When I wrote my report on Kij Johnson’s fiction masterclass I commented that I expected to start seeing reviews in which the reviewer castigates the novel for not following the “rules” of writing. I didn’t have long to wait. A couple of days ago Twitter led me to a review in which one of the characters is described thus:

she’s more like a person than a character. A lovingly drawn portrait rather than an actor that serves the plot

The review goes on to say that a novel full of characters like this would not work.

* head * desk * repeat *