YA, paranormal, love triangles, and my psyche

One of my beta readers had some pretty serious gripes with FLIGHT.  She was mad at how my love triangle ends in the book.  She thinks my MC, Maria, made the wrong choice.  I'm ok with this gripe.

As I sat with beta reader A, we discussed why she didn't like Maria's choice and I realized that her opinions had much less to do with characterization or plot, but about her own sense of that is important in intimate relationships.  And -- now I am not about to say I am a great writer or that FLIGHT is great literature -- that's what great art does.  It holds a mirror up tot he audience/reader and makes them see themselves a little bit differently than they did before.

Carrie Ryan recently blogged about the love triangle in her amazing book The Forrest of Hands and Teeth.  The entry includes spoilers, so go read the book first.  Then read her post.

I'm a grown woman and I am happily married.  So my husband takes some umbrage that I like to read paranormal YA and that FLIGHT has a love triangle with a married woman at its core.  So let me explain why this genre, this plot, and Ryan's post speak to me.

I have a pretty strong sense of who I want to be.  And despite being considered an adult by any cultural measure, I still have no idea of exactly how to get from who I am to who that is.  In fact, I don't even think that I could truly be that who-I-want-to-be given all of the other factor and obligations in my life.  Part of why I like YA paranormal (The Forrest of Hands and Teeth, Twilight, Harry Potter, and others I can't think of off the top of my head) is that at their core, these books are about the main characters trying to work through this very dilemma.  And the paranormal component raises the stakes, states emotional truths through the literalization of metaphors (I'll have to blog on this topic separately, lots to say).

As with paranormal elements, love triangles are a manifestation of this dilemma -- who does the MC want to be?  At least the best ones -- Catherine/Healthcliff/Edgar, Ilsa/Victor/Rick, Buffy/Angel/Spike, Arthur/Guenivere/Lancelot -- are.  Notice these aren't literature's great lovers.  Love triangles aren't about romance.  I have very strong opinions about who is "right" for the torn party and each is a little Rorschach test of who I am.

But enough about me.  Go read Ryan's post, read some good YA paranormal love triangles, and learn a little bit more about who you are.