Harry Potter for Writers

New Book Coming from J.K. Rowling!

2012-02-23T11:08:00.016-05:00

UPDATE: Book to be published by Little Brown!

Here's what JK Rowling said through Little Brown's press release:

Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher

Original post started here:
Did you hear the news?!? J.K. Rowling's agent has announced the upcoming release of her new book! And it's for adults!

Here's what The Blair Partnership had to say:

We are please to announce that our client, J.K. Rowling, will be releasing a new novel for adults. Further details will be announced later in the year.

So, what do you think? A book for adults! I don't think it will be fantasy, as she said previously that she thought she'd covered that. So, what type?

Also, I'll go back to our earlier speculation thread on when Jo would make the announcement and see who came closest to guessing this. Will post back here soon!

UPDATE: I just checked the earlier speculation thread, and so far, two predictions seem to be close to target! First off, author Lisa Gail Green predicted the next release would be for adults! Yay Lisa!! And I was 9 days off predicting when the book would be announced as I had chosen February 14 for an announcement.

Still waiting to see when the release actually is to determine which predictions came closest!

Also, @HPSupporters is reporting that JKRowling.com will be redesigned and re-launched later this spring. You can sign up for further announcements at Jo's website.

UPDATE: Rowling's agent, Neil Blair, revealed through an Associated Press story that "there had been no auction." Writers will surely be curious about this development.

I would think that if Little Brown had pre-empted, that Blair would have said so, which leads me to think that Blair and Rowling must have approached the publisher Jo most wanted to work with. What do you think?

UPDATE: Yes, PublishersWeekly mentions rumors that Little Brown was given an exclusive!

Also, be prepared for a spring full of games and fun from Jo! If she's true to form -- and by announcing the book without announcing the title and genre, it seems like she will be -- we're in for several weeks of hints and clues to string us along and keep the excitement building!

Keep coming back! I'll update this post throughout the day as the story unfolds!

Photo credit from @HPSupporters.

Happy Valentine's Day, Hogwarts Style

2012-02-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

To celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought it might be fun to break apart the first Valentine's we get to celebrate at Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets. The only other Valentine's we see is when Harry takes Cho to Madam Puddifoot's in Order of the Phoenix. However, it's the delightful scene in CoS that I want to examine because I think J.K. Rowling presents a wonderful study in how to weave significant details into your writing in order to make one scene serve a multitude of purposes.

True to form, Lockhart, out of touch with the other professors and students, has planned a surprise for the school to lift everyone's morale after the devastating attacks which have left Mrs. Norris, Colin Creevey, Nearly Headless Nick, and Justin Finch-Fletchley petrified. He's decorated the Great Hall with "large, lurid pink flowers," caused heart-shaped confetti to fall from the enchanted ceiling, and is dressed in lurid pink robes himself.

But worst of all, at least for Harry, he's brought in dwarfs to play Cupid and deliver Valentines throughout the school:

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.
"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart.

The other professors are not so happy, especially Snape, who looked "as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force -fed poison." The dwarfs interrupted classes all day to deliver their Valentines, but later in the day, in a crowded corridor, one catches up to Harry:

"Oy, you! 'Arry Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.
Hot all over at the thought of being given a valentine in front of a line of first years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Harry tried to escape. The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people's shins, and reached him before he'd gone two paces.

Harry tries to get away, and the dwarf grabs hold of his bag, stopping him.

With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment, and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed over everything.

To make matters even more humiliating for Harry, at that moment, Draco shows up, making Harry shove everything into his bag.

Losing his head, Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.
"Right," he said, sitting on Harry's ankles. "Here is your singing valentine:

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.

As Percy disperses the students, some laughing so hard they were crying, Draco takes the opportunity to seize Riddle's diary, which he mistakes for Harry's.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy...A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

Harry loses his patience, shoots Expelliarmus at Draco, retrieving his diary, and gets reprimanded by Percy.

But Harry didn't care, he was one-up on Malfoy, and that was worth five points from Gryffindor any day. Malfoy was looking furious, and as Ginny passed him to enter her classroom, he yelled spitefully after her, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"
Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. Snarling, Ron pulled out his wand, took but Harry pulled him away. Ron didn't need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs.

