Author rant: I know you love him coz you're jealous.

Author rant:

I know you love him coz you're jealous.

I try to respond to reviews as often as I can. Not only because I'm genuinely thankful someone took the time to review, but also to further ask their opinion on matters relating to the story.

I've gotten some amazing responses and a lot of food for thought when I go in to write more chapters, and its invaluable to have that kind of feedback from people, especially readers.

Very recently, I got a response back which, I'll paraphrase: 

"Maybe bring in a male character to make the other character jealous in order for them to realise their true feelings" - Uhm. How about no. 

One thing I absolutely hate is the use of jealousy for a couple to realise they have feelings for each other. No. Absolutely not. 

Love isn't about jealousy. 

Insecure people are jealous. 

People that think love and relationships are about being better than other couples, or being better than their significant other, get jealous. 

People that are comfortable and happy in a relationship do not get jealous, and they certainly don't need jealousy to make them realise they're in love with someone. 

Using a third party to insinuate deeper feelings between two other people is superficial at best. 

Yes, you may feel jealous at the lucky women who sees the Hemsworth brothers, Orlando Bloom and the like first thing in the morning in all their shirtless, sent-from-Heaven glory, but that's completely different! 

In fanfiction whenever there's a love triangle or an indication of a love triangle, there's always one poor person in between whose an innocent bystander in the ship's path. 

A good love triangle puts the reader in the position of the male/female character that is in the middle of the triangle, letting them into why the character is so torn between Person A and Person B. The reader has to feel just as torn up about having to choose only one of them (not because it's a competition, but because it isn't fair on either of them that you - general - can't make up your mind on who you have stronger feelings towards). 

If anything, a love triangle is the most used and the most pitifully implemented plot device the world over. 

In fanfiction its supposed to indicate why the pairing can only be together, and to portray how unhappy one half of the relationship is when they're with someone else. THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS DAMN IT.  

Love means wanting someone to be happy, even if it isn't with you.

PLUS. Just because you're unhappy with a relationship doesn't mean it'll be better with someone else. 

RELATIONSHIPS TAKE WORK, IF YOU AREN'T WILLING TO DO IT, SOMEONE ELSE WILL. 

One of the many reasons I'm so against love triangles (or any "love" shape) is because it pits two individuals against each other for the affection of a single person whose screwed up in the head, whose indecisive AF and will probably run off with a third party anyway. 

Do you want to see how to do love triangles well? Observe the relationships in Scandal! between Mellie, Fitz and Liv, and Fitz, Liv and Jake; no one does love tangles better than Shonda Rhimes.

The only way I can respect a love triangle is if the author isn't scared to show all sides of the characters - the sides that aren't pretty, that have a pension for pain, that don't always win the battle at the end of the day. The characters in a love triangle go through HELL. And sometimes you're left wondering if anyone could possibly love another human being. I'd go so far as to say it's the ugly side of love. 

Love triangles are a guess game - the end result will always be on the horizon, but the scary thing is what ship will still have their flags raised when its over.

That's right: for those of you who only read fanfiction when you see character A x character B x character C love-triangle, you as the reader aren't supposed to know which ship will actually sail another day. If the summary immediately indicated "character A x character B" then there's no actual point in it being called a "triangle".  

The common thing in fanfiction is to use a third party to incite the "true" feelings of the pairing which is what this reviewer wanted me to do. 

All suggestions are open to be considered, accepted or declined.  I choose the last. 

Because: 

• There's no space for jealousy of that kind in a happy relationship. 
• It isn't fair on that third character.
• To actively manipulate any character to feel anything is just that - manipulation, and that's not how a healthy relationship works
• Two people should admit or have their feelings known because they've decided to, not because they've been "pushed" to it in fear of losing their significant other 
• Using a "love triangle" as a way to make feelings known is plain stupid - the laziest form of writing in my opinion. Just because the characters are unsure of their feelings for each other doesn't mean that they need something dramatic or require some event to occur to right that. 
• Its a "character" problem - my stories are character driven, there needs to be internal conflict to move the story along. The reason character A and character B don't know how the other feels is because THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO. 

Characters realising their feelings on their own and how they make it known is part of the story, I'm not throwing that away to give anyone instant gratification, and if I were, I'd be throwing the potential the story has and my own work down the drain. 

Sigh. Okay. I'm done.