Posted on 08/01/2006 4:55:15 PM PDT by TightyRighty
Two of America's top authors, John Irving and Stephen King, made a plea to J.K. Rowling on Tuesday not to kill the fictional boy wizard Harry Potter in the final book of the series, but Rowling made no promises.
"My fingers are crossed for Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
The author of "The World According to Garp" and a string of other bestsellers said he and King felt like "warm-up bands" for Rowling, who is working on the seventh and last book in the Harry Potter series, and who has said two characters will die.
King, who shot to fame in 1974 with "Carrie," said he had confidence that Rowling would be "fair" to her hero.
"I don't want him to go over the Reichenbach Falls," King said in a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's effort to kill off the character of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Pressure from fans eventually led Conan Doyle to resurrect Holmes, who was found in a later story to have survived.
Rowling, a Briton whose books have sold 300 million copies worldwide according to her publishers, said she was well into the process of writing the final book.
"I feel quite liberated," she said.
"I can resolve the story now and it's fun in a way it wasn't before because finally I've reached my resolution, and I think some people will loathe it and some people will love it, but that's how it should be."
"We're working toward the end I always planned but a couple of characters I expected to survive have died and one character got a reprieve," she said, declining to elaborate.
Asked about the wisdom of killing off fictional characters, Rowling said she didn't enjoy killing the major character who died in book six -- for the sake of those who haven't read it yet she avoided naming the victim -- but she said the conventions of the genre demanded the hero go on alone.
"I understand why an author would kill a character from the point of view of not allowing others to continue writing after the original author is dead," she added, leaving the door open to the worst fears of some fans -- that Harry could die.
King recalled that when he had a character kick a dog to death in his novel "Dead Zone" he received more letters of complaint than ever, to his surprise.
"You want to be nice and say 'I'm sorry you didn't like that,' but I'm thinking to myself number one, he was a dog not a person, and number two, the dog wasn't even real," he said.
"I made that dog up, it was a fake dog, it was a fictional dog, but people get very, very involved," King said.
Rowling noted that Irving had killed off many more characters than she had.
"When fans accuse me of sadism, which doesn't happen that often, I feel I'm toughening them up to go on and read John and Stephen's books," she said. "I think they've got to be toughened up somehow. It's a cruel literary world out there."
This should be in 'Breaking News.'
Harry isn't going to die, but he has a worse fate in store. He will have to give up his powers.
I am afraid the only way there will not be a 'Harry Potter and the Nursing Home Warlocks' is if Rowling kills him off...
J.K. Rowling is a dirty bird! Doesn't she know Stephen is her number one fan?
My money is still on Ron to bite it.
Bloody hell!
If Rowling kills him off, King can write a story about his zombie.
Is there a way to beg Steven King to never write another book?
Hagrid for sure.
I think I'll go hide under the bed now.....
You're bumming me out Bella... I'm going to get some Felix Felicis (it comes in a Glenlivet bottle strangely enough).
Voldemort... finally. And maybe Hagrid in an act of true heroism.
I agree.
JKR said in an interview "I don't know why people aren't more worried about Hermione".
I really hope there's no dirt nap for Hermione! :(
LOL. Misery was great.
I just read a book where someone suggested that Lupin is really James Potter - that they did a Switching Spell and now James is trapped in Lupin's body. They gave some good clues - has that one been around for awhile? I know that Lupin and Tonks are falling in love so that doesn't seem like it would be right.
Yes, but then it will start out interesting then crap out as usual as Steven loses interest in it like 99.99% of other books Steven writes. Then Hollywood will make a movie out of it anyway, or a TV movie, and it will lose millions because it`s over-written boring shiet, and the over-promotion over-rated cycle will begin all over again when Steven rises the juices up of liberals when he says something in public they approve of.
I doubt that she'll kill off Harry for one, simple reason: It would be a marketing disaster. Children aren't going to read a book where the beloved hero gets croaked.
Potter ping!!
"Yes, but then it will start out interesting then crap out as usual as Steven loses interest in it like 99.99% of other books Steven writes."
I agree. He comes up with a decent story, once in awhile, but his endings suck.
Isn't the prophesy of HP that he and Voldemort can't both live? Only one can survive. If that's the case, and good triumphs, then Voldemort has to die and Harry has to live.
The ONLY book I ever liked of King's was Misery - then they had to go and ruin it by turning it into a movie.
And completely unoriginal. It`s called marriage....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q_tCvJ5UyY
Nonsense. The outline of the series was written before the first book was published. Harry will probably not die, but he will have to make some great sacrifice. The actual demise of Voldemort is not his job, but he is necessary to make it possible.
I wonder if Hermione bites it trying to rid Harry of his Horcrux?
It was a great movie. Kathy Bates is a wonderful actress.
I'm not sold on Harry as a Horcrux, but if he is, it'll be very dangerous getting rid of it.
I think Hermione's in danger because she's so smart, has been a HUGE help to Harry, and , of course, she's a mudblood.
Yes, but most of the fans will be out purchasing their books in the first 48 hours. Barnes and Noble was selling 80 books a second when HBP was released. It won't matter if she kills him off (although I doubt she does) because just about everyone who will want the book will have purchased it by the time the reviews begin to pour in.
It sure had a dangerous effect on Dumbledore.
The old softy :~)
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ...
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ...
And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ...
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.
If as the theory goes that Harry himself is the last part of Voldemort's shattered soul, then Harry has to snuff it for VOldemort to finally be vunerable.
My money is on Harry and Voldemort in the final battle, but Harry dies and Hermione gets the kill shot.
The people that will die?
If Snape's really evil, he's dead.
