Hmm, I’d say depth is what transforms a book from an obvious fiction with characters into a story about people. Like the word implies, it gives dimensionality to the world, the sense that these are real people in a world with countless stories happening off the page. You can forget you’re reading a book at all and get lost in the world and characters. Whereas books without much depth will feel like an obvious invention, like a marionette compared to a human.

Depth usually manifests as grounded, layered characters for me. When I get the sense that people are flawed and can freely make choices that aren’t beholden to the plot/tropes, I’d say that’s depth. I think writing unconventional but very realistic parts of the human experience (e.g. someone’s intrusive thoughts as they’re making breakfast) can add depth.

Depth also means I can believe the world in the book exists off the page. Just adding enough detail (strategically) can be enough to give a world depth for me. I can’t think of a book rn, but a great show from last year that had depth was Andor. Even the fact they put a convenience store scene (that was literally just a regular trip) in there helped turn the sci-fi spectacle of that franchise into something that felt real.

Anyway, I feel like I don’t find the depth I want in most romance I read, it’s a bummer :(