Tavia wrote: <Yeah, real life's complicated, messy, often dull &c &c, but can't one try to come up with a fictional version that reflects this, whilst cutting out some degree of the dull bits?>

but the dull bits are what makes it real life ...

I don't mean that one should try to make it true to life, of course, but fiction *is* really an artificial construct, born of one or more people's ideas and imaginations - all of it, the ideas and themes and background as much as the characters if not more. That's exactly how it should be, that's what *makes* it work. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.