JKR's Outlining of the Books

[kellymcj2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 72585

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Buttercup <cathio2002 at y...> 
wrote:
> Does anyone know of any JKR interview where she
> discussed how she outlined her books? This fascinates
> me--having cues dispersed throught all the books (some
> obvious and some not so obvious) that hint of future
> events, and the plot and subplots intermingling so
> well. That's a lot of hard work and planning. She must
> be a meticulous person, at least when it comes to her
> writing. How detailed are her outlines (they must be
> pages long)? I know outlines aren't written in blood,
> but did she follow them exactly or did she stumble on
> problems as she wrote and have to adjust the plot?
> 
> 
> =====
> Buttercup

She has said, and I don't know the exact interview, that she has it 
all worked out and she'd be really peeved if someone figured out the 
end becasue she can't change it now; she has too many pieces in 
place.  To me, this suggests she must have, at this point in the 
series, a fairly rigid plan of what needs to happen.  

I don't think it was as definite for past books.  I read an interview 
about book four and she said she had to rewrite a bunch of it to fit 
her plan, however, part of the rewriting meant taking out a Weasley 
cousin.  In this instance, a lot of the book had Weasley cousin 
parts, so you'd think the cousin must have been significant, right?  
However, the cousin angle just didn't work out with whatever her 
overall plan is and she had to do tons of rewriting.  

What am I trying to say?  I think my point is she does have a basic 
outline and her wiggle room for adding and taking out ideas becomes 
smaller as we near the end.  She has to include certain things (I 
think she said she doesn't want to be accused of an Agatha Christie 
surprise ending) so we have some clues and she has to make sure the 
extras don't interfere with the basic outline.

Well, I hope that helps a bit.  There is a site somewhere with a 
bunch of her interviews.  If I were at all net savvy I'd include the 
address here, but I don't know it.  Sorry.  

KelMc    
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