Love is what it’s all about

— Should we believe in love?

Note to the reader:

This is a literary experiment.

The author’s ambition is to publish a fiction that tells the story of a man, a woman and their small family. The story is told from the man’s point of view, but the deepest intention of the author is to be true to the personal and individual truth of all the protagonists. The story must reveal how the events and the daily life is experienced from the standing point of the wife, the husband as well as their children.

The series is planned to consist of three story parts, located in time to different periods in the life of the protagonists. The main character — the narrator — is the same in all three parts. Each story will be composed of chapters narrating the story of the couple and their children.

Readers are invited to follow the story as it evolves. Chapters will be written as the story evolves.

Reader’s participation:

In the comments field under each chapter there will be an opportunity to comment and raise questions about the story. Thus there will be a certain opportunity to influence the story as it evolves.

Readers may also respond by emailing to [email protected].

The author will respond in the channel he sees as the most appropriate and effective, either in a reply in the comments field, through email or directly through adjusting the writing and making the story evolve according to or in response to comments received.

This is a story about love.

It is a story about feelings, tenderness, sex.

It is to some extent a story about pain and suffering.

It is a story written from the standing point of a mature male writer, who asks himself a few fundamental questions:

What is a good life?

What happened in life,

what happened with our goals and hopes?

What is love?

— Should we believe in love?

What place in a man’s life should these elements have: hug, embrace, hold tight, snuggle, embrace, caress, pet, fondle, canoodle, smooch, coo, nestle, curl, nuzzle?

What place in a man’s life should these elements be given: Love, feelings, longing, tenderness, physical touch, erotism, sex?

The question is: how can I write something meaningful about love, feelings, tenderness and sex without offending other women and men and minimizing the way they experience this? How can I write this and know that a man as well as a woman who reads this will recognize herself in some of it?

First of all:

I know, men and women are different. The emotional, physical and mental differences between the two sexes exist. They are real. And also within each gender— women and men are different, things are experienced differently in a million ways.

Relationships between two people — a woman and a man — are always different, they vary in millions of different ways.

So how can I say something true about this?

(I am not denying that love exists also between two people of the same gender — it’s just that I choose not to focus on homosexual/lesbian relatonships in this story. One reason for that is that I simply don’t know enough about it.)

So.

Can I say something truthful about this?

I think I can. I believe I can tell the story of a relationship, a love affair between a girl and a boy, a woman and a man. A relationship, a love affair over several decades. I can tell the stories I am in position to tell, and the author’s intention is that these stories will stand for themselves as something unique and truthful.

Here is a short overview over the planned fiction’s structure:

Work title and sub title:

Should we believe in love?

Stories from life in the 20. and 21. century

Part 1. Standing in the middle of everything

She is in the early 40-ies.

I am approaching the 50-ies.

We met love.

Part 2. The longing: The future is an unread book

I am approaching 30. I am alone.

I am desperate about getting to know someone.

I am desperate to get to know a girl who will be with me.

Who am I?

Where do I come from?

Part 3. The aging

I have turned 70. I’m not alone.

I am searching for meaning.

I ask myself: Should I divorce?

Each part is planned to include between 15 and 30 chapters.

The sum of it all — if the project is successful — should be a novel.

If you liked, please clap and share.

Next:

Thank you for reading!

Feel free to share.