length of books

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 27940

Amy wrote:> 

I know this isn't what you're saying, Tabouli, but why do people 
> complain about the length of GoF and the rumored length of 7 and 
> (possibly) 5?  I say the longer the better, as long as they're all 
as 
> well-written as GF.  Too much of a good thing is wonderful.
> 

Hi, Amy!

Speaking for myself, I don't have a problem with the length of GoF 
per se.  Long and great is better than short and great, I suppose.  
Although GoF was great, it did get a bit windy in spots in the first 
half, and it would have been even greater had it not been allowed to 
bog down in those places.  

As you pointed out in your summary of the plotlines of PoA (which was 
awesome, BTW, thanks!), PoA has a LOT going on.  But PoA was as tight 
as a drum and very tightly focused on establishing what needed to be 
established for everything to work -- nothing more, nothing less.  
That focus made it a really exciting read.  PoA could have been 
stretched to be as long as GoF, had JKR added more background, more 
descriptions and more diversions.  So as between the 400+ page PoA 
and the 700+ page GoF, I prefer the former (but just by a little 
bit), but not merely because it is shorter.

So I'd like to see OoP be very, very long (800+ pages would be fine 
with me), and very, very tight.  (If I could only have either long or 
tight, however, I'd pick tight every time.)  That won't be easy, but 
it is more likely to happen if JKR takes her time, and we sure know 
she's doing that.

Cindy (who wishes her own writing were as lean as PoA)