JKR Brought it Upon Herself

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 176793

Mus wrote:> 
> She knew from early on that numbers were not her forte - why then did 
> she not say to her editors that they needed to check them?  Why, when 
> her editors *must* have known that numbers might be a problem, did 
> they not go over them with a fine-toothed comb? 
> 
> The end product reads like something that *wasn't* carefully put 
> together.  


Julie H adds:
Yes, yes -- as i've been saying since DH came out -- sloppy, sloppy editing work. if you 
are working with someone purported to be a creative genius (not to mention a huge 
generator of cash for your publishing company) -- your job as an editor is to make the 
creative genius look really, really good.

I'm an editor. I work with architects. Other kinds of creative geniuses. Often their writing 
needs some heavy work. They're not always the most detail-minded when it comes to 
writing -- especially when they are so immersed in the work that they forget what they 
have (and have not) adequately explained to the readers.

So many points in DH cry out for clarification. The everlasting polyjuice, the ambiguous 
nature of the Deathstick's alliance, tons of other nitpicky stuff. Were the editors too 
blinded by the stardust to see these things?

So irksome. So fixable if only some people had been doing their jobs as editors (or been 
allowed to do so). Even Jo admits that OoP is considerably too long. Another probable case 
of sloppy editing, or editors who've been hamstrung by someone higher up. I'm sure the 
time pressure didn't help, either.

Julie H, chicago