Amanda Jones answers “Did anyone else get the sense that (apart...”

Laura Simonite asked this question about Queenie:

Did anyone else get the sense that (apart from Kyazike) all of her friends' relationships where similarly dysfunctional? Obviously we saw Cassandra's fall apart, but there were lots of hints that Darcy's was problematic too. Was it character development that Queenie never thought to probe when hints were dropped do you think?

Amanda Jones I think Laura, with publishers asking writers to keep books of this nature down to 90,000 words or so, to really tell a good story, the story often ha…moreI think Laura, with publishers asking writers to keep books of this nature down to 90,000 words or so, to really tell a good story, the story often has to be VERY focused. Supporting characters support the story. They don't get their own story within the story they are meant to be supporting. But fan fic can fix that. lol
It's okay for us to be interested in characters that we don't get to delve deeply into - and it's a sign that they were well presented. Trust me, unless Queenie had a tendency to deflect her own problems by expressing care for her friends' problems, and that was part of her character and psychology, such probing would have annoyed and bored the readers as going 'off-story'. That's the stuff editors ask you take out, UNLESS it shows the reader more about your character that they need to know.(less)

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