Sirius' Mirror and Chekhov's Gun

[angela_glor]

No: HPFGUIDX 87797

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z" <lupinesque at y...> wrote:

> But, you know, I don't even accept Chekhov's Law.  Even 
> dramatic geniuses don't have the one and only formula for 
> writing great drama, and furthermore, Chekhov wasn't writing 
> mysteries.  

I don't accept it either.  If any form of art operated under 
unyielding and inflexible laws, then it wouldn't be art.  It would be 
mathematics.  

I remember that when I was learning the basics of writing, I had a 
teacher who was very serious about grammar and punctuation and all of 
the conventions of paragraph and sentence structure.  I asked him 
about why it is that great authors are allowed to break the rules, 
even to the point of writing poetry without capital letters.  He 
replied, "You have to know the rules before you are allowed to break 
them."

My concern is that the series is becoming a bit disjointed, 
though.  "Guns" in HP are being introduced, yes, and some will be 
fired and some won't.  The problem is that there is a fine line 
between a carefully constructed series with guns that fire and guns 
that make no noise and have no purpose, and I worry that this series 
is likely going to wind up on the wrong side of that line.  Things 
like Sirius' mirror make me feel that way at times.

Angela