J.K. Rowling Comments on Completing the Series

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164722

Shelley wrote:

> That, and a new rumour. (which, btw, doesn't refute the 7's theory,
because she talks about the 7/7 date and the 7/21 date) To even think
she considered giving in to fans with the 7/7/07 is something I find
facinating. I love this woman!

Carol responds:
As a copyeditor with some knowledge of book production, I can tell you
that an author doesn't decide when her own books will come out. Most
authors (JKR may be an exception) have a deadline for submitting their
completed manuscript, and the publication of the book comes about six
months after that. JKR may have been asked if she could meet a January
7 deadline, which would fit with a July 7 publication date, and asked
for two more weeks to "edit" (revise) the book, but the manuscript
still needs to be typecoded and copyedited (the book design is
probably already complete), Mary Grandpre still needs to do the
illustrations for the American version, the copyedited manuscript has
to be typeset and proofread, JKR has to approve both the edits and the
proofs and make a few new corrections, and once all the corrections
are in place, the book has to be printed, bound, and distributed--all
of this on a tight schedule. No excuse short of an attack by giants on
the typesetter's computer will be accepted by the general public for a
missed deadline.

So JKR is aware of the people who wanted the book to come out on
07/07/07 (which, BTW, would work in both the American and British
dating systems), but it was never fully in her control. All she does
is plan, write, and revise the manuscript--rather like giving birth to
a baby since without the manuscript, there's no book. But there's a
lot more to book publishing than the author's contribution. (I've
never seen JKR's manuscripts except the snippets on her website, but
some books would never be read if they were typeset as the author
wrote them!)

There's no question, of course, that the number seven is thematically
important (seven Weasley children, seven Horcruxes because seven is "a
powerfully magical number") and no accident that she always planned
seven books. But a publication date of 07/07/07 would have been a
gimmick by the publishers (with Scholastic and Bloomsbury cooperating
with one another), not a gift from JKR to her reading public.

What I found interesting was her comment that we would still have
plenty to speculate and argue about, which means that she's *not*
going to answer all our questions. Either that, or the scenes and
characters will still be open to interpretation. That last part I can
live with, as long as I know Snape's motives and backstory.

Carol, who sneaked as much canon into this post as possible and hopes
that the List Elves will let it stay here rather than moving it to OT
Chatter