So in my story there's a love triangle. There's also a third girl the MC is supposedly in love with, but she's really a McGuffin that the MC works towards and realizes in the end she's not what he's looking for at all. Anyway, as I was shuffling the scenes around with index cards, I was wondering if it's a good idea to separate "hot" or emotionally intensive scenes with mundane scenes? By hot scene I don't mean they necessarily make out or get physical. I mean it's a scene that obviously strengthens the relationship between the two, adds sparks through some event etc. Would a structure like the following be good? 1. Hot Scene with Girl A 2. Mundane (e.g. MC does something unrelated to either girls.) 3. Hot Scene with Girl B 4. Mundane 5. Hot Scene with Girl A ...repeat Like hilly terrain, with high points (hot) and low points (mundane). Also, would this be a turn off? 1. Hot Scene with Girl A 2. Hot Scene with Girl B Because I was thinking that the reader has just ended a high energy scene with MC and Girl A, and then gets thrown immediately into scene with MC and Girl B. Would this make the MC seem lecherous? And therefore decrease his general appeal? Thanks for the advice!
As a general rule I don't think you want any mundane scenes in your story. I can see the benefit of having a scene focusing on a sub-plot or something in between the "romantic" scenes, but it still has to be something really interesting going on...
It would be a good idea to split up the romanticism IMHO. But keep the in betweeners lively or your readers will either skip chapters or put the book down.
All go all the time is tiring, and would probably result in a very short novel. I agree with the others, keep the mundane interesting and you'll steer right.
"Mundane" isn't exactly the best word choice. However, standard story structure has ups and downs--moments of high tension and moments of low tension. As long as everything is engaging, I don't see anything off about what you're suggesting--sounds like it aligns with a pretty standard structure.