What If . . . What If It's A *Dud?*

[David <dfrankiswork@netscape.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51842

Cindy wrote:

> But yet . . .   I still worry.  'Cause you know what happens if 
OoP 
> isn't very good, right?  The reviews will be poor, and JKR might 
> seize up and not produce a book for another 3-4 years.  Leaving us 
> stuck with OoP as our only canon to analyze for a very looooong 
time.

I think it is almost a dead cert that the last two gaps between the 
books will be long, around 3 years.

> So I was wondering:  What could go wrong with OoP?  What would 
would 
> it take to positively *ruin* the book, do you think?
 
> So what do you think?  How confident are folks that OoP will be 
> really good, and why?  And if it's not very good, will it really 
> matter?

Sappiness (saptitude? sapismo?):  I doubt it.  Judging by Cedric, 
she will think she has gone overboard on mass sapporama and the 
fandom will say "eh?" or "huh?", depending on their country.

Tired plot devices:  I think that it is highly likely we will see 
these, but used in a way that gives a new twist.  For example, we 
will be led to believe that some animal is an animagus, but it won't 
be.  Or led to suspect that Snape (say), who is acting slightly OOC, 
is really a DE on polyjuice.

Or how about this: one of the old crowd goes on polyjuice as a DE, 
so we all think the DE is really the member of the OC.  After a 
while they *act* like the real DE and we get suspicious that they 
have been switched back.  At a crucial moment Dumbledore will reveal 
incontrovertibly that the real DE *is* under lock and key so we all 
breathe a sigh of relief - only later to find that the polyjuiced 
Old crowder has been put under Imperius by Voldemort all along.

Doubtless someone will tell me that this is all small beer by the 
standards of fanfic.

Voldemort confrontation: that this won't be as good as the graveyard 
is a real worry, but I suspect we may be given a rest from that for 
this book.

I see two trends in the books so far that *might* be detrimental to 
quality.

1) While I have never tried to verify this objectively, I sense an 
increase in verbosity, particularly GOF.  Possibly some of this was 
laying foundations for future books, but I worry about self-
indulgence, the bane of the successful writer.  It would be bad, 
IMO, if JKR's stature became so unchallengeable that her publishers 
wouldn't argue about quality.

2) I think we have steadily increasing complexity.  This is partly 
because there is more in each volume to build on from previous 
volumes, but I think it is also that she clearly enjoys her 
repeating patterns, each time with a further twist.  I think this is 
a positive development, but I see a possible danger in a plot so 
complicated that half her readers, well, lose the plot.

David

Dr Johnson's advice to aspiring authors:

"Read through your work, and whenever you come across a passage that 
seems exceptionally fine, or a turn of phrase particularly 
felicitous, take your pen, and unhesitatingly strike it out."