My favorite stories are usually those that hinge on very simple concepts. (My go-to example for this is usually 'It Follows,' a film whose entire hour and 47 minutes can neatly be described in just three words: sexually transmitted curse.) Even better if the story in question can pose a (hopefully) interesting question with which readers are left to grapple. In this case, I saw a chance to do both by literalizing a simple metaphorical concept with which most of us are probably familiar. We often say that loving someone is like giving them a piece of your heart. What if that was actually, painfully true? What if the ones who love us could take a piece of us with them?
Aside from the day-to-day problems this might present, it leaves readers with (what I hope is) a compelling question: what would you do if you knew that the more fiercely and frequently you loved, the less time you had left? I think a lot of us will tell ourselves that we would love just as freely and passionately as ever if faced with such a dilemma, but, really, who knows? Maybe not? Maybe we'd all hole up alone in the hopes of making it for the next hundred years.
Then again, what's the good of living for so long if you couldn't spend any of that time falling in love? (Other than avoiding contracting one of those pesky sexually transmitted curses that are always going around.)
Very interesting! Thanks, John!
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