Anticipation

[unforth]

13 hours to go... :)

I find I go in to this release feeling surprisingly free and happy. It dawned on me last night that the reason that I'm not all worked up about this book is that the character I cared about the most, the character I didn't want to see die...is already dead. This is, oddly, a very liberating experience.

That said, there ain't no sleep for me tonight. :)

Edit: Please note that the comments for this post contain spoilers for Book 5 and 6. So if you haven't read 'em, stay away from the comments. :)

Comments

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

Word. I am right there with ya' sister.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Word life. :)

Or something.

[skygawker.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore?

My favorite was Sirius, so I know how you feel. Dumbledore was another favorite. Darn you JK! *shakes fist in the general direction of the British Isles*

[unforth.livejournal.com]

No, not Dumbledore, you and I are on the same page. I loved that man... *emo tear*

At least I get to wear a shirt with him on it to the midnight release, and have an awesome poster with him on it...I'm a sucker for Harry Potter merchandise, and for Sirius merchandise in particular.

*joins in the fist shaking*

[skygawker.livejournal.com]

Oh, gotcha -- so you've been in this boat for a book already then! Seriously.

I was so upset when I found out he used to be a jerk in high school. But that didn't keep me from sympathizing with him. Nor from being severely upset after the end of Book 5. Did you see that death coming? To me it was completely obvious because (a.) if a book has a chapter called "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" in it, that doesn't bode well for the last surviving member of that house, and (b.), my favorite characters ALWAYS die. Sigh.

I've also been rereading selections of Book 6 this week, and it's so obvious how she makes us care even more about Dumbledore, just like she did with Sirius, just before she knocks them off. :-p (I wish I could manipulate readers' emotions like that....)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I was in a strange situation with Book 5. There was a point when I wasn't really reading ahead of the movies, so I hadn't read book 5, and I convinced a friend to tell me who died. Flash forward about a year, I'd mostly managed to forget what I had been told. I was reading Book 5 for the first time, and getting more and more attached to Sirius, who I was already pretty fond of after 3 and 4, and I was getting this sneaky bad feeling, so I pinned down fireun and made her tell me. And sure enough...sigh...

I've had the same favorite characters problem. Have you seen Fushigi Yuugi? A lot of characters die in it, and my favorite goes first. Generally, if it's the kind of book where people die at all, my favorite will usually go, and pretty early on too.

I was 99% sure going in to Book 6 that either Hagrid or Dumbledore was going to kick it, and within the first few chapters I was convinced it was Dumbledore. She's REALLY good at getting us to care, it's an amazing talent - especially considering that in other regards I don't actually think she's that good a writer (excellent story teller, though). :) I mean, she even made me care about Cedric, even though we didn't really know him.

[skygawker.livejournal.com]

The end of Book 3, in the Shrieking Shack, is still my favorite part of any Harry Potter book.

Ack! Fushigi Yuugi! So was your favorite Nuriko? MINE TOO! And I refused to watch any more after that. I told my friend I was just watching it to see what he did next. :-p Just another bit of evidence to say that my favorite characters always die. Heh. (I might actually have continued watching it, but then it got weird because the story reminded me of a painful situation unrelated to its own plot, and it stopped being enjoyable for that stupid reason. Oh well.)

Yeah, I figured it'd be Dumbledore in Book 6 or early in Book 7, because of the whole Mentor Archetype thing.

especially considering that in other regards I don't actually think she's that good a writer (excellent story teller, though

I completely agree. I have to keep reminding myself not to edit her adverbs out of her dialogue tags and such, and various other nitpicky things about her writing itself -- but the storytelling, with brilliant plots and surprising twists and emotional bonds with characters, that's first rate stuff.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I love the scene at the end of Azkaban, I've reread it more than any other part of the series. When I was in a bad mood last summer, I'd just grab it and read those few chapters again. :)

Watching Fushigi Yuugi was one of the hardest things I've ever done (okay, I've had a pretty easy life, lol). I got the second season on a Monday night when I was in HS. I stayed up over night watching it, and I cried for 6 hours straight. When I went to school the next morning, ultimabaka asked me who had died - cause I looked absolutely awful, you'd have though my mom or something had gone - and I was like, "Nuriko! Nuriko died!!" He thought had finally cracked, I think.

I'm still hoping Hagrid is going to make it. Him and Ginny, I think I'd be sad if Ginny died...and Fred and George...Lupin and Tonks...it's funny that I'm more attached to a lot of the "side" characters than to any of the main three, now that I think of it. I'm actually hoping that Moody will die, it'll be AWESOME if he goes down and takes a bunch of Deatheaters with him, that's a scene I'm really hoping for in 7. I think Harry has to be pretty alone before the end, for better or for worse. And of course, she'd win my heart forever if somehow Sirius came back, but I can't even pretend I'm expecting it. ;)

It's a rare thing to find someone with a gift for plot and for writing. I tend to think I'm decent writer but I have no talent for storytelling, annoyingly. :) I'm so glad that people are grabbed by her stories, it's been a major contributing factor to the recent blossoming of the fantasy genre, especially in film.

[skygawker.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed reading that scene in French and Japanese. Not that I'm that good at either one of them, but it was easy enough to read since I already memorized it in English. 「信じてくれ、ハリー」！ *dies of sap*

Awww...I don't know the details of how it ends, but I've heard it's a big Death Feast and makes a lot of people cry. I can still relate, though -- when I read the end of Order of the Phoenix, I woke up my mom up at 2 am to cry, "He died, Mom! Sirius died!" (Fortunately my mom is very tolerant.)

I don't know who I think will die except for Snape. I figure Draco may be in trouble too, because I think JKR wants to prove that he's Not a Real Bad Guy, but Voldemort wants him to be and has his number, so.... Yeah. As far as the genuine Good Guys go, I have no idea who's going this time. I hear it'll be a bunch of people, though. ;_; I sort of think it would be a good move if either Fred or George died, to show how these two who are hardly separate entities had different storylines at the end. But of course I don't want them to die. I do know I don't want Hagrid to die, either. He's seemed so tough so far, too, the way curses were bouncing off of him at the end of the last book!

I don't think Sirius'll come back either, but maybe there'll be some way to get a message from him. I mean, Lily and James showed up briefly at the end of Goblet of Fire, so.... And I love your idea about Moody! That'd be a powerful scene indeed.

Sigh, yes, plot and writing are separate skills that are not always packaged together. And as much as I like elegant prose, I'd pick plot any day. I'm pleased enough with my progress on both fronts in my Ni90 work, but then I compare it to what's already out there and I get frustrated. Comparing oneself to JKR, though, is bad news on the plotting front.

What's your novel about, anyway?

[lindorm.livejournal.com]

I found it pretty obvious that both Sirius and Dubledore had to go. If Potter's ever going to grow up he need to stop whining about his rolemodels keeping him out of harms way and if she wanted Potter to play a major role in the last book she couldn't very well have Dubledore around, could she? He was after all a great magician!

That said, I cried like a baby both times. I loved Sirius and felt with Dubledore, but most of all I felt so betrayed by Snape!

Boy, do I look forward to the book!!! 3 hours to go (but I'm not supposed to read it until after another 18 hours...) I really like a writer that don't hesitate to kill off the darlings!

Have you read George RR Martin? There is a lot of satisfaction in that department in his books.