[HPforGrownups] Re: Are The Schoolbooks Canon?

[heidi tandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 38954


--- abigailnus <abigailnus at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> I don't think I made myself clear.  I'm not
> suggesting that the schoolbooks 
> are not canon in the sense that they are not true
> within the Potterverse, 
> or that they conflict with the books - this is
> obviously not the case
<SNIP>
> (b) FB and QttA were certainly not part of JKR's
> original seven-book-plan, and 
> were probably conceived of and written after GoF was
> completed.

<SNIP>

> FB and QttA were a charity
> venture, and while I don't know 
> exactly whose idea they were, I do know there was
> also a Bridget Jones companion 
> volume that came out in time for Red Nose Day, 2001,
> so is it a fair assumption 
> that both Helen Fielding and JKR were approached by
> a Comic Relief representative 
> with the idea, and not the other way around?  In
> that case it makes no sense for 
> JKR to plan a plot point based on information
> contained in books that she had no 
> idea she was going to write when she first planned
> the series out.
> 
> Taking these two pointss into account, I just can't
> reasonably imagine a plot point in 
> some future book that involves the sudden revelation
> of information from FB or QttA 
> *without* having that information previously
> mentioned in the book itself (in much 
> the same way that the description of an Animagus is
> repeated at the beginning of 
> PoA even though we have both seen and heard a
> description of them in PS.)  I would 
> consider it sloppy writing.  And we can't very well
> hold ourselves to a lower standard 
> than JKR, right?

Abigail, I am going to respectfully disagree with the
"logic path" you've laid out above.

First, as I understand it, the books were written
simultaneous with the editing of GoF, but I actually
consider that somewhat irrelevant.

We know from JKR's comments that she had "always had a
sneaking desire to write FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO
FIND THEM and QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES, so when
Richard Curtis of Comic Relief wrote to me, I thought
it was a wonderful opportunity to help a charity I
have always supported." 

Here's a bit from another interview from 2001:
I always write more than I need for the books so bits
ofthem were just written for my own fun. So when Comic
Relief asked me to write something Ithought I would
just love to write them, I just thought it would be so
much fun and I wascompletely correct. It was more fun
than I've had writing the others.How did these books
come about?I got a letter from Richard Curtis who
started Comic Relief saying would you consider
writingus a short story? And then he cunningly said
something like "I'm sure you won't, we'll stilllove
your books, even if you don't but just thought we'd
ask". Which is a very clever way ofasking someone to
do something. But I didn't really need much persuasion
as I have alwayssupported Comic Relief, and I think
they do fantastic work, so I wrote back and said yes
butI'm not good at short stories particularly not
short Harry stories I tend to ramble on, so howwould
it be if I wrote a couple of the titles that appear by
title in the novels so that's how it allstarted. And I
decided to do two because just because I had two in my
head and I couldn'treally decide between Fantastic
Beasts and Quidditch so I thought we'll do them both.

I really recommend the interview here:
http://www.raincoast.com/harrysbooks/pdf/JK_Rowling_interview.pdf
- because it gets into the background for FB and QTTA.


I think that as the books were significantly comprised
of things she had already written as the backstory to
things happening on the pages of the books - things
which, perhaps, predated even the publication of PS -
it's very clear to me that there may be plot points
coming in future books which involve things described
or discussed in the books - most likely in FB, but who
knows? Perhaps Harry is the descendent of the inventor
of the Golden Snitch, who lived in Godric's Hollow.
Perhaps Hagrid will bring a Hairy MacBoon to class.
We'll all know eventually.

I am not sure, Abigail, why you consider it sloppy
writing to have a number of files and notes and
backstory things put together, and which JKR uses in
writing the books, but the details of which we may not
know. I think it's actually a sign of a well-organized
mind, and hopefully a good Flint-preventor. What do
you think is sloppy about having the "research
material" and the backstories, and then publishing a
version of some of them?



heidi tandy

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