Posted by Prue Eckett on March 25, 2002 at 20:40:50 from 203.96.111.200:
In Reply to: er, may one please disagree? posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 25, 2002 at 10:38:17:
By all means - that is what critical discussion is all about.
You are right when you say there never has been a writer who gave his or her characters equal treatment.
I mean, there is no point in Cook, for instance, being given much of a background, family, education, wants & desires etc. She is someone who fills a gap, and very suitably too.
But main characters must have more than just a form and function. I have to say, and most writers and publishers would have to agree, that if AR was endeavouring to get published nowdays, some of his characters would need a lot more rounding out.It's not enough to have Susan as housekeeper to the group, for example. As a principal character she would have to have more depth.