If Voldemort finds out that Snape isn't a double agent, but a super secret reverse triple whammy, he's dead.
If he didn't actually kill Dumbledore after making an Unbreakable Vow, well, he's dead....
Looks like Snape's a goner. That should mean that he lives.
Fred and/or George. One's definitely going to buy the farm. The other will avenge his death.
Neville lives. He has a major score to settle and it'd be a real downer if A) he doesn't get to, or B) he dies shortly afterward. I think more people will be p*ssed if Neville dies than if Harry dies. (Some folks may not like the idea of Harry dying, but they're prepared for it and possibly expecting it.)
Hermione lives. Rowling committing suicide in her final book? Nah. She needs Hermione if she ever wants to do another book in the same realm or setting. Besides, Hermione took the big hit in Book 2.
Ron lives, unless he tells Hermione that he loves her and can't live without her and wants to marry her. In that case, he's a goner. And he might get killed, too.
Ginny. There's an untold(so far) story concerning Ginny. Will she die at the end of it?
Mr or Mrs Weasley: possibly, but I don't think so. Don't know why, but I don't think so.
Percy: dead. Should be dead. Whether it's a wimpy death or a heroic death or a redemptive death, who knows.
One of the "B" characters will go. They're expandable. They may be interesting and are fleshed out, but they're still glorified Red Shirts and not really "major characters". Easy come, easy go.
The Dursleys. They aren't important, so even if they all die, they don't count toward the two.
Nearly Headless Nick: AHH!! Gotcha on that one.
McGonnagal: she's old and uses a cane. Maybe it's her time. On the other hand, she turns into a cat, so maybe she has 9 lives.
Hagrid: could she kill off the big lug? Would he step in and take one for Harry? (Actually, that might be how one of them dies -- defending Harry who has to make it to The Final Battle.)
Those are my opinions (which I probably expressed on the last Potter thread.)
One more thing about Hermione...I gotta figure that her knowledge of arithmancy and ancient runes will come in handy at some point in book 7.
I'm trying to figure out why people are "concerned" for any of these fictional characters. And that's even though I love the books.
Write the story, if it makes sense, kill people. don't let the outcome drive the story, let the story drive the outcome.
Hold that thought. It's worthy of an essay on Mugglenet.
In the first book it is mentioned a few times that Hermione is really good at setting little fires that they can carry around (in a jar I think?). I wonder if we will see that again, possibly against the inferi (is that what they are called? I'm completely drawing a blank).
I think "concern" is a relative term here. It's fun to get involved with the story and the characters and root for your faves to live and prosper!! :)
Write the story, if it makes sense, kill people. don't let the outcome drive the story, let the story drive the outcome.
Couldn't agree more. (still hope Hermione doesn't die, though.)
I read his last book (at least I think it was his last) "Dreamcatcher", and without a doubt, it had to be the worst book I had ever read in my life, seriously. Every page was a work in bloated boredom, just a huge effort to not fall asleep while reading it, just absolute page filler until I couldn`t take it anymore and threw it out.
What I hate about King, is he will write about stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with anything just to fill up pages, then he gloats in this stupid "I`m a prolific writer" tag, or this "Every book I wirte is made into a movie"..
Being prolific means absolutely NOTHING if you write absolute sh*t! A true great writer does not judge on page count, but on content. A great writer carves words like a diamond cutter carves diamonds; Either you go for the best you can give, go for perfection, or you spew out sh*t that will be forgotten.
The best writers in the world have only written a few books, or even one book such as Harper Lee. A Raisin in the Sun is another example that recently blew my mind. If you can believe it, I never read that play before, even in High school until I found an old paperback copy at a flea market. And when I read it I couldn`t believe it, it just blew my mind to absolute pieces. I couldn`t believe how freggin` good that play was, just incredible, and now I find myself reading it for a third time in one month alone.
Maybe I can relate to it because Walter Lee is a chauffeur trying to raise a family, but on the other hand when I read it, it brings me into a world so vivid and so real I forget where I am. I read one page of that play and I`m lost, I`m in a trance. The writing is so incredible, and the fact that Lorraine Hansberry died shortly thereafter doesn`t matter. She cemented her place in literature forever on that one story alone. If she lived to be 100, if it took her 100 years to write that play, she will always be a better writer that Steven King. Steven King isn`t a writer, he`s a money whore.
Hermione is very clever and I think Harry would be lost without her.
You're right.
It's the inferi that DD repelled with fire in the cave lake horcrux place.
Simply this: the inability to realize that one isn't being paid by the word anymore.
Where can we go for that thread? LOL!
I'd be SHOCKED if there weren't at least a thousand! :)
I couldn't remember what they were called! LOL I wanted to say, "You know, the zombies, but not zombies!"
I forgot about the fires, too, until recently. I'll have to get the book out again, because I think the fires she could make could be carried around either in a jar or in the palm of their hands.
There is a discussion group online called Harry Potter for grown ups. It's quite intense and heavy on the emails but you would be surprised what theories are out there about who lives and who dies and who's good and who's evil . . .
At some point in book 3, Lupin carries fire in his hands. The reason why escapes me!! LOL
Oooh, good catch. I'll have to check that out again, too.
King's strength is that he has excellent concepts, and writes very well descriptively. His weaknesses are that his plots wander and there are huge areas of his books that serve no purpose. I think the weaknesses (and probably the strengths) are due to his writing style. He doesn't plan out the plot in advance, but sits down and enjoys writing.
pg. 83, Prisoner of Azcaban
There was asoft,crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames.They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary. "Stay where you are," he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.
That's when the dementors boarded the Hogwarts Express and Harry fainted.
And now....I'll stop!! :)
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