One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[Tiffany B. Clark]

Magpie:

But the point isn't whether or not Harry has a life outside of what 
we see. If you think of Harry as "real" even if it's only in your 
imagination (and if anybody would need therapy at being told that a 
fictional character fictional, then they already need therapy) then 
Harry alread has a life outside the page. Even if you don't think of 
him that way he does. That's how fiction works.

Tiffany:

I know how fiction works because I've read a lot of fictional works 
on a whole lot of subjects from nuclear wars to battling evil. I know 
that Potter himself has a life outside the page, but it's up to each 
person to decide how hooked into it they get.

Magpie:

The article's author isn't saying JKR should not think of Harry as  
having more to him than what's on the page, he's saying that 
everybody will fill him in for themselves off the page and when she 
just throws out "this is the way to imagine this" when she's talking 
about something off-page it's cutting into the reader's experience. 
Plenty of authors strike a balance between answering questions and 
telling people what to think and what to imagine. Some people, I 
guess, find it makes it "more real" when she throws out random facts 
that are outside of canon. Others of us don't like it at all.

-m

Tiffany:

I personally don't mind the relevation that DD was gay after the 
canonical novels were done because I had my suspicions before I even 
read page one of DH.  I like when there's outside facts not supported 
by canon myself because anyone can speculate & form opinions when 
they think that there's evidence to do so.  Heck, I'm pretty sure 
that the little tidbits from JKR are far from over at all because the 
Potterverse doesn't end with the canonical novels, at least to me.