Elegant variations

As I was drafting this article, I kept thinking that by choosing to write about such a contentious issue I would probably end up wandering into a few minefields myself. The expression ‘political correctness gone mad’ reared its not-very-pretty head over and over again. Also, who am I tell other writers what to think, say or do?

I need to point out straight away that my intention here is not to be prescriptive about what novelists should or shouldn’t write. After all, what some people might feel is harmless banter, and is easy to laugh off or forgive, others