#portrait of the artist as a young man
When you’re angry at the characters, the story is well-written. When you’re angry at the writers, it is not.
the presumption here is that audiences can tell the difference.
presuming they’re not children, the audience can usually tell. ex: when a character does something you don’t like - but it feels like something the character would do - you get mad at the character. when a character does something you don’t like - and the history of that character makes it unbelievable that the character would do that thing - you get mad at the writers.
^^^^^^^^^^^THIS
The fact that you’re aware of the writer’s existence at all should be a clue. The writer should be invisible to you if they’ve done their job properly.
“The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind or beyond … refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.” –James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man