Oh, I don't know if it was so clever. :P But thanks!
I completely, completely agree with you about so much of it being the reader and how much they're willing to be immersed in the story. If you always read with your critical lenses on, for instance (say, as a beta reader looking for errors, or a cynic trying not to be moved), then it's not really fair to the writer.
Also word to the annoyances. That's my main problem with JKR's writing, I think. I like it; she writes a catchy tale and I really like a lot of her characters, but I don't trust her as a writer. I can't trust her, because I feel like she's tried to manipulate me too many times before. In HBP, for instance, I smelled the H/G coming from the very start. (Make that from CoS, but much more overtly there!!) And I dreaded its coming, waited for the build-up, and then there wasn't much build-up. They didn't have a single, actual conversation before they were suddenly together, and I found it upsetting (and nauseating) not just because I don't like the pairing (much less the character of Ginny in general!), but because it felt weak and unsupported. Ditto for Remus/Tonks, whom I liked well enough as a het couple before HBP. It just didn't have the support and I felt like JKR was trying to pull the proverbial wool over my eyes.
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I completely, completely agree with you about so much of it being the reader and how much they're willing to be immersed in the story. If you always read with your critical lenses on, for instance (say, as a beta reader looking for errors, or a cynic trying not to be moved), then it's not really fair to the writer.
Also word to the annoyances. That's my main problem with JKR's writing, I think. I like it; she writes a catchy tale and I really like a lot of her characters, but I don't trust her as a writer. I can't trust her, because I feel like she's tried to manipulate me too many times before. In HBP, for instance, I smelled the H/G coming from the very start. (Make that from CoS, but much more overtly there!!) And I dreaded its coming, waited for the build-up, and then there wasn't much build-up. They didn't have a single, actual conversation before they were suddenly together, and I found it upsetting (and nauseating) not just because I don't like the pairing (much less the character of Ginny in general!), but because it felt weak and unsupported. Ditto for Remus/Tonks, whom I liked well enough as a het couple before HBP. It just didn't have the support and I felt like JKR was trying to pull the proverbial wool over my eyes.