@jonbae replied to your post “@jonbae replied to your post “@jonbae replied to your post “Sirius...”
I've always assumed when a writer leaves out specific details it's because it's open to interpretation as writing is an art form and art is meant to be interpreted to ones own opinion. Also I've read plenty of books where they've described average features
It really depends. I think it’s more often the fact that writers will later say readers are free to interpret. But generally when features aren’t described by an author who otherwise describes things very well, it’s usually because they aren’t remarkable.
And yeah, plenty of writers do describe average features. Most of the time you shouldn’t unless there’s a specific reason (like pointing out how a character can blend into a crowd etc.) But it’s not great writing to waste time describing average features. You want to enrich readers with the things that make characters stand out. Most of the time. But there are exceptions.
The thing about rules and writing is that there are no rules with writing. But there are things that are common in bad writing and describing average features is one of them. If you describe average features it doesn’t mean your writing is bad, but if your writing is bad it’s more likely to feature lots of description of average features. One isn’t causing the other.
I’m sort of curious to look over HP and see when and if JKR ever describes average features. I’m not sure that she does.
And I mean for the record, JKR is very friendly to fan interpretations so there’s no issue there. Regardless of what she thinks Remus’s height is I can’t see her minding fans reading him however they want.
But I guess to summarise again on Remus: he can totally be tall but I think it’s easier to explain him being shorter than Sirius than it is the other way around. Like if he’s shorter than Sirius... no explanations are needed. There’s no need to ask why Harry didn’t notice etc. I prefer simple answers to complicated ones.
In truth, the only reason people think Remus is tall is from misinformation (wiki posts the heights from supplemental movie material, which in turn is based to some degree off the actors heights, fans accept uncritically, a meme is born.) The Sirius ends bugs me more because it contradicts canon and non canon material doesn’t override canon.
