Can JKR write dialogue? Her use of "Swifities" says "No."

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 82868

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Haggridd" <jkusalavagemd at y...>
wrote:
> I came across this item in a thread on the use of adverbs in 
> attributions of speech in JKR's dialogue over at OTC.  I found it 
> surprising that David [davewitley] reached interpretations of more
than one 
> conversation in the HP books that were at odds with those JKR 
> intended as evidenced by her modifying adverb.<snip>
> 
> The question is whether there is a defect, or ambiguity in the way 
> JKR creates conversations, and is she relying overmuc on the 
> modifying adverbs to convey her meaning, which is an inferior 
> technique to conveying said meaning within the dialogue itself.
> 
> Can anyone cite instances where their intitial impression of the 
> flavor of an exchange was contradicted by such modifying adverbs?
> I will be on the lookout for such, and I ask that you all do as well.
> 
> -Haggridd

Annemehr:

I remember having the same experiences that David has; when reading
aloud, I'd sometimes read a line of dialogue only to find that JKR
would specify a different tone of voice than I had used.  I came
across an example just last night, although the modifiers in this case
are adjectives rather than adverbs.  In OoP, ch. 37, when Dumbledore
first begins talking with Harry after their return from the MoM:

"'I know how you are feeling, Harry,' said Dumbledore very quietly.

"'No, you don't,' said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and
strong. White-hot anger lept inside him.  Dumbledore knew *nothing*
about his feelings."

I *always* want to read Harry's line in a sort of strangled, or tight,
voice, as if he can hardly bear to speak.  My first interpretation is
to have Harry speaking through pain, until the modifying phrase tells
me he's speaking in anger.  If JKR does not want to separate Harry's
line from Dumbledore's by inserting a reference to his anger in
between [a valid wish, IMO], she could at least have ended it in an
exclamation point.  I think my eye would have picked up on that as I
read the line.

Other than the punctuation, is this an example of poor writing?  I
don't think so.  It seems to me either voice, pain or anger, would be
appropriate and therefore JKR does need to specify in some way which
one Harry uses, and I don't see how she could do that just by changing
the actual words Harry speaks.

Annemehr