Rowling/writer's block (WAS: Are we having fun?)

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 80658

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "msbeadsley" <msbeadsley at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> Another parallel with J.R.R. Tolkien has occurred to me that has 
made 
> me a bit more hopeful (that and the part of the interview--thanks 
to 
> those who pointed out where I saw the "writer's block" comment--
where 
> JKR says that after OoP *at least* one thing lightens Harry's 
load:  
> he's believed by the WW).

Well, to be quite honest, I don't believe Rowling when she says she 
didn't have writer's block for OotP.  I think she's lying - and if 
people can argue convincingly that Dumbledore is a liar, I think I'm 
entitled to say the same about Rowling!  It's not as if she has no 
reason to lie about such a thing.  One of her most noticeable 
characteristics is that she is quite a control freak - of course 
she's going to pretend that everything is fine and under control, 
and that despite the bizarre book she just turned out, "Everything 
is for the best in the best of all possible worlds."  Sure, she'll 
admit to having had writer's block when writing CoS - now, years 
later, when the book is obviously a success and her admission 
doesn't mean anything.  But I knew she was having writer's block 
more than a year ago, when the deadline for publication kept being 
extended season by season.  And I'll say more: OotP has "nervous 
breakdown" written all over it.  I think she was in the impossible 
situation of *having* to produce a book and feeling unable to do so, 
and this tortured hulk is the result of all that strain.  Maybe 
she's over it, and maybe she's not.  I'll know when the next book 
comes out - or if it DOESN'T come out, just like OotP for several 
years.

Wanda