Hmm…

Category: True Romance

  • The Case for Ugly Romantic Interests

    —

    by

    harmamae
    in

      Good-looking romantic interests can be fun (and too-good-looking-for-their-own-good romantic interests can be even more fun). But I’d like to suggest an ugly romantic interest for a change of pace. This post was inspired when I recently read a book describing the romantic interest as having “mushroom-coloured skin.” The book didn’t turn out to be…

  • Tolkien’s Take On True Love

    —

    by

    harmamae
    in ,

    Since we’ve been talking about romance, here’s Tolkien’s take on the subject. He actually wrote an astoundingly long letter on the marriage to his son, in typical Tolkien style:  “But…  only the rarest good fortune brings together the man and woman who are really as it were ‘destined’ for one another, and capable of a…

  • The Top Literary Couples as Bad Examples

    —

    by

    harmamae
    in , , ,

    Healthy Romance Makes Bad Novels, Part II Last week, I argued that healthy, functioning romances (which we’d probably all enjoy in real life) have trouble generating the kind of conflict that drives romance novels. Logically, the next step would be for me to look at some famous literary romances and see if they were healthy…

  • Healthy Romance Makes Bad Novels

    —

    by

    harmamae
    in ,

    What’s a Novelist to Do?  I come up against this problem all the time when I try to write a romance about two healthy, well-adjusted people – what on earth should come between them and prevent happily ever after? This is related to ‘The Trouble with Modern Romance.’ In the good old days, the couple…

  • The Trouble With Modern Romance

    —

    by

    harmamae
    in , ,

    The trouble with modern romance novels is that our culture sees no reason for two people who are in love not to be together. This significantly cuts down on the potential for conflict in the novel. In comparison, Jane Austen had it easy. I’m going to use Jane Austen as an example for a second,…