I decided to make this its own thread instead of derailing the 8th Book thread.

The idea of Rowling creating a single book with several "What If?" scenarios is interesting.

Now, we are talking non-canon here. Basically an Elseworlds stories collection.

She could explore the most popular ideas like:

- What if Voldemort chose Neville?
- What if Harry was sorted to Slytherin?
- What if Grindelwald won the duel against Dumbledore?
- What if Sirius wasn't put in Azkaban?

And so on, etc.

Would you guys read something like this?

Being a fan of alternate universes and exploring the 'what if', I know I would.

 

Nope. I don't want her to take bad fanon cliches and make them official, which is what I guarantee will happen, because she's already done that.

 

Of course I would read it. Would I like it? Probably not. Revisting and fucking with canon is what fanfiction authors are for. I'd rather she spend her time and talents on creating brand new stories in the HP world.

I would kill for a Founders novel.

 

Agree with this. Have you forgotten her regrets over Harry/Hermione shipping, Xandrel? You want a whole book of that stuff? Meh.

The smartest thing Rowling has done since finishing HP has been writing other books. I've read The Silkworm and while detective novels absolutely aren't my thing, I was reasonably entertained by it. I think at some point an author needs to move on from things to other things. Every time she drops new WoG on HP I'm more inclined to ignore it.

 

I would read it because those scenarios do interest me, but I'd probably hate it. Rowling lost her touch after GoF. That's what fanfiction is for.

 

Why not, she already writes 'what if' tweets... :|

 

At this point I would prefer it if she just deleted Pottermore.

 

It could be interesting to get some hypotheticals from JKR, at least it would be a bit more raw material. She's always been good at mentioning interesting ideas offhand, who knows what she could come up with if she treads new ground.

 

That would be a fantastic idea !
Even if there are some fics out there that deals with that period, I never found one really interesting

 

Oh, just what I need. Another book, or story for that matter full of fanon cliches. It's not like I read enough of that already. Though, of course I would read it, as I am also a fan of AU, though, mind you, only good ones. So, depends on the level of writing, which I guess is pretty good for JKR. Though, I probably wouldn't like it that much to be honest.

 

I would also love to see something like this as opposed to a 'What If' book. I'd be particularly interested in a detailed description of the creation of Hogwarts and all the enchantments used to make it almost sentient.

 

While I don't disagree that i would love a founders era novel by Rowling, Tinn's Song of the Trees works just fine as a substitute

 

She sorta does that with Pottermore already doesn't she? I mean she releases little details about the HP universe, not full blown stories but still.

 

I'm not sure you understand the premise of the thread.

It isn't about new information but asking what would happen if events from Canon went differently.

 

No I do. But my point was a lot of Pottermore is stuff not mentioned in Canon, so it's like retconning information into the universe.

 

...isn't that what Harry Potter fanfiction is all about?

 

Maybe so, but Pottermore is canon, while this hypothetical book would be explicitly marked as a non-canon what if.

Why is this even an issue? People have no problems with Marvel and DC comic doing elseworlds stories yet somehow HP is different. Hell, even Star Wars had elseworlds stories!

 

I actually kind of want them to do a (Pre-Force Awakens) Star Wars style thing, where a group of authors are given lee-way to do whatever they want within the universe. Obviously it would have to be smaller since there's not an entire galaxy to set it in, but still, it would be interesting.

 

No thanks. Obviously, there were some good bits to the EU, but in the end it all got so cancerous and bloated I'm happy to see it go.

I can't see it not having the same problems the old EU did, which was basically that

1. It all came back to the main characters in the end. Every EU protagonist seemed to know Luke, or Han, or Leia, or whoever. It felt really circle-jerky.
2. Every sidecharacter appearing in the movies for even a single shot has a backstory. Don't believe me? You remember that droid with a busted whatchamacallit that Luke almost bought? It was Force-sensitive and blew itself up on purpose so that canon could go as it did. Remember that dude who said "Look, sir, it's droids"? Whole backstory about him. It got really, really ridiculous.
3. Most writers were pretty shit anyway.

 

I'd read it, because I trust Rowling to write good Harry Potter books. But I doubt it'd be a good idea.

Exploring the rest of the universe sounds better.