Only when Harry reaches Charms does he notice that although all his other books are covered in scarlet ink, the diary is remarkably clean. Harry's so intrigued by this that later that evening, he escapes the Twins' endless singing of "His eyes are a green as a fresh pickled toad," to hide-out in his dorm and examine the diary alone...which leads to his first encounter with Tom Riddle and his dip into Riddle's memory of Hagrid's "capture" from fifty years before.

Truly, I think these 4-5 pages from Chamber of Secrets offer an intense lesson from Rowling on how to pack each scene with dynamite. With so few pages, she does so much.

She:

plays true to Lockhart's developing character by using Flitwick's, McGonagall's, and Snape's reactions to show that Lockhart is out of touch with the others, even though he sees himself as the ultimate in cool.
takes normal syrupy images of Valentine's Day and gives them a decidedly fun and wicked twist. "Surly" dwarfs roam the school with one heavily-accented Cupid who kicks students' shins, tackles Harry to the ground, and sits on his legs. This is by no means a traditional angelic Cupid.
repeats past themes and conflicts with Harry able to disarm Draco, as he'd not done during the Dueling Club
adds another reference and reminder of the green of Harry's eyes
demonstrates the difference in feeling in the relationship between Harry and Ginny. She's thinking romance, and he's just not there yet.
plants clues toward the Chamber of Secrets mystery, showing Ginny's reaction to seeing the diary. Please note that as always when Rowling inserts a clue, she also provides distraction. Here, Draco's taunt of Ginny having sent the Valentine leads the reader to assume that Ginny's fear is a result of Harry finding out she sent the singing dwarf.
and beneath it all...Jo sneaks in that spilled bottle of ink...a critical step in the unraveling of this book's mystery plot and presented as a minuscule detail, quite by accident.

As writers, we know that each scene must serve a purpose. Every scene we construct must either show character development, propel the plot, intensify the conflict, or somehow move the story forward. As we grow more skilled, we try to layer each scene with as many of these objectives as possible. But to be truly challenging, to go to the Rowling-scale of scene building, we'd need to carefully construct each scene so that every detail we layer in adds to the whole in a significant manner while pushing the story forward and not weighing it down.

Easy, right?

But there are ways to make our writing easier, and I think questions are a great place to start. After writing the rough draft of a scene, take the time to step-back and analyze it. What more can this scene do? Where are there possibilities for tying what's happening here to elements that have come before and that will come afterward? What details can I insert, with minimum word count, that will deliver a stronger punch?

Questions like these can help us deepen our work and make it stronger. What else can you ask? What more can a scene do? What elements do you see in JKR's Valentine's Day that I've missed?

Wanted, Always: The Baddies of Harry Potter!

2012-02-06T10:11:00.004-05:00

I popped over to one of my favorite bloggers today, Laura Pauling, to see her fabulous want-ad posters based on YA novels with great log lines. She's participating in a contest started by Heather Kelly.

So, I thought it would be fun to try some Harry Potter wanted posters based on the baddies of the series. Take a look:

(Note: I've added captions as the font on the posters is slightly hard to read.)

For Delusions of Grandeur; Draco "Ferret" Malfoy; 50K Galleon Reward

Draco loved throwing his wealth and position in everyone's face, but underneath, he was always seeking to be in the "in crowd," first with Harry, then with his Slytherin cronies, and finally as a Death Eater.

For Abuse of Personal Hygiene; Severus "Slimeball" Snape; 75k Galleon Reward

Forget all the hoopla about whether Snape murdered Dumbledore or not, His Royal Slimeball's true crime is an affront to personal hygiene everywhere.

For Losing at "I Got Your Nose"; Voldy "Noseless" Mort; 99K Galleon Reward

Yes, He Who Must Not Be Named, the darkest wizard in over a hundred years, the murderer of Fred, Collin, Tonks, Lupin, Harry's parents, and too many more to name, couldn't win at a game of "I got your nose!"

