the most famous example). Not that there’s anything wrong with the classic baddie, there are many big bads who we all love to hate. But it’s reached the point where that character has become clichéd and boring and we like to see different types of villain and villain story arcs. These often form some of the most interesting and memorable stories of all. Changes to society mean that some people who were previously seen as villains are now the heroes, and vice-versa. Here are some reasons why I really love the villain redemption story and why you should consider it in your own stories:

It opens up the possibility for more types of story other than the standard good vs. evil. This post on Tumblr gives a whole list of villain redemption stories which have hardly ever been seen so far.
It asks some important questions, like can people ever be truly forgiven for an act of evil. A good example is a book I recently reviewed and haven’t stopped gushing about since, Before the Court of Heaven. It tells the story of the real life German assassin Ernst Techow. In the first half of the book I hated him because of his racism and lack of empathy for his Jewish victims. In the second half he goes through a surprisingly touching change of heart but no matter how much good he tries to do, he can never change the terrible things he did in his youth and never truly forgive himself.
There is some of the best potential for character development. Like the example above, the hero isn’t the only one who has to go through the hero’s journey. Character development is the key stone of all good stories and what could be better than the development from bad to good?
More potential for drama. I don’t think that story tropes should be thrown in purely for the sake of increased drama, but if a story is lagging then a villain redemption plot could be what it is lacking. It is unique, emotional, memorable, and opens up the doorway to many more future stories.
It can teach the protagonist an important lesson about themselves and have a great impact in their own story arc. Villains are supposed to be the opposite of the hero and keep them from what they want. One way for the hero to get what they want isn’t just to defeat the villain but change them for the better. It says a lot about a hero if they are willing to take a chance on the villain instead of taking the easy option of running their sword through them. Or perhaps the change in the villain inspires the hero to change in a way too or shows them what is truly important.

In my next post, I’ll talk about when to redeem a villain and when not to, and provide more examples of villain redemption stories done right.

Top Seven Worst Types of Love Interest

28 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in Common Criticism, dumbass in distress, musings, romance, story, tv, writing, writing advice

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bad writing, creative writing, love interest, muse, romance, romance cliches, romance fiction, story, writers, writing

A while ago I talked about the types of love story that turn my stomach. Today I’m going to talk about the types of love interest which make me throw a book into a fireplace, or throw the remote at the television. I’m not going to go on about Mary Sues or Manic Pixie Dream Girls because other people have already given hilarious parodies of those. These are the ones which I personally can’t stand.

The Plank of Wood.

A Plank of Wood appropriately named Rod.

This is when the love interest is so underdeveloped they could be replaced by a plank of wood and it wouldn’t make much difference to the story or romance arc. This can happen generally with poorly written characters but its even worse if that character is supposed to be a love interest. How are we supposed to buy that this person can be loved if they have virtually no personality or redeeming features?

The Karma Love Interest

Something which frequently appears in sitcoms with a ‘beauty and the geek’ romance. This is where the love interest, usually a female, is an embodiment of all the popular girls who refused to date the geeky guy in high school, making up for what horrible bitches all the girls were to him. Or perhaps it’s a girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day in high school but is now hopelessly in love with him, despite the fact that he hasn’t changed at all. I’m not the only one who felt that Ross and Rachael would just break up again a few years after the grand finale. I don’t even get why they would be interested in the type of girl who made their adolescence a living hell anyway.

It’s unfortunate because it almost implies that guys, no matter how horrible their personalities are, don’t have to try and change themselves but simply wait for girls to come around, stop being bitches, and fall in love with them. Yet if the genders are reversed, the girl will have to drastically change both inside and out to get the guy. Wow, I just made a horrifying revelation…

The Muse

No amount of catchy pop tunes can save this romance.

Closely linked to the manic pixie dream girl who often has a bit of the muse within her. This is where Person A falls for Person B not so much for who they are but for how they inspire them to create their artworks. Again, it is unfortunate as it is clear there is little basis for the couple to form a relationship and once the artist has finished his project, he can just dump her and find a new muse.

Just as bad is when an artist falls in love with a literal muse, which has been overused to the point of tedium. In fact, while writing this post I got the idea for a short story about a human falling in love with a muse for who they are, not for their artistic inspiration.

The Replacement

‘I know I had a crush on The Doctor last week but this is totally fine.’

Often a form of lazy writing when a writer can’t think of what else to do with a character so they just shove in a new love interest for the sake of drama. The object of a character’s affections has just died or decided they’re not interested. What to do, show them getting on with their life? Think of an interesting new story for them? Nah, let’s shoe-horn in another love interest right away.

The Dumbass in Distress

We all know where this is going…

Another old trope which is still discussed a lot, Person A falls for Person B because he saves her, often repeatedly. But if it’s such an outdated story, why does it still keep appearing? Is it because we still see the person being rescued as the reward and believe they should fall in love with the rescuer as thanks? The whole concept of falling for someone because they saved your life makes no sense anyway. Sure they’re probably a good person if they saved someone, but they probably just did that because they saw that person in danger and natural instincts kicked in. It’s really not much to base an entire relationship upon.

