Would JKR lie to protect her story?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 99827

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "snufflesnbeakie" 
<bhauersperger at h...> wrote:
> I was reviewing interviews with JKR earlier today, and 
wondered, if  someone asked her a question ~ that gave her no 
choice ~ would she  lie to keep the story from being revealed?<

Pippin:
I don't know if lying would protect the story. False information 
would kill the suspense just as much as true information, and 
would ruin the story as well. But she has lied to avoid 
disappointing a young reader:

***
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/1999/109
9-columbusdisp-gilson.html
"I know what the title of your next book is. I know what it is. It's 
Harry Potter and the Quidditch World Cup!" 

Rowling, a slight woman with strawberry-blond hair, paused to 
recall the episode, then spoke again in her crisp British accent. 

"Every other time a kid has said this to me, I've said, 'No, that's a 
rumor; that's not the title.' But he was so pleased with himself 
that he thought he knew it, and he was only about 5, so I said: 
'That's right. You're absolutely right.' And I thought, 'He'll deal
with it later.
***

I don't think  JKR needs to lie to get readers on the wrong track. 
Given the fans' tendency to build massive edifices of speculation 
on the slightest foundation or no foundation at all,  Rowling can 
encourage false rumors by openly refusing to deny them.

For example, if you check out the polls section you'll see that a 
lopsided majority of the list was convinced that Hagrid was going 
to kick the bucket in Book Five. This, despite the fact that 
re-reading PoA, Sirius might as well be wearing a toe-tag. 

You see, JKR told the BBC that she'd given Robbie 
Coltrane some background on his character, and fans made 
much of the fact that Coltrane had signed only a five movie 
contract. Though it was announced that the length of Coltrane's 
contract was strictly a business matter, the rumor persisted. JKR 
was asked whether Hagrid would die...

******
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/1999/109
9-columbusdisp-gilson.html

Q: Children know that a death or two will occur in the next books, 
and they're worried about some characters -- particularly Ron 
and Hagrid the groundskeeper. Do you pay attention to such 
concerns? 


A: For five years, this was my internal world. It's still the most 
amazing thing to meet one person, let alone hordes of people, 
who knows these characters. 

It's heartwarming that people care enough about them to want 
them not to get hurt, but at the same time I have the absolute 
right to do what I like to my story and characters. I'm not going to 
write to order. I've planned the whole story, and I've always 
known who was going to die and who was going to come 
through unscathed, and I'm not going to deviate from that. 
*****

JKR enjoys the theorizing, and she knows it would spoil the 
game if people caught on that she was lying...so I think in the 
main she doesn't. But like Dumbledore talking to Fudge, she's 
quite willing for us to draw the wrong conclusions. 

Pippin