My Problem with Triangles

No not triangles of the isosceles or equilateral variety. LOVE triangles! *gag*

The kind of love triangle I'm referring to is the Frankenstein creation that came from a YA trend, where the girl (or guy) "A" claims to love BOTH his/her pursuers "B" and "C."

NOT the kind where A loves B and C comes along and can't take the hint. Or A loves B, but B loves C, but C loves A (yeah, good luck with that conundrum).

Here's the difference as visuals:

A PROPER Love Triangle

@#$% YOU, PROTAGONIST!

Proper love triangle, that's fine, you can't control how others feel. But claiming to LOVE two people equally? HA! *face palm* No. That's taking the piss.

I'm not sure where this degree (get it? geometry lols) of fascination with the YA Love Triangle came from, why people believe you can truly love two people at once and that in doing so you actually love either. To me, that's not love at all--it's selfish indecision.

Here are my issues with the YA Love Triangle:

• YOU'RE UNDERMINING THE POTENTIAL FOR AN ACTUAL LOVE STORY. This kind of love triangle, to me, isn't love at all. If you can't choose between two people that love you, you reaaalllyyy don't deserve either of them. This destroys any chance of a believable love story because it reduces the notion of true love, which is supposed to be selfless and unconditional, to completely conditional and selfish. Who's going to sing songs about that? You think Shakespeare would've written sonnets about this kind of "love?" Doubt it.
• YOU'RE MOST LIKELY REDUCING YOUR PROTAGONIST TO A WHINY TWIT.
  So often the story starts out with a strong protagonist who is soon reduced to constant indecision over which person they should choose and a constant inner monologue comparing them against each other. "Omg, they both just love me SO much even though I've done nothing to deserve such devotion, how will I ever choose?" 
• THE LOVE TRIANGLE CAN EASILY TAKE OVER THE PLOT.
  My biggest problem is that the YA Love Triangle is rarely done well.  So often I start reading a book that promises this awesome, action-filled story with a kick-ass protagonist. Then the love triangle strikes and it takes over the plot AND the narrative. Too much room is made for what should be a subplot, too many aspects of the plot removed to adjust focus to the "love" story, too many random plot tools used at the end when they have to make a choice.   

This is obviously just my opinion. But I truly truly think you're doing a disservice to your young and sometimes impressionable audience by, essentially, telling them it's okay to love two people, that doing so still constitutes love, and that people will be climbing out of the woodworks to love them.

I promise to never EVER write a love triangle. Quote me on that right now. I'll chisel it into stone and hang the slab above the mantle. TATOO IT ON MY FACE.

TRUE LOVE FTW! Since I'm so demanding and anti-this-kind-of-love-story, I'll be following up on this post with another about how to write a compelling love story. Hold out for that. All the loves!

~Be mindful of the example you set with your words. People will take your message to heart.~