Literary heroes we’d hate to date

Last Friday, I led a workshop on behalf of Writing East Midlands, ‘Writing Romantic Fiction’. The course went well and I had a lovely group. At the end of the lunch break, some of us talked about literary heroes – that we’d hate to date (whatever the rest of the world might think!)

In honour of St Valentine’s Day, I’m posting some of the results here.

Beryl – and this may not be a popular point of view – would hate to date Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice: “Too good to be true; a cardboard cut-out of a man.”

Fiona would hate to date James Bond (a few aghast glances met this pronouncement). “He’s promiscuous. Even though his being tortured is responsible for his not finding it easy to get close to people, I wouldn’t want to date a man I’d need to repair.”

Claire’s choice met with nods of recognition. She’d hate to date Christian Grey of Fifty Shades of Grey fame, because “He doesn’t let Ana be herself.”

Cat, in similar vein, finds Edward from Twilight “Way too controlling.” As Christian Grey is said to be based on Edward, Claire and Cat obviously think the same way!

Stephanie’s ‘hate to date’ was Max de Winter from Rebecca. “A liar, domineering, and made no effort to help the narrator settle into her role as his wife.”

And me? I’d hate to date Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. I think he’s a troll, meanminded and self-centred. His only redeeming feature is his love for Catherine Earnshaw – and that doesn’t go well! If I dated Heathcliff I can image glancing often at my watch and hoping the evening would soon be over. That’s if Cathy at the window hadn’t put me off by then.

Which literary hero would you hate to date? Does he appear above? If not, feel free to add him in the comments. 🙂