Conspiracy Theories

[Kathy King]

No: HPFGUIDX 96876

Hi Geoff!
I had read your latest post on conspiracy theories in which you asked:

>The point I am reiterating in this ramble is that, as I have said
previously, I wonder whether Jo Rowling has her story planned to the
level of intricacy that we seem to believe. Whether every second word
needs to be analysed? Why was the passive tense used there? Why a
conditional clause here? <

I realize you may have asked these questions rhetorically in making a point 
but I have been reading a lot of JKRs chats and interviews and happened 
upon a response from her that more or less had insight to these very 
questions. I added the entire paragraph not wanting to take the wording out 
of context. The last few sentences are the ones that seem to apply the most.

>From The Scotsman 2002, JKR was asked:

Can you describe the process of creating the stories?

Her reply:
It was a question of discovering why Harry was where he was, why his parents 
were dead. I was inventing it but it felt like research. By the end of that 
train journey I knew it was going to be a seven-book series. I know thats 
extraordinarily arrogant for somebody who had never been published but 
thats how it came to me. It took me five years to plan the series out, to 
plot through each of the seven novels. I know what and whos coming when, 
and it can feel like greeting old friends. Professor Lupin, who appears in 
the third book, is one of my favourite characters. Hes a damaged person, 
literally and metaphorically. I think its important for children to know 
that adults, too, have their problems, that they struggle. His being a 
werewolf is a metaphor for peoples reactions to illness and disability. I 
almost always have complete histories for my characters. If I put all that 
detail in, each book would be the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but 
I do have to be careful that I dont just assume that the reader knows as 
much as I do. Sirius Black is a good example. I have a whole childhood 
worked out for him. The readers dont need to know that but I do. I need to 
know much more than them because Im the one moving the characters across 
the page.

It appears that JKR has gone to extensive lengths, at least to the major 
players, to create entire backgrounds for her own use. Given this bit of 
insight to her complexity, we may need a very large magnifying glass in 
picking out her very subtle clues.

Kathy- who wouldnt mind reading the Encyclopedia Britannica on quite a few 
of the characters in these books!

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