And let's not forget the woman behind the man, the crazed, fierce witch who crucio'd Neville's mum and dad and killed our beloved Padfoot. But what did she do behind the scenes to warrant her arrest?:

For Snagging Voldy's Nose; Bellatrix "Loverwitch" Lestrange; 65K Galleon Reward

Can you think of more? I'm SURE you can. Here's the link to where you can make wanted posters yourself. If you do a book poster, be sure to enter it in Heather's contest, info here. But if you do a Harry Potter one, either send me a link, or e-mail me a copy (SPSipal AT gmail) and I will add more throughout the day.

This should be fun!

Finally, don't forget, my month-long, online Writer's Guide to Harry Potter workshop starts today! Hurry and join, it's not too late!

YOU - For Learning the Craft Like JKR; Month-long Online Workshop; $10 Entry

NiNoCon Online Writer's Conference

2012-02-02T11:15:00.002-05:00

I will be participating in an online writer's conference this Saturday, February 4. NiNoCon is the brain child of Angela Kulig and Ali Cross and brings together individual authors and discussion panels to present topics such as marketing, querying, social media, and indie publishing. You can see the complete schedule here.

I will be presenting a workshop on The Top Ten Tips from Harry Potter for Writers at 1 pm EST. The material is live now and I will be online at 1:00 to chat, answer questions and discuss anything Harry Potter and writing related with those interested. You can find the link to the chat here.

NiNoCon looks like it will be a fun and informative event. I hope you will join me!

Also, as a reminder -- I will be starting a month-long, online workshop which delves intensively into studying JK Rowling's techniques and how to apply them to your own writing. You can find out more and sign up here.

Guest Post: Why A Small Press? by Alicia Rasley

2012-01-31T06:40:00.001-05:00

I first met Alicia Rasley several years ago when I was in charge of programming at my local writing chapter and she graciously agreed to come and present a workshop. I'd heard from so many chapter members who'd been fortunate enough to attend one of Alicia's popular workshops at RWA nationals how fabulous she was. I learned a lot as well as enjoyed getting to know a writer with such insight who was also so down-to-earth.

Since then, I've followed Alicia's career through a mutual good friend and was thrilled when I saw that she had come on board with BelleBooks, the publisher of my short stories. Belle (and its imprint BellBridge) is truly making a name for itself as an independent publisher, drawing in top-notch writers, like Alicia. And so who better to blog about the advantages and disadvantages between a "Big 6" publisher and a smaller press than someone who has been published by both and has been involved in multiple aspects of the publishing industry from writer to instructor to freelance editor for over twenty years?

I know many of you are actively considering which path to pursue among the new possibilities growing stronger in today's publishing. So, please join me in welcoming Alicia Rasley to the blog!

Why a Small Press?

My publishing career is so checkered, I call it a "herringbone." I've been published by major publishers and a couple small presses, and self-published too. Susan asked me to write about why I chose to go with a small press for my women's fiction novel, TheYear She Fell.

I got my first publication back in the Golden Era of romance publishing, when all the major NY publishers were starting romance lines and romance writers had print runs of 300K. (Not me, but others!) I never benefitted much from that wave as I wrote in a small niche genre (Regencies), but I stayed published by major pubs for more than a decade. I never made much money, but the prestige of major publication helped my teaching career, as nearly everyone was impressed to hear that I was a "Dell author." (Of course, I published only one book with Dell before they suddenly dropped their Regency line. The great thing about prestige is it can be based on singular and long-past events.)

But consolidation of the big publishers in the 90s led to the greater commodification of books, and the multi-nationals didn't seem very interested in marketing to niche readers anymore. Even with a top agent, I couldn't get back into the closed circle with a book I'd certainly considered commercial. Why? Because I'd been writing "small books," with print runs under 40K, the suddenly all-important "numbers" – how successful an author was at making lots of money for the publisher—meant editors had to send letters with high praise and that "Unfortunately" last paragraph. ("Unfortunately, with the market as it is, we can't take a chance on Alicia who hasn't the record of success we want.") I knew the book was good, and I knew it would sell well if it got the chance. But it looked like I wasn't going to get a chance. Then someone suggested submitting the book to Belle Books, a small press that a friend of mine had started years ago with some friends.

