Weasley Cousin discussion anyone?

[scoutmom21113]

No: HPFGUIDX 79373

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mark D." <uncmark at y...> wrote:
> I read in a JKR interview that she had planned to introduce a 
> Weasley Cousin. <snip>

In an interview by Jeff Jenson published in Entertainment Weekly, 
JKR said (referring to GoF):

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. 

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2000/0800-ew-
jensen.html

Ravenclaw Bookworm