plots, victims and heroes

[LZirlin at aol.com]

> From what I remember, the basic theme of the intro
>essay was that stories have to be based on characters with
>depth, rather than interesting ideas.  So why do the characters in
>the Slow Learner stories have more depth than those in Lot49?

Hello, I'm new to the list.  This thread spurred me to go back and reread SL.
 In the intro TRP sez that he forgot all the lessons he had learned about
character when he wrote COL49. He also refers to COL49 as a story that was
"marketed as novel."

I like the book, even if he doesn't. But I read books FOR their ideas.