At least respect JKR

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 109443

DuffyPoo:"I have a great deal of respect for JKR. While I believe she
is a very intelligent woman and a good writer, I don't think she walks
on water, as some people do. She is able to make mistakes. She says
herself she is no good at maths (and I admit, to me, that translates
to dates as well). She gave us FLINT after all and Mark Evans."

I support you.  JKR is a wonderful storyteller; she isn't the 9/11
Commission.  She never, in her wildest dreams, thought that we would
overprocess tiny little factoids the way we have and will keep on
doing.  She's said so.

I've always been struck by the parallels between JKR and Arthur Conan
Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.  He was wildly popular in his
lifetime, setting many publishing records.  He struggled with his
readers for "ownership" of his character and stories, to the point
that they wouldn't let him kill his character off when he got tired of
him. (People wore black armbands and accosted Doyle in the street.) He
inspired a huge active fan discussion base (I used to send in money
for Holmes "fanzines," a few purple mimeographed pages of fan writing
and discussion, and yes, fanfiction.  A `zine that lasted a year was a
big success.)

And, most important for this discussion, Doyle made many factual
inconsistencies and what we call Flints today.  The debates rage on
still, over a hundred years later.  My copy of /The Annotated Sherlock
Holmes/ is about two and a half inches thick, and nothing's been settled.

So it's no knock on JKR that she commits numerous inconsistencies in
details. It's the story and the characters that count, and she's
wonderful where it matters.  Haven't you ever loved someone and
laughed at their little quirks?  That's us and JKR.

Jim Ferer, who predicts Steve Van der Ark will be the editor of /The
Annotated Harry Potter/ some day.  Delivery by motor freight will be
required.