I've been listening to a lot of the Writing Excuses podcast and have also watched some of Brandon Sanderson's BYU creative writing lectures and in both media outlets Sanderson brings up a point about JK Rowling and Harry Potter.

He says that in each Harry Potter novel Rowling establishes a set of rules for the magic of that book and adheres to them only for that book and then breaks her own continuity in the future books (regarding the rules for the magic).

Does anyone know of exact examples of this? I couldn't think of any off the top of my head

 

Snape disarms Lockhart in book two, without any further wand-ownership shenanigans.

 

Dumbledore flying to ministry in book one and taking his time rather than apparating.

 

I'd say the Patronus charm qualifies. It seems to become a hell of a lot less impressive and easier to cast when Harry's teaching it compared to when he's learning it.

 

Harry learns with a dementor present. He doesn't teach with one and still maybe 3-4 people manage it. Also when Draco and Co. pretend to be dementors Harry casts it with ease, so I wouldn't call this a continuity issue.

 

I guess it's not quite a continuity error, but it does feel like the charm's difficulty changed in Rowling's mind between appearances. I don't have the actual books with me to search through but the wiki describes the charm as

and Remus describes it as "ridiculously advanced."

So I suppose not impossible for fifth years, especially like you said with no dementors present, but definitely seems like a change in tune from when Harry's learning it just a few years before was hailed as a ridiculous achievement.

 

This isn't really a continuity issue. Wands that have been won from their owners will generally bend to the will of their new masters, while still holding loyalty towards their old masters (that is eventually lost). It is only the Elder Wand that is particularly disloyal; it happens to change its allegiance immediately after it is won.

 

They trivialize the plots of book one and two, certainly. Dumbledore can just go get one.

 

JK mentions that intent come support to play, in a classroom or a show duel, you aren’t “defeating” and enemy.

 

Surprised nobody brought up the whole Quirrell casting a bunch of spells without ever pulling a wand out, followed by six books of everyone clearly needing a wand to cast pretty much any spell.

 

Rowling uses magic and world building to further the plot, and she obviously didn't plan the whole thing out at first, which is part of why so many parts of the series are inconsistent. It's annoying, but at least her plots (up to OotP) are actually interesting, unlike anything I can say about Sanderson.

 

Plotting is one of Sanderson's biggest strengths as a writer, and the hallmarks of a Sanderson Avalanche are his plot threads coming together, often with POVs converging, and thing being resolved in high-paced action sequences.

 

That's your opinion. Nothing I've read from Sanderson interested me in the slightest.

 

I just have a question, Have you ever finished a Sanderson book because he doesn't structure his books like other authors. 75 percent of the time he spends building his plot, next 25 percent he resolves everything in crazy conclusion. That is the reason he is the most celebrated fantasy author in modern times.

 

As to JKR she has better prose, imagination than Sanderson but world building, magic systems, plotting, endings she would find herself out of depth compared to Brando.

 

I did. I just don't find his type of plotting or world-building interesting at all. Yeah, it's more consistent, but in the end consistency can't stand in for quality. I think that the excess focus on world-building and subversion of classic tropes, over creating an emotional experience, is what makes contemporary fantasy so boring for me.

 

Brandon Sanderson's only virtue is his speed. In all else he is your average professional writer.

His magic systems are very build by numbers. And his world building, lovely as it is, has to hold up average characters and stories.

 

Y'all, if this is gonna turn into a Sanderson discussion, we have a thread for that: https://forums.darklordpotter.net/t...on-the-best-fantasy-writer-of-our-time.40225/