CoS irrelevant?

[Brooks <GinWeasRox@aol.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48806

Several people have pointed out aspects of CoS that fit into the 
series. I would like to approach Laura's question from a different 
direction. Perhaps the reason it seems irrelevant is because the 
Harry Potter series did not truly begin until PoA. PS/SS is a stand-
alone book. It had to be, because nobody knew if it would sell. It 
did sell, so a sequel was written. It was at that point that 
Bloomsbury Publishing realized how far this gold mine could be taken, 
and JKR sat down with the editors to develop an extended story line.

I'm sure that she had ideas back at the beginning about how the story 
and the characterizations would develop, but she didn't complete all 
seven manuscripts before going out to find a publisher. If she *had* 
done that, we would not have this insufferably long wait for OotP.

The exact same thing happened when New Line Cinemas released a ghost 
story called "A Nightmare on Elm Street". The second film simply 
doesn't fit in with the concept of a series. It is in 3-6 that we are 
given a well rounded description of the villain's life starting with 
details of his conception and the identity of his mother, and only in 
#6 do we learn that he had a wife and daughter.

Events from CoS were worked into the series once it was decided that 
there was to be a series. I hope this helps to explain why CoS seems 
just slightly out of place.

Brooks