What was the Plot-Hole? JKR answers

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 18338

I wrote:

> JKR has said that she ran into a hole in the plot, but she has also 
> said that there was a Weasley cousin who got scrapped and replaced 
> with Rita Skeeter (JKR needed =someone= to get information outside 
> Hogwarts, is what she said, IIRC).  I thought that whatever made her 
> switch this around was the gaping plot hole she meant.  Has she said 
> anything that makes anyone think the hole had to do with Moody?

Should've done this research before, but having written the above I 
went and checked and finally found the relevant interview.  It is 
Entertainment Weekly, Sept. 7, 2000, and can be found at

http://www.hpgalleries.com/c108.htm

Was this the hardest book you've had to write so far?

 Easily. 

 Why?

 The first three books, my plan never failed me. But I should have put 
that plot under a microscope. I wrote what I thought was half
 the book, and "Ack!" Huge gaping hole in the middle of the plot. I 
missed my deadline by two months. And the whole profile of the
 books got so much higher since the third book; there was an edge of 
external pressure. 

 And what exactly was that gaping hole all about?

 I had to pull a character. There you go: "the phantom character of 
'Harry Potter."' She was a Weasley cousin [related to Ron
 Weasley, Harry's best friend]. She served the same function that Rita 
Skeeter [a sleazy investigative journalist] now serves. Rita was
 always going to be in the book, but I built her up, because I needed 
a kind of conduit for information outside the school. Originally,
 this girl fulfilled this purpose. 



Amy Z

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 However, it is easy to repulse the Pogrebin 
 with simple hexes or Stupefying Charms.  
 Kicking has also been found effective.
     -Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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