The One That Got Away

Don’t do what Gatsby does…

This is when a would-be-couple is separated for many years then they re-enter each other’s lives again. Either Person A will suddenly fall in love with Person B again despite barely thinking about them for years or will still love them throughout the years not for who they are but for who they were years ago. People change a lot as time goes by so the person they are pining for has probably become a different person than the one they originally fell for. I think it can work if the characters get to know each other all over again and find that they still have things they like about each other, but I don’t think things that happened ten years ago should be the basis for an entire relationship.

The Love Interest…And Not Much Else

I actually love Ygritte but god damn it…

Sure writers often have to insert characters to serve the role of love interest, but there are too many characters who exist only to be a love interest and have no purpose to exist beyond that. They might not even like or even interact with any other characters in the story because they only have eyes for the protagonist. It is much better for this character to make an impact not only in the romance part of the story but some other aspect of it as well, which doesn’t mean being kidnapped by the villain and used as the reward. Not only will the readers like them much more but they will be a better-rounded and developed character.

Are there any other types of love interest which turn you off? What love interests do you want to see more of instead? List them in the comments below!

How to Write Love at First Sight

04 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Jessica Wood in Common Criticism, culture, fairy tale, fantasy, film, musings, romance, story, writing, writing advice

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fairy tale, fantasy, fiction, historical fiction, love at first sight, romance fiction, story, storytelling, writing, writing advice, writing fairy tales, writing fiction, writing tips

Can you guess how this is going to work out?

People seem to be in one of two camps when it comes to love at first sight. Either it’s the ultimate epitome of romance and true love or it’s a creepy, unhealthy fixation that will never work out. This is why the fairy tale image of love at first sight leading to an instant happy ever after is going through a deconstruction in recent years and most modern readers are turned off by it.

There is a reason why it emerged as a literary trope and even why it still appears in some stories today. First meetings are emphasised in fiction because they are important in real life as well. Our first meeting and first impressions of someone will determine what our future relationship with them will be like. As much as we’d like to think we’re completely objective, scientists do say that it takes as little of one tenth of a second to decide if we like someone upon first seeing their face.

From a historical standpoint, it’s easy to see why this used to be a more acceptable form of storytelling. People used to die sooner and were expected to marry young so they had to latch onto the first piece of marriage material they came across and not let go. Divorce was also frowned upon so they were expected to be happy with their chosen partner for their whole lives, or at least pretend to be.

As society has changed, the idea of love at first sight has changed with it. Just as we aren’t expected to settle down with someone we’ve just met, so we don’t expect fictional characters to either.

Even so, there are still people who believe in love at first sight and it apparently does happen to some people. Some of these relationships do work out but others end horribly. So can it ever be pulled off in fiction? I’ve found that there are some cases when it can:

When to write love at first sight.

Short time frame. This is why love at first sight is so often associated with Disney films. The writers only have an hour and a half to make you buy into a relationship and love at first sight saves them a lot of time on development. This is why it rarely if ever works in a novel or long running television series because there is plenty of time to develop a relationship naturally.

A legitimate reason. To use Disney as an example again, Frozen did a very good job of establishing why Anna would fall instantly in love with Prince Hans – she’s spent most of her life isolated from her sister and only has one day to find a husband to keep her company throughout the rest of her lonely days. Of course it doesn’t work out but her reasons for falling instantly in love still make a lot more sense than the classic Disney Princesses.

Magical power. Maybe a character can predict what their true love’s first words to them will be or they were star crossed lovers in a previous life and have been sub-consciously drawn to each other. There is some room for creativity here. Magical powers can be a satisfactory explanation but if done badly they can come across as lazy writing, obvious plot devices and an excuse to skip out on the development of the relationship. In the worst cases they can also be downright creepy. Remember how appalled everyone was by the ‘imprinting’ scene in Twilight?

It’s not supposed to work out. Maybe the reasons why people are against this trope are the very things you are going for. It could be a villain with an unhealthy fixation on someone or a clueless romantic with no idea how true love really works. Even Romeo and Juliet, the most famous and glorified example of love at first sight was actually supposed to be a warning against hasty marriages.

Lust at first sight. This is a legitimate excuse because it does happen and lust is different than love. A crush at first sight is also understandable. I think all of us can say we’ve gotten a crush on someone just by looking at them, even if we later found out that their personalities weren’t as great as their looks.

Historical fiction. As I said, people’s attitudes to love at first sight have changed so you might be able to explain it in a historical context. But keep in mind that aside from different attitudes, people in the past were still the same as us in every other way and their hasty marriages didn’t always lead to happily ever after.

So there are some instances when you can write a character falling in love at first sight, but these are just starting points to the development of a relationship. In stories, build up is everything so you have to make your readers believe why somebody is worth going through a whole book’s worth of trials for.

