Authors can be very cruel about putting barriers to love just for the sake of a great story. James Dawson on the top 10 literary devices for love against the odds, from ‘expiration dating’ (think The Fault in Our Stars) to love triangles (The Hunger Games) to the modern day Romeo and Juliets, the star-crossed lovers of Noughts & CrossesA little-known playwright once wrote “the course of true love never did run smooth”, but actually, it does. All the time, in fact. For most of us, falling in love works a bit like this: you meet someone at random, then arrange to meet them, then arrange to meet them a few more times, and before you know it, you’re home on a Friday night, falling out over who has the last bit of Popcorn Chicken while watching Big Brother. You would leave them, but you’re now worried you’ve become too old and ugly for the single’s market. It’s like falling off a log.
But this is not the stuff of great, romantic literature. In novels, love isn’t worth a thing unless it’s defined by hardships overcome. To do this, authors gleefully scatter an array of barriers in the way of love’s young dreamers. Here are 10 ways in which writers have been the metaphorical third wheel in many a fictional romance.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.
But this is not the stuff of great, romantic literature. In novels, love isn’t worth a thing unless it’s defined by hardships overcome. To do this, authors gleefully scatter an array of barriers in the way of love’s young dreamers. Here are 10 ways in which writers have been the metaphorical third wheel in many a fictional romance.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 15 hours ago.