Thoughts about writing books 5-7 (WAS: Playing the game )

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 30235

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Susanne Schmid <pigwidgeon37 at y...> wrote:
> I haven't yet made up my mind 100% whether she truly *is* a 
> brilliant writer and I think that book 5 will prove to be the 
> ultimate touchstone for her...  
> [snip] But OTOH, it has to be said that, in books 1-4, she pretty 
> much used the same plot devices and the same plot patterns, which 
> is *no* negative judgement on my part (I love the books), but a 
> fact that has to be stated. And IMO, at least some of us would be 
> disappointed if she did the same in the next book. Dark as its 
> content might be, if she followed the same pattern after the 
> crescendo in book 4, I'd tend to judge her as a not-so-brilliant 
> author with a brilliant imagination. 

I'm afraid I have to disagree.  She has maintained a pattern that is 
reliable and predictable and yet within that framework she has spun 
four very different yarns.  I fully expect her to stick to this 
template, and would be very disappointed if she didn't.  Children 
love consistency; there are some rather pedestrian book series out 
there concerning aliens, time travel, etc., that use and reuse the 
same pattern book after book, but never rise above the level of the 
mundane.  (I cannot read these to my children; I will not name them 
here, but I have to draw the line when I am asked to read this stuff 
aloud.  They read those to themselves.)  

JKR's work is decidedly different.  The only other author I've seen 
do this well is Jane Langton, whose fiction for both children and 
adults tends to follow a very consistent pattern, and yet she never 
disappoints or panders (and she also has a sense of humor, which is 
something else that sets the Harry Potter books apart from the 
crowd).  Langton, of course, does not have the following that JKR 
has.  (No other writer does.)  There is no reason to think that JKR 
will always write like this; if she begins a new series of fiction 
after the seventh Harry Potter book, I am guessing that it will 
probably depart from the HP books in many respects.

When the template needed to be tweaked in GoF, she did it 
unobtrusively, I believe.  Now that Voldemort has his body back, 
anything can happen.  I'm more than willing to wait as long as it 
takes to find out what that is, and I fully expect it to fit into 
the familiar framework she has established.  I believe she has 
structured the existing stories the way she has for a reason, and 
it's not to begin writing a different sort of story beginning with 
Book five.

--Barb
  
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