Does the magic of Harry Potter still call to you?
Following up on last week's post on The Next Generation of Harry Potter fans, I've been wondering a lot about the original generation of fans and where are they now. During the last ten days as I've attended multiple Harry Potter and the Cursed Child release events and A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter book signings, I've been blessed to meet and talk with a ton of fans
From young children who are just now discovering the books on their own, to families of readers who have shared their Potter love together, to adults who grew up on the series and still look forward to hearing more about Harry and friends, the love of Potter continues. However, it's the original set of kids growing up during the height of the Harry Potter mania, who are now adults, that I'm most curious about at the moment.
From personal stories readers gave shared with me, I've been blessed to hear of how many were affected deeply by their love of JK Rowling's stories, and not only regarding their reading habits. So many fans developed deep commitment to social concerns and justice after engaging in the trials of Harry and friends as they fought the fear and prejudice of pure bloods against mudbloods or witches and wizards against other magical beings. Others were influenced to become writers or other creative careers because of the stories.
If you are one of these fans, I ask you to take part of my survey for an upcoming article.
If you were:
- a Harry Potter fan during the original release of the books (1997 - 2997)
- born between ~1982 - ~1998 (thereabouts)
- influenced in your life by reading Harry Potter
Then please consider participating in the survey by answering the following:
- Your name (or pseudonym if you want to be anonymous)
- Your age
- How old you were when you read your first Potter story
- How long it took you to read the whole series (mention time waiting for releases)
- How many release parties you attended
- Where you were living during the time of the series' release
- Where you live now
- The most interesting thing that happened to you as a result of reading Harry Potter
- How you participated in fandom, then and now
- How reading Harry Potter affected your life choices then and now.
Please answer as many as you will, especially the last one, but you do not have to answer them all. And you can be general in regard to personal details if you wish.
I'll update this blog regarding when and where the article will be posted.
Thank you all for sharing your experience with me (and the world!).
Also, be sure to check out my article on the highly popular AlwaysJKRowling fansite this week, Harry Potter: From Story to Myth. There's a great giveaway included!
