Character Development (was Re: Why Hermione isn't in Ravenclaw)

[Scott]

No: HPFGUIDX 6341


Eggplant wrote:
Hermione hugs him and says "Harry you're a great wizard, you know." 
Harry says "I'm not as good as you" and then Hermione responds with 
incredulity "Me! Books! And cleverness! There are more important 
things- friendship and bravery and- oh Harry- be careful!"


Yes, that's true but I think that we'd all be kidding ourselves if we 
didn't admit that at least one reason for Hermione's being in 
Gryffindor is to forward the plot.  It's not the most interesting 
explanation but then if the trio was made up of three brave risk 
takers and no one to check them, the books themselves wouldn't be to 
intersesting.

This brings me to a question about character development.  Basically 
would Jo have written the story to fit the characters, or would she 
have written the characters to fit the story?  In my own experience 
with writing they both seem to help each other along.  As I write I 
find out new things about the characters and therefore the story can 
branch off into different directions than I originally thought.  
While I would guess JKR is much the same, I thought maybe Peg, as a 
published author, or anyone else for that matter could shed some 
light on this subject.

When JKR was writing is it more likely that she started out with the 
exact plan that Hermione would be very bookish, and in Gryffindor, 
and rather bossy, and bent on trying to follow rules, and...or were 
these things by products of the writing.  An example of this might be 
that Jo said she enjoyed writing Moody (Crouch Jr.) far more than she 
had expected.

Scott