Good writer (was: Harry IS Snape!)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 141183

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Mira <anurim at y...> wrote:
> <SNIP>
,
> 
> 
> Why did you reach this conclusion, Lupinlore? I am
> interested because, hard as I tried, I had exactly the
> same impression all through HBP, but I would not be
> able to put the finger on what was causing it. Can
> you?
> 


Sorry it's taken a while to continue the thread.  I wanted to think 
on it a day or so.

I think it's several things.  In the case of HBP, I think the romance 
hurt a lot.  It just wasn't well done or particularly believable, 
even taking into account that these are teenagers.  

However, I think more to the point JKR is hurt by the way the 
different books come together, or rather fail to come together.  The 
radical changes in tone from one book to another are jarring and work 
hard against suspension of disbelief.  Much worse, the characters 
develop in odd and unbelievable ways, generally dictated by the 
demands of the plot.  I hold to the idea that in good writing 
character dictates plot, not the other way around.  In the last 
couple of books JKR has violated that maxim a depressing number of 
times.

To make matters worse, the plot lines are often dictated by tired and 
predictable formulas.  JKR herself has said that Sirius and 
Dumbledore both died because the standard formulas of hero literature 
require that Harry lose his father figures.  Not a very good reason 
to kill a couple of characters with whom she might have done far more 
interesting and original things, and even much deeper and more 
insightful things from the standpoint of writing and literature.  
Also, be honest, who that has ever played D&D could read about 
the "quest for the seven horcruxes" and not at least titter, if not 
outright guffaw?  It was like she walked into a comic-book shop and 
decided to use the plot of the first old D&D module she found lying 
in the Clearance Sale box.

Worst of all, JKR has a bad habit, as I've said before, of writing 
herself into corners and then getting out by, well, cheating.  It's 
like the old Saturday matinees where you see a car go over a cliff 
with the hero inside and spend all week wondering how he's going to 
survive, only to return the next week and be treated to a scene where 
the hero jumped out of the car BEFORE it went over the cliff.  I am 
among those who thought JKR made some fairly serious mistakes with 
OOTP, but I was hoping she would deal with them fairly.  Instead, she 
just swept most of the challenging plot-lines (Harry's anger and 
guilt, Dumbledore's complicity in the Dursleys abuse of Harry, 
grieving over Sirius, house unity, the development of Neville and 
Luna, McGonagall's mishandling of Harry and the Umbridge situation, 
Harry's relationship with Lupin in the wake of Sirius' death, even 
much of Harry's hatred of Snape) under the rug with either a couple 
of brief sentences or with no mention at all.

Finally, she gave us a plotline (the whole Snape plotline) in HBP 
that was so blatantly manipulative it felt like she was wearing 
boxing gloves instead of using the delicate touch that was needed.  
And, given the problems above, she leaves little faith that she'll 
resolve it without a lot of rug-sweeping and hand-waving.

In the wake of all of that, I think most of the books (with the 
probable exception of OOTP) are good judged on their own merits, but 
they don't fit together smoothly or believably -- even allowing for 
the "Harry growing up" effect that is sometimes trotted out to excuse 
some of the roughness.  All in all, the story arc and especially the 
development of the characters and the follow-through of challenging 
plotlines just aren't up to the potential that shone through in JKR's 
better work, particularly PoA.

I'm reminded of something Roger Ebert, the film critic, said 
recently.  When challenged as to why he gave "War of the Worlds" a 
relatively poor review when he had given much more favorable 
recommendations to worse movies, he said, "If this movie had been 
directed by anyone else, I would have given it a better review.  But 
this is Stephen Spielberg, who gave us three of the best sci-fi 
movies of the past thirty years.  And from him, this doesn't rate a 
good review."  Similarly, much of the problem with JKR wouldn't be a 
big deal if this wasn't the woman who wrote the first four books, 
particularly PoA.  But she is, and I "KNOW" she has it in her to 
do "MUCH" better than this.  And therefore, I have to say, her 
performance since the end of GoF has been a severe disappointment.


Lupinlore