Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows

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[edit] Discussion Questions

I've noticed that some chapter Discussion questions are worded in such a way that they cannot be answered by the reader. By that, I mean that there's no information in the synopsis about it or it's related to something that is revealed in a later chapter. I've reworded some questions to ask readers to speculate why something "might" have happened rather ask them to give a definitive answer. I know some of the information may be in the "Analysis" or "Greater Picture" section, but the questions should, IMHO, relate only to what is covered in that specific chapter. Any thoughts about this? PNW Raven 17:01, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I like to eliminate unanswerable questions, especially those relating to this last book. Most of the ones I eliminate are factual and ask things like what someone's Patronus might look like that we never find out. Those sorts of things don't bring about much critical thought, just fantasy. A question's answer doesn't have to be in a synopsis in my opinion, especially that current chapter's synopsis (although if we're writing good synopses it most likely will be since the question should be important enough to find an answer to). Questions often provide foreshadowing and help the reader think about what might be happening later which I think is a very good thing. I don't like having too many factual questions even if they can be answered because we want readers to think about various themes, relationships, etc., not just look up facts and memorize them like an encyclopedia. There is little to no value in knowing that Harry's Patronus is a stag, but there is quite a powerful message in why his Patronus is the stag and how that creature connects to other events and characters. I never want the questions answered here in the book because if it can be answered (at least easily) then it very well might not be a good question to have at all. Many of our questions should be open to some degree of personal opinion and insight into a matter. Hope this answers your questions. -withinfocus 18:59, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I definitely want thought-provoking questions that speculate on outcome as well as facutal ones, just not ones like the example you gave above, such as, what shape did so-and-so's patronus take when there's absolutely no mention in the synopsis about what it was. Another was, why did Dumbledore bequest those particular objects to H,R,&H, an answer that is unknown until later in the book. We can ask why he might have given them to the trio, but that is information that is not given in that particular chapter. That's what we need to be careful of.PNW Raven 19:52, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I think the important thing here is not whether the questions are factual or not, nor whether they are answered in the summary -- though a good question won't be. The questions should be selected so as to make the reader think about what is going on. So as withinfocus says, asking what shape Snape's Patronus would be (at least, before we have actually seen it) is pointless; asking why has some value, because it leads the reader to think about what would shape Snape's life and what influences him. It is because of this that I would tend to retain questions about the shape of (say) Flitwick's patronus, because while the answer is speculation, if we add that "why?' it becomes supported speculation, and that would require some thought. Chazz (talk) 22:17, 12 August 2007 (UTC)