Based? (was John Weasley)

[David]

Steve quoted JKR:
 
> > The closest I've come to putting a real person in my books is 
with
> > Gilderoy Lockhart, who is an exaggeration of someone I once knew.
> > **John** Weasley is a little bit like my oldest friend, a man I 
> was at
> > school with, whose name is Sean. But neither of them are accurate
> > portraits.
> > 
> > http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript1.htm
> > 
> 
Barb replied:

> She's often said that Ron was based on her old friend, Sean.  

I agree that 'John' above almost certainly refers to Ron.

For me, though, it triggered a question about something else.

I haven't gone through her interviews in detail, but the my memory 
is that JKR is quite careful to use phrases like "Character X is a 
little bit like real person Y".

I am not an author of fiction, so I take these statements at face 
value: there is a degree of resemblance between the character and 
the real person.  To my mind, that is something different from 
saying that character X is 'based' on person Y.

The use of this language doesn't bother me in itself, but I wonder 
about the deductions that are then made.  For example: "Hermione is 
based on JKR's teenage self, and Ron is based on Sean.  These two 
are old friends but have never had a romantic relationship [as far 
as the post author knows] so R/H can't happen."

My question - I would particularly like authors of fiction to share 
their own experience here - is: Is this a valid form of reasoning?  
In the particular case where a character is assumed based on the 
author (I have seen Hermione described as 'JKR's avatar'), is it 
valid to deduce that future plot developments will follow the 
supposed wishes of the author, or avoid her supposed mistakes ("X is 
based on Arantes so Hermione will never get together with *him*!")?

I always feel these sorts of arguments come perilously close to 
accusing JKR of Mary-Sue-ism myself, but I would like to know.  Even 
where characters not resembling the author are the subject of the 
argument, it feels as if the author's imagination is being 
discounted.

Barb - I realise this is probably just chance wording on your part 
in response to a different topic, it isn't directed at you, or 
anything you have said in the past.

David