Why don’t the people in novels ever catch colds? My rough reckoning is that 25% to 40% of novels should have a main character getting a stinking cold at some point. (From Google: the average number of principal characters in a novel is about five; the average timespan covered by a novel is about one year; the average number of colds per person per year is two to three, each lasting about a week.)

Chris Kitchin, Thaxted, Essex

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