Love Triangles

Love triangles are everywhere now, especially in the young adult section. Most of the time between one girl and two boys, it is when a character cannot decide between two other characters in a romantic way.

Anyone else getting a little tired of them?

I mean, I've read some good love triangles before, but anyone else feeling that they are a little overused?

They are getting repetitious. Can't the girl or male just make up their mind? If you love someone, you love someone. There are no buts, ums, or ers.
I wouldn't exactly know, actually. I love people, but I'm not in love with anybody yet, at least not anybody who is living on this planet.

So if someone's in love out there, would you mind telling me what it feels like? That would be fabulous.

OMYROWLING CAT STICK WITH THE TOPIC

Right. Love triangles. Why are they so popular? They're (usually) fun to read or criticise, and they work well with certain plots, but there is only so much you can do with a girl/guy falling in love with one of the two girls/guys that he or she liked. Most commonly it is a she falling in love with one of the two males, just because nowadays a lot of females are authors.

Most of them aren't even written well. Hunger Games had a cruddy romance, even though I loved the characters and the plot. Twilight had a TERRIBLE romance, one that cannot even be mentioned, even though I could rant about it for hours. Matched had a really, really, really bad romance.
If you liked those romances, great. Just sharing my own opinion, which is now a crime on the internet.
Bite me, alien boy!

Actually, there are very few love triangles that I've read and actually liked. Pride and Prejudice had the most fantastic romance of all time - admit it, fellow Austenians, there was a love triangle between Elizabeth, Darcy, and Wickham. The Heroes of Olympus one between three people I shall not mention for fear of spoiling it for you is brilliant. I like the one in Infernal Devices, even though it is breaking my heart into one gazillion pieces (and that's a fact).

They can make great additions to the story. But when written incorrectly or badly, they can ruin the entire book for you.
The entire book.
That's a lot of trees put to waste.

I don't know why there are so many of them! Why do so many authors decide that love triangles are the way that they want the romance in their books? Why is it that the YA section of the library is absolutely flooded with love triangles? WHY?
Someone please explain. Is it because they are easy to write? Is it because that in fact, the idea of a girl or male not being able to choose between two members of the opposite gender is realistic? (I dearly hope not...) Why? I don't get it.

I've got an inkling of what the problem might be: Overcorrection. In the past, most books and movies had the heroine instantly fall in love with the hero when he saves her from a terrible fate of some sort.
Authors look at that and say, "Oh, looks like we need some more conflict in the relationship in my book." What's the easiest way to stir up conflict in a relationship? A third party.
And BANG! There's a romance novel on your table.

What really gets under my skin is when the book is classed as "paranormal", and then turns out to be all about how this girl choose between a werewolf and a vampire. Yes, it is paranormal, but you could've mentioned that 93 percent of the book is the romance!

But here comes the most irritating part of love triangles: Not the repetition, not the popularity, not any of that. It's the fact that the female acts like the other two males are the only two in the entire world.
No, it is simply impossible to see any other men. Impossible! It couldn't be done. There is no way I can be friends with any other male until I settle myself in with one of the two here.
No, they can't do anything like, "Oh, I love Tomas, and I love Epsilon, but I'm going to go talk to BOB."
That can't happen.

Have you realized that she never does? If there is another male in the story that she is remotely connected with, he is either a) Married   b) A social klutz/weirdo/sibling c) Not even considered by the heroine.

THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY ELIGIBLE MALES ON THE PLANET! GET A GRIP, YOU IMBECILE!
Stop moaning about how it is so hard to choose between the two guys! They ar not the only two guys.

Sometimes it makes sense for them to be the only males she thinks about, but other times? Grab the scissors and Cut. It. Out.

I don't understand. I cannot comprehend. I don't get the popularity, or why they are all mostly badly written, or why. I DON'T GET IT.

Sorry.

Can someone please help me understand? Because I sure don't.


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Hey! It's Nutsy. Thanks for reading another one of these blog posts, because if you did, that means you liked the first! It means a lot. Please tell me in the comments what  you thought of this blog post and what I should do next. I hope you all have/will have/have had a wonderful spring break. Cheers!

x Nutsy (aka Cat)

Stupid Book Cliques

These cliques are everywhere, not just in books.

However, I'm speaking mostly to book readers.

So hopefully everyone will understand what I'm talking about.

Those stupid cliques that you hear so many times you start to think they make sense.

But they don't.

I'm here to point out some of the stupidest book/movie/show cliques I have read in literature, why we've come to think they are okay and make sense, and alternatives to them. Hopefully I'll make you laugh a little and become a better writer - or at least a better reader.
They mostly occur in romance scenes or romance novels.

I'm looking at you, Stephanie Meyer.

