A Creative Study: Dynamics of Polyamorous Relationships

Abstract

Often, the most effective method of discussing a controversial topic is telling a story—using real examples or creating characters and situations that people can relate to allows dialogue to stem from a more well rounded perspective concerning the issue at hand. This fiction piece explores the dynamics of a closed triad (a polyamorous relationship involving three people) while also examining intersectional issues including gender, sexuality, geographical location, and religion. Tolerance among family, friends, and acquaintances also plays a key role, as many consider polyamory to be deviant from the norm, immoral, and even dangerous, despite evidence to the contrary. It may be necessary to differentiate polyamory from the two better-known forms ofpolygamy (plural marriage): polygyny (multiple wives) and polyandry (multiple husbands). Polyamory is not defined by any sole or dominating sex, sexuality, gender, or number of partners. My work strives to give not only mechanical knowledge of the relationship style, but an emotional understanding of the relationships as well. Prior to this, I’ve worked almost exclusively with short pieces. This piece also began as a short story but its expansion has served several purposes. Along with creating the story itself, I’ve used this project as a means to assess my own writing process and the dynamics of longer fiction. I’ve wrestled with and analyzed aspects of my writing including organization, inspiration, time and perspective shifts, tone, voice,characterization, and style. While this a creative study, it is also very much a study in creativity.