I mentioned in a previous article that love triangles only work if they are written well. This is perhaps even truer for love at first sight. It’s not that writers can’t use it but it needs to be handled in a precise way to work effectively. Sometimes it can be done successfully but it is very rare and attempts to do so more often fail. If your character does fall in love at first sight and you want the readers to support their relationship then at least spend time developing it and the characters properly and have the characters decide if they want to make the relationship work in the long term.

Why I Hate Love Triangles

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Jessica Wood in anime, writing, writing advice

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

anime, character, character development, drama, plot, romance, story, storytelling, villain, writers, writing, writing advice

When I was at school and just getting started with writing, I devoured shojo manga and anime. This somehow got the idea into my head that love triangles and complex love charts were the key to drama and therefore great storytelling. As such, I made sure that all of my stories had love triangles in the hopes that they would become better.

It was only when I became a little better at writing that I looked at my plots and realised that the love triangles I had shoehorned in for the sake of drama were completely unnecessary. They did nothing but add unneeded subplots and worst of all made my characters seem unlikeable.

Now I avoid love triangles as much as possible, or at the very least the ‘which boy should I choose’ variety (and yes, it is almost always a girl who has to choose between two boys). I also started to avoid reading stories that rely solely on love triangles for their drama. I’m clearly not the only one who feels this way; just look at the backlash against Twilight and its ‘Team Edward’ and ‘Team Jacob’ camps. But then again, there are also books like The Hunger Games which subvert the trend and make a love triangle work. So is it really possible?

These are the reasons I’ve found why love triangles seldom work:

Creating unnecessary drama. As I mentioned above, many newbie writers, myself included, fall into the trap of thinking all love stories need love triangles to give them more drama. In fact, most of the time they merely create a pointless obstacle to the main couple getting together.
Telling us who the ‘right’ type of love interest is. How many times have you read a book and wished that the protagonist got together with someone else, instead of the partner they ultimately chose? Even if that person is obviously wrong for them and in the worst cases abusive, they are meant to be together because the writer said so. If the protagonist had a fling with the ‘wrong’ person then they are punished for it before realising the error of their ways.
There is always a backup boyfriend. The worst implication of love triangles is that if something happens to the chosen guy, it doesn’t matter that much because the girl has another guy who’s madly in love with her who she can run to. That person has to live with the knowledge that they were ultimately the second choice and only with the girl because they got lucky.
And a backup love interest for the losing partner. How many love triangle stories have been resolved with a forgotten minor character showing up at the last minute and making an instant connection with the losing partner? The writer wants everyone to have a happy ending but can’t consider that a character getting over someone and doing something else with their life is an option. One of the reasons that even hardcore fans turned away from Twilight (I promise this is the last time I’ll use that as an example) was when the losing partner Jacob imprinted on Bella and Edward’s newborn daughter. I suppose the implication was supposed to be that he could tell that she would grow up to be his soulmate, but it came across as incredibly creepy and probably the worst possible way to end his story.
The characters are turned into horrible people. The moment I stopped putting love triangles in my stories was when I realised that the characters I was trying to portray sympathetically were coming across as horrible because they were jealous of each other. It’s hard to like a character who will string along two different people and put them both through hell just because they can’t make up their mind who they want to be with. If done incorrectly, love triangles can make characters seem indecisive, cruel, malicious, and uncaring. There is also the trap that one of the love interests will be painted as a villain just to make the other look better by comparison. Think of Rose’s fiancé in Titanic for an example. It’s not particularly good writing when you need to show a character being mean to emphasise that the other character is nice.
It’s obvious that one partner is going to either fail or be the villain. It’s not so much drama if we know that only one love interest will be chosen. Nine times out of ten that person is obvious from the outset, making the whole idea of a love triangle seem pointless. Love triangles involving villains or the above example of one partner being nasty are also far too common. These stories make it clear that the protagonist will be pushed into the loving arms of the person they were obviously going to end with while the other will spend their nights crying and eating ice cream.
Everybody loves someone who doesn’t deserve it. Most of us are lucky to have just one person fall in love with us, so why does your protagonist get two or more? If your character is just such a nice person that many people would realistically be in love with them then fine. But chances are they aren’t, or your character isn’t as special as you think they are.

So is it possible to make love triangles work? It’s difficult but if your writing is good enough, then yes. The most important way I’ve found to do this is with good character development. Give both of your potential love interests clear goals, motivations and both positive and negative character traits to show genuine reasons why your protagonist would want to be with them. Develop your protagonist equally well so that the reader can believe why they are so beloved. If you are going to introduce a backup love interest for the losing party, develop that character as well and give them their own story arc. Unless you’re intentionally going for tragedy, leave every character in a good place by the end of the story with something they genuinely wanted and needed.

Writers, how do you make love triangles work in your stories? What do you think are the best and worst examples in fiction?

Wood the Writer

~ Tales of a freelance nerd

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