I can in no way list all of the stupid cliques in books in one post, so here are five cliques that bother me the most.

Clique #1: Shining/gleaming/smoldering/glittering/etc eyes

How many times have we read that scene where the heroine looks at the hero or vice versa and thinks they have shining/gleaming/smoldering/glittering/etc eyes? How many times?

A lot. Especially with the girls.

Now, I know that maybe with the right light and head tilt combination someone's eyes could reflect, giving them the appearance of having "gleaming" eyes, but other than that, I've never met anyone with shining eyes or the other bucketload of stupid adjectives we use.

Because nowadays, whenever I see "shining eyes" in books or something of that ilk, I don't think "Oh my Rowling, that's so dreamy" I think, "Send this guy to the freak show, he's a living flashlight."

Probably not the reaction the author was looking for.

Smoldering is one of the worst ones, though. Seriously? Just.... seriously?

Instead of using the adjectives I have mentioned, maybe go for actually describing the eyes. When you are in love with someone, you pay attention to how they look, but at the same time don't really care.
Love is a strange thing.

Clique #2: Fiery red hair / fiery hot temper

This one makes a bit more sense than Clique #1, because fiery means:

Consisting of fire or burning strongly and brightly.

Having the bright color of fire.

Both which make since for the words they are modifying... to a certain extent.

The red I understand. But it tells you nothing about the shade of the hair and, most times, the author doesn't explain furthur.
And that's annoying.

But why add the hot in there for the second one? Fire isn't hot enough for you? What are you looking for, a nuclear reaction? Get the hot out of there.

Or, better yet, don't use fiery at all.

Although it makes more sense than most of the cliques I'm going to talk about, it is so overused and misused that I wish people would cut out using it altogether.

Describe the hair. Don't throw a lit match at it.

Clique #3: Subconcious whispering / inner goddess / tingling feeling / hairs rising on the back of neck / shiver running up spine

Seen quite a lot in points where something big is about to happen.

Your subconcious does not whisper. It is called your subconcious for a reason. It means you don't feel it.
Frankly, I'd feel a little creeped out if I heard some random voice whispering in my head, telling me weird things.
I'd start feeling like Gollum or something.

It'd be creepy!

And some authors realize the creepiness factor of it and try to change it to something like a tingling feeling or hairs rising on the back of the neck or a shiver running up the spine, but that's almost just as bad.

But the worst one I've come across yet is the phrase "inner goddess".

I've only seen this one in a few books, but I saw enough of it to make me want to punch a kitten.

Inner goddess is so bad because instead of whispering to you like the subconcious does, it shows whatever it is feeling. There was actually a sentence in a book (not naming any names) that went along the lines of this: "I was uneasy about it, but my inner goddess was shooting off a confetti cannon in my stomach."

WHAT THE ACTUAL CHEESE DOES THAT EVEN MEAN????

 Horrid writing, that's what.

Clique #4: Electricity

Romance authors, LISTEN UP PLEASE!

When I brush my crush's hand (which would be whenever I pick up a copy of Pride and Prejudice) I don't feel electricity running down my spine or down to my toes or whatever garbage the electricity is running down to.

You don't feel electricity when you touch the hand of a guy you just met. You feel awkward, maybe, but not liked you just been electrocuted, for crying out loud.

Ugh.

Clique #5: Gasp/heart stops/breath catches/can't breathe/etc

Romance authors again.
They are telling young girls that when you meet the guy of your dreams, when he walks into the room....

....you're going to have a heart attack.

My parents are in love and have never gone to the hospital with heart complaints.

I know it is meant mostly figuratively, but all I can think of is a bunch of girls falling dead to the floor because a person of the opposite gender walked in.

You don't gasp when you see someone you like being with. Usually you say a greeting, such as "hi" or "hello". I don't know what the customs are in Romance Writer land, but apparently they are different.




So there you have it. There are five overused and misused cliques that I have noticed throughout my reading career that bug me the most.

But the overwhelming question is: Why do authors use these cliques?
Surely they must realize how ridiculous and misleading these are.

And the answer is....
Because they are easy.
You don't have to go to great lengths to truly describe what you mean when you can use one of these cliques that everyone knows. It saves a lot of time.

But it deters from the quality.

I'm an amateur writer myself. I don't pretend to be the ultimate authority on everything considering writing.

However, these cliques are getting a little out of hand.

So, a shout-out to all you authors out there, whether published or still scribbling in your notebook; describe. Don't use a clique.

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A/N: Hey! Thanks for reading. I really hope you enjoyed it - this is my first blog post, so I was nervous to the extreme about this. Please feel free to post feedback, I would love to hear what you thought of it (even the bad stuff). I would also like ideas on what to post next. I will try to post regularily, maybe once every two weeks.

Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Nutsy (a.k.a. Cat)