Teneice Durrant, creator of Tarot with Ten, will use various tarot and oracle decks to provide monthly readings for writers, with exercises on using imagery and intuition as prompts. February's prompt is all about developing a love triangle.
What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a good old-fashioned love triangle?
Love triangles are a popular trope in which the protagonist must choose between two equally qualified but vastly different love interests. Think Katniss Everdeen with Peeta and Gale (The Hunger Games), Daisy Buchanan with Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan (The Great Gatsby), and Shakespeare's Olivia, Orso, and Viola (Twelfth Night).
What makes a good literary love triangle?
Your protagonist must have a stated goal or desire that can be supported or accomplished in at least two distinct ways. Each love interest represents a specific way to achieve that desire. With Katniss, her goal is to take down President Snow. Gale wants to do it through military action, and Peeta wants to do it by strategically disrupting the Hunger Games.
First, both love interests must be a viable option for achieving the protagonist’s goal. It can’t be obvious that one of these love interests is not right for the protagonist.
Second, the protagonist must actively pick one of the love interests. You can’t kill one off to remove the choice from the protagonist. The tension presented by the imminent choice is what makes the connections between these three characters an effective triangle. To portray both as viable choices, you’ll need to develop backstories for your characters.
Let’s pull some cards for inspiration to develop this love triangle.
Tarot reading for writers
As always, these images are from the Rider Waite tarot deck, via Pixabay (Creative Commons license), and you can flip through all cards from this reading here:
What is the protagonist's main goal that will need to be supported by the love interests?
The Wheel of Fortune
This card represents turning your life around. The protagonist might have hit rock bottom and needs an intervention, or they could have just won the lottery and need help starting a foundation. The Wheel of Fortune represents a 180-degree turn and often inspires a new goal with which the protagonist seeks help.
What support can love interest A give the protagonist?
Seven of Wands
This is the card of setting boundaries and having the higher ground. It can also be a card of not listening to others who are jealous or trying to put down your work. This could mean that love interest A helps the protagonist set boundaries and focus on their own goals or stop caring about what other people think.
What support can love interest B give the protagonist?
Ace of Pentacles
Pentacles represent money and resources, so love interest B could be the wealthy investor that anonymously funds a start-up for the protagonist, or they give the protagonist reduced rent to get their retail store up and running. Whatever the protagonist’s goal is, love interest B will pay for it.
Which love interest does the protagonist pick?
The Fool
The Protagonist chooses the love interest that is willing to leave everything behind and start a new adventure. The Fool carries very little with him, so the love interest must be confident enough to start a new path with just the knowledge they’ve acquired and a willingness to try something new.
A writing exercise
Using the imagery above and the template of a love triangle, with its two requirements, write a short scene where the two love interests first meet each other. The protagonist is not present, but there is a task that needs to be completed for them. The scene should reveal the ways in which these two characters are different, either physically or in their personalities and motivations, and what they can separately offer the protagonist in the pursuit of the latter’s goal.
Until next month, here’s how to find me outside of the Center:
Podcast anchor.fm/tarotwithten
YouTube Tarot with Ten
What did you think of this tarot reading and the cards as visual prompts for story development? Share with us in the comments, and contact us if you’re interested in working one-on-one with Teneice in part 3 of Writing Toward Balance and Wholeness: Tarot and the Narrative Arc (taking parts 1 and 2 first is not required).
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