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Wag
 
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balor (8/16/2007)
There is also the increased confidence thing. In a first novel the writer is more likely to pay attention to the editor and the publisher has more leverage ('make these changes or we don't publish' is a much bigger threat). Later novels, if fame is achieved, mean that the author has more leverage and can happily ignore the editor and publisher and the threat becomes 'publish it my way or I don't let you publish at all'.
I've heard that the fame also serves to inhibit the editor without any effort on the part of the author. After-all Rowlings books are probably the best selling books of the last decade. So you're the editor and you think she should cut half the book she's just written. You think that the author of the best selling series of books of the last decade should cut half the book. If you're wrong of course you'll lose your job and be excoriated. If you're right, no-one will ever know and Rowling will get all the praise for another brilliant book.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
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Champion
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I liked it. Except for the annoying habit of trying to get a 'episode' plot about the Hallows in when the book was about culminating the 'series' plot. It felt shoe-horned like a lot of the later 'episode' plots...
Ian doesn't understand what I mean tho', so please tell me other people do!
R7: Xarra // RL: Clare Selley // PD: Serengeti Blackpaw
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Wag
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Xarra (8/16/2007)
I liked it. Except for the annoying habit of trying to get a 'episode' plot about the Hallows in when the book was about culminating the 'series' plot. It felt shoe-horned like a lot of the later 'episode' plots...
I know what you mean and I agree. The whole stuff with Hallows and the rest of it seem dull and largely supremely irrelevant. Harry Potter and the Final Solution. Harry Potter vs Voldemort Smackdown, HP and the big fucking bun fight would all have been better books.
Well maybe not, but I agree with you anyway.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
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Wag
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| I think part of the problem there was that she did not actually plan the final book in any great detail until she was actually writing it and all the previous ones were already in print. In an ideal world, the Hallows would have been mentioned and built up over the course of several books - something which she almost managed to do with the Horcruxes (well, they got a mention in the previous book which showed she had thought about it before the final one). There is some nice reverse engineering going on in there - some of it subtle some of it glaring - to explain the connection between past plot elements and the Horcruxes or the Hallows which sort of helps continuity but this cannot replace proper forward planning. Actually surprised that no one has yet mentioned the fact that the plot is actually that old LRP standby 'The Lost Amulet of Zlaarg' plot - where the players have to find and piece together the various bits of some ancient artifact. How many times have we all played through that scenario? 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Wag
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balor (8/17/2007)
In an ideal world, the Hallows would have been mentioned and built up over the course of several books - something which she almost managed to do with the Horcruxes (well, they got a mention in the previous book which showed she had thought about it before the final one).
Given how boring the Hallows were I'm not sure that would have helped my interest. I'd point out that the first three books, which are great, don't have any foreshadowing of this kind. But there she has an exciting idea for a story which comes to an exciting conclusion. Here she had a dull idea for a story which she abandoned in the last five chapters.
Actually surprised that no one has yet mentioned the fact that the plot is actually that old LRP standby 'The Lost Amulet of Zlaarg' plot - where the players have to find and piece together the various bits of some ancient artifact. How many times have we allplayed through that scenario?
Actually as a LRP plot it would kind of interest me. "You must collect the three deathly hallows to save the world - oh actually I wouldn't bother, they're not that interesting." As a LRP plot I kinda like that outcome. As a story it didn't interest me.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
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Wag
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| Well, you could argue that if the Hallows had been part of established background from the start and integrated into the plot more firmly from that point on then they may well have been more interesting and less of a 'oh, lets see what we can tack onto this to make the plot less 1 dimensional'. But you are right, as they stand they don't add much really save as the means by which Harry survives being killed by Voldemoort (the whole mastery of death thing which is not really mentioned much, not even when Harry does survive death). Reverse engineering is a grand old writing tradition, mind. Tolkien did it after all with the whole 'Ah, you see, this ring your uncle found is *actually* really powerful. I just forgot to mention it earlier.' thing I think what makes the lost amulet plot interesting in LRP is if you manage to set it so that several players in opposing factions end up with the bits and there has to be a whole 'work out our differences' thing before you can put them all together...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Apprentice
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| I was so glad I liked the final book, because my second chapter of my dissertation on death in childrens books ended up being primarily about Deathly Hallows. It was the only HP book I actually cried at...which is rather embarrassing. I felt it was well worth the wait, and am actually ecstatic that Warner Bros are making a part one and part two of the movie, to not cut out stuff. Which will hopefully mean no more condensed storylines in the films...maybe *shifty eyes* ~Emma/FitPiggy
http://www.rulenumber7.com
FitPiggy: Because WiiFit is the bomb!
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