How to Employ the Triad of Tension (Blog Post by Tara Maya)

All stories need conflict, which implies two sides, protagonist and antagonist, or Good Guys versus Bad Guys, even if the “bad” in the story is not actually another person. The protagonist could be struggling against herself, or against her environment.  Conflict still requires at least that minimum of forces to the conflict, personal or impersonal.

Often, however, a little more complication spices things up. It’s surprising how much more complex a story grows by just introducing a third side, to create a triad of powers all in competition with one another. This can of course, be further subdivided, although too many independent powers can overwhelm the reader.

Not every kind of triadic antagonism possible works terribly well. For instance, you could write a story pitting three different groups of Bad Guys against one another. It would be a straight power game. Some Mobster fiction and Caper crime fiction pretends to this, but if you look closely you’ll usually find that at least one side is, by comparison, less evil than the others, and the one we end up rooting for.

The only time I’ve read a novel where there were really only Bad Guys (whether two or three sides), it was usually not the intention of the writer at all, it was simply bad writing. The writer forgot to create a likable protagonist. The result was a throw-to-the-wall novel.

So in future posts, I’ll be looking at the most effect ménage a trois of the Triad of Tension:

GBB

BGG

GGG

Now, drag your mind out of the bedroom… that stands for: Good/Bad/Bad, Bad/Good/Good, and Good/Good/Good. There’s also the special case of the Good/Bad and the Good Guys in White… the later referring to a group that thinks they are good, in fact, even better than the real Good Guys, but behaves in an evil fashion.

I will also look at the only combination of B/B/B that works, which is the inverse: on of the so-called Baddies is really an Anti-hero, or someone who will redeem himself through the novel, rising above the other sides, which remain unredeemably wicked.

Creating three sides drives plot twists. Instead of straightforward clashes between Good and Evil every chapter, the Good Guys may find themselves embroiled in the conflict between two equally repellent forces, and must either side with one to avoid the other, or fight against the overwhelming odds of an alliance between both. It also adds uncertain, as characters switch sides, or hide their true allegiance.

A long work, such as an Epic Fantasy, Space Opera, or Historical Saga, can easily employ more than one trifecta. Take Lord of the Rings. We have the triad of tension between three Good Guys: the Elves, the Dwarves, and Men. We have the alliance of Good Guys undermined by the traitorous Bad Guy in White, Saruman the White, then faced with the alliance of two Bad Guys, the Two Towers.