Polyamory Story ideas?

Tiberius

Member
I've always liked playing around with writing stories, and I've been thinking lately of trying my hand at a story regarding polyamory. Something like a love-triangle, but where the character chooses both potential partners instead of just choosing one.

So I'd love to hear any ideas you might have. Could be anything, from an idea for a character, to any situations they might find themselves in, and difficult decisions they face, any dramas they may encounter as part of their exploration of polyness.
 
Tiberius A roman mad famous in his latter years for several blatant affairs.

The problem of your idea is fact verses fiction.

The chances of a 3 random person triad happening????

Random collage social project gone wrong/right?

Sorry best i can come up with given your objective,
 
Hey Tiberius,

If I may say so, I think if I was going to write a poly story, I'd use my favorite poly movies for inspiration. To wit:

  • "December Bride" (1990).
  • "A Small Circle of Friends" (1980).
  • "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008).
  • "Bandits" (2001).
  • "Paint Your Wagon" (1969).
  • "Threesome" (1994).
  • "Three" (2010).
All seven of those involve poly situations with three people -- usually MFM V's in fact (which is handy for me cause I'm in an MFM V). If there's any of the seven movies that you haven't seen, I highly recommend them all. Lots of interesting food for thought, and surely some ideas you could use for your own poly story that you write.

Beyond that no specific ideas bonk me in the noggin' but I'll follow this thread and see if something jogs my creative process. :)
 
I was thinking about the protagonist being a woman, maybe following her over a few years as she goes through university or something and forms a relationship with a guy. And then when she meets someone else (either male or female) and falls in love with them as well, I could start developing the idea. So it would start out as a general sort of romance which would seem to resolve itself fairly quick into a relationship, only for it to face the idea of polyamory (although at first it could seem like a standard love triangle.)

And then after a while, they could go down the poly road and face the issues polyamory brings about, such as ostracism from friends and family, etc...
 
Sounds like a good plot line to me.
 
One factor to consider is what genre you're aiming for. A romance novel will have different conventions from a contemporary fiction novel, which will have different conventions from a fantasy novel, and so on.

Be aware, though, it also depends on whether you're writing this just for yourself or intend to attempt publication; some publishers and agents will be more open to the idea than others. Romance/erotic romance tends to be an accepting genre for polyamory if you go through e-publishers like Ellora's Cave; mainstream publishers whose books you might find in your local chain bookstore may not be quite as in favor of the idea. And if you're going contemporary fiction, it might be an even harder sell than as a romance.

I have a few novels/novellas published by a couple of different e-publishers that I would consider menage or polyamory.
 
I wouldn't want to write it as a romance. I;ve never read one, and would have no idea. More of a contemporary fiction thing.
 
Yet, it will have some romantic material, yes?
 
Um... yeah, you saying that shows that, as you said, you haven't read any romances.

Romances are not about sex. They are about romance, i.e. the relationships between or among the main characters. Some romances have sex in them, because a lot of people develop their romantic relationships in part through sex, but sex is not a requirement in romance novels, and even when it occurs, there's no obligation to have it happening on the page. Some authors do the "We kissed passionately and went into the bedroom and closed the door" bit instead of detailing the tab P into slot V stuff.

If the story is all about the sex and *not* about the relationship, it's erotica, not romance.

If it's all about the relationship and includes explicit sex scenes that help develop the relationship, it's a hybrid called erotic romance.

So if you are exploring the romantic relationship among three people, and that relationship is the main plot of your story, you are writing a romance. That doesn't mean you have to include steamy sex, but it's still a romance, because the definition of the romance genre is stories that explore the development of a romantic relationship with a happy ending.

This has been your lecture from your friendly neighborhood multi-published romance author...we now return you to your regularly scheduled polyamory ;)
 
Well, by "romance", I take it as the Mills and Boon sort of stuff. I am not going to write something like that.

In any case, getting back to the original topic, does anyone have any interesting stories or situations that could be used?
 
Yes, unfortunately many people take it that way. But that isn't all there is of the romance genre. And although I'm sure you didn't mean any offense, it's annoying for those of us who don't write that type of books to be told our books aren't about relationships, just steamy sex.

If you want to write a book, the best way to start is to come up with your own idea instead of asking other people for them. You already mentioned an idea earlier in this thread that you were told sounded like a good one. Go with that.
 
Don't forget those movies I mentioned; they're definitely interesting stories or situations that could be used.

What else counts as interesting? You're welcome to use my story. You can ask me questions about it, I'll be happy to answer.

In fact many of the Life stories and blogs here would provide interesting stories or situations that could be used. Do a little research and see which of the blogs seem useful. (Of course getting the permission of any blog author you wanted to tap into would be appropriate.)
 
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