JKR - no editor? was: "Too clean" Dursley's

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 73451

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Anne Robotti" <arobotti at l...> 
wrote:
>> Wanda, what makes you think JKR doesn't have an editor anymore? 
Because as
> an editor myself there were times (including the rescue scene!) 
where I was
> just ITCHING to get out the Pen of Death. What you say about her 
not having
> an editor anymore makes tons of sense.
> 
>
Well, it's a bit hard to express neatly, but although I'm not 
involved in publishing, I am a reader.  And I recognize that pretty 
well everything I read has passed through the ministrations of an 
editor.  It's hard to know just WHAT an editor does, because they 
don't flag their contribution - there isn't a note from the editor 
in a book saying "I fixed this part; the author wanted to add 6 
lines describing the heroine's eyebrow, but I said forget it."  But 
I think maybe I notice editing when it's absent.  Almost the way 
nobody thinks about what a real estate agent does, until you have to 
deal with someone who's selling their own home.  Then you 
realize, "Aha!  So THIS is what real estate agents deal with! This 
is why they're useful and important!"  I just notice things in OotP 
that I didn't see in the other 4 books, and that I don't see in 
other novels.  There's repetition that didn't occur before, both 
incidents and phrasing (if I read "enough to be going on with" one 
more time I'll start yelling).  There are scenes that just go on for 
a long time, without anything new happening.  I think that there is 
a danger with being successful; you can turn into Woody Allen, who 
has a sort of privileged position in the film world.  He can do 
whatever he wants, because what he's done before has been so 
successful.  But that's not always a good thing; artists can't be 
trusted to always take the high road, or never indulge themselves.  
That's why editors were invented in the first place, I suppose.  I 
think that Rowling might be getting the Woody Allen treatment - who 
tampers with or argues with success?  But I think some parts of the 
book are a bit self-indulgent; I get the feeling that Rowling writes 
some things really well, and other things are hard for her.  That's 
natural.  But it's also natural for a person to want to relax and do 
more of what's enjoyable, so I think that's why some of 
the "conversation" parts go on so long.  Part of writing is just 
producing the stuff on paper; if it's hard to do it one way, I think 
a writer might be tempted to do more of the easy stuff, and feel 
that at least it's getting done.  I think readers can be too ready 
to make excuses, and look for deep explanations when they aren't 
there.

Wanda