gjm comments on [LINK] Collaborate on HPMOR blurbs; earn chance to win three-volume physical HPMOR - Less Wrong

6 Post author: ete 07 September 2016 02:21AM

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Comment author: gjm 07 September 2016 10:39:41AM -1 points [-]

Quibbling: the ESR blurb looks as if it dates from fairly early in the story, when it looked as if it might be all about how Harry did Science to the magical world, understood everything, and conquered -- excuse me, optimized -- the universe. Someone who decides to read the book because that sounds cool is likely to be surprised and perhaps disappointed at much of the later plot.

The blurb from Rachel Aaron has a similar but (I think) much less serious problem of the same kind: that what-if question turns out to be not quite the right one, although the author has taken some trouble to make it look for a while as if it is.

Comment author: ete 07 September 2016 01:28:24PM *  1 point [-]

The books have different focuses, and will have different blurbs. The first book will have a Science! focused blurb since that's what it contains, and the later ones will have blurbs more appropriate to their content.

Edit: Added

The blurbs should fit the volume. A non-exhaustive list of possible things to emphasize:

  • First: science, rationality, agentyness, seeing the world through fresh eyes and strategic thinking.
  • Second: seeing the darkness in the world, heroism, caring, psychology, and rationality.
  • Third: maturing, realizing the stakes, making difficult moral choices, realizing you're not perfect but still trying, and rationality.
Comment author: gjm 07 September 2016 06:51:04PM -1 points [-]

Aha. Yes, I think the ESR blurb would work well for the first volume.