MG Misconceptions

Toothpaste said:

There's also the JK Rowling cheat re: cussing. Writing "He swore" or the like. It's very handy I find .

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Psssh, please... JK didn't invent that rule The late, great Sir Terry Pratchett utilised it effortlessly throughout his 40+ Discworld books, and most of them were for adults! It's an old, tried and trusted method for having believable characters without devolving into actual cussing that can bog down the narrative and make you seem like an "edgy" or immature writer.

Also, I don't know where Cyia lives, but here in the UK Harry Potter was an immediate hit for children and adults, from book one. The only reason the series evolved from MG to YA over its course was because it grew with its protagonists and main audience - fresh-faced kids have much less real-world issues to worry about on their first few years of high school than teens nearing the end of it, after all. It wasn't forcibly altered to be darker and more serious, but naturally progressed as they matured into real young adults with real adults' problems. Yes, Voldemort was always after Harry, but the first book was a lot more whimsical because the entire wizarding world was all brand-new to Harry and he had to get to grips with that before really focusing on his own darker history and destiny. Chamber of Secrets was then slightly darker, with what was effectively a bloodless "murder mystery", Prisoner of Azkaban even further with death omens, escaped killer wizards, dementors, etc, and on they went.

I may not like the HP books that much - there are practically dozens of titles and series that are much better but will never get a fraction of the attention and notice they deserve (Skulduggery Pleasant, Time Riders and Alex Rider to name a few) - but there's no denying JK wasn't lying when she said she had the entire series planned out ahead of time. There was no "maturing up" once it got popular, it was a natural evolution the entire way.

Cyia lives in Texas.

Book 1 of HP was given a below average print run in the UK because it wasn't expected to do well, but it did. We got it a year later, IIRC. It did good in the US, so did book 2. By book 3 people were complaining that it was "corrupting" kids with its content, so it became even more popular. By the time book 4 came around, it had 1million+ pre-orders on Amazon.

Oh, right, I totally forgot the negative response it got in America for "promoting witchcraft"! I remember reading that and wondering if the parents and reviewers who stood by that statement realised the Salem trials were centuries ago, lol.

But you're right, the initial print of HP 1 was woefully shortcoming but our publishers quickly learned from that mistake. Now we got reprints every half dozen years or so, it seems.

I'm sorry, Toothpaste, no condescension or insult was meant... I thought the would make it clear I was joking, but it didn't show up properly like so I can understand how my comments were misread.

If anything, I was trying to say other writers also use that tool effectively, and now I think about it Pratchett's work is also a prime example of how you don't need synonyms for "said", as that was practically all he ever used and his dialogue still remains some of the most realistic and emotive I've ever read

Sorry again for upsetting you.

LoL - this must be one of those days. I was afraid my response would come off snippy, too! We're all walking on snowflake-shaped eggshells thanks to the holidays.

DavidBrett said:

Oh, right, I totally forgot the negative response it got in America for "promoting witchcraft"! I remember reading that and wondering if the parents and reviewers who stood by that statement realised the Salem trials were centuries ago, lol.

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Ugh, you're not kidding. I remember it being banned in some schools in my city. What a joke. Same with Golden Compass. I honestly feel sometimes adults don't get how smart kids are and how they have the very real ability to differentiate fact and fiction. To this day I know people who won't let their kids read HP because they don't want them running around the house trying to use magic. These same people have no problem with Star Wars... I guess you can use The Force, but not wizardry....

Whibs123 said:

These same people have no problem with Star Wars... I guess you can use The Force, but not wizardry....

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I know families that won't even let their kids watch Star Wars, because they're non-violent and don't condone warfare of any kind :/