Small Press, Big Advantages

For someone like me, who had mostly read big-press books, and had published only with "The Big Eight" (soon to become The Big Seven and then The Big Six), looking beyond NYC for publication was scary. I mean, I'd heard about small presses, but thought they published only literary fiction and poetry, and regional publishers, but thought they published only local histories. Boy, did I get an education when I sold the book to Bell Bridge Books (the women's fiction imprint of Belle Books). I learned that small presses like BB can aim for niche readers because their lower overhead (no Manhattan office to rent!) means they don't have to sell as many copies to make a profit on a book. I also learned that compared to the ocean-liner-sized major publishers, a small press is like a nimble cruiser, able to turn on a dime to take advantage of new technologies and techniques. So though my book came out initially in print, the publisher quickly realized that the rise of the Kindle and other e-readers would open up low-cost opportunities. So they published my book in several electronic formats, and while the sales were small for the print edition, the title caught on for Kindle readers.

The costs are lower, and the royalties much higher in e-format, and a small press like mine can experiment without much cost. For example, my publisher put the book up for free in Kindle format the week after Christmas 2010. I admit, I thought it was crazy to give away books. But it worked, generating many reviews and getting the book onto the top 10 list in the Kindle store. Even when the free period ended, customers still downloaded the book, only this time they paid for it. In fact, for a brief moment (and I do mean a moment), my book was the #1 bestselling book on Amazon Kindle. Hey, it's not the NYTimes, but you better believe I now call myself a "bestselling author." For a Regency writer, used to sales in the lowest five figures, this was a heady experience. (And yes, I checked my ranking constantly, and suffered through every bad review too!) And when I got my first royalty check, well, it didn't pay for a new Lexus, but it was several times larger than any of my big-press book royalties.

So paradoxical as it seems, giving the book away was an effective way to sell the book. But I'd never encountered that method with a big press. They didn't even like to give the author many copies.

And small presses are more likely, I think, to explore opportunities for alternate revenues like foreign sales and subsidiary rights, because that way they can maximize income from their relatively short list of books. Just an example: the Harry Potter books were released both in the UK and the US by relatively small presses. Of course, these novels sold millions, but much of the revenue (JK Rowling is the first writer to become a billionaire) came from adroit dealing of film rights and other sub-rights. Of course, the big presses do try to sell film rights and the like, but very seldom for books in the midlist or below.

Trade-offs

There are, of course, limitations to the small press experience. The advances tend to be small because the companies are usually under-capitalized, using the profits from one book to fund the production of the next. The smaller presses can't afford to have marketing divisions that go out and sell the books to big accounts. (On the other hand, this means that the marketers don't get to interfere with editorial decisions as I kept running into with big publishers.) Small presses also don't have the clout to force booksellers to sell a "small" book in order to get enough copies of a "big" book like a Grisham or a Koontz.

There are always trade-offs in any decision, and going with a small press has meant giving up a few perks, especially the powerful influence created by the huge multi-national publishers. However, my decision was validated this Christmas, when my publisher once again did a marketing push for my book (now out for more than a year), and got The Year She Fell up onto the bestseller list again. This persistence was in great contrast to my experience with big publishers, where a book was pretty much up for sale for the release month, and never again. I'd gotten used to doing a frantic round of promotion that month, and then seeing the book taken from the store shelves and stripped to be sent back to the publisher. Instead, here I am in awaiting a second sizeable January royalty check, because my small press can keep the book for sale literally for years.

So I think my own experience shows that there's no reason to confine our submissions to big New York publishers. Small presses might have the flexibility and resilience to keep up with the near-constant changes in the marketplace. However, because small presses don't have the name-recognition and long public histories of a Random House, I'd suggest doing some due diligence before signing that first contract. Google the company name and check with the author-warning sites (like Preditors and Editors) to make sure there aren't a lot of author complaints (especially ones concerning unpaid royalties!). Read the contract carefully and compare it with sample big-press contracts. Make sure that you're not expected to contribute any funds of your own. Ask about the company in your writer's groups and lists. Check the biographies of the company personnel to see if there's a good mix of editorial and business expertise. Check their own website, and the sales pages of some of their books at Amazon or bn.com to see if the presentation is professional. Finally, talk through with the publisher what is planned for your book in terms of publication and marketing. These common-sense precautions will also help you get to know the publisher and get some ideas of how together you can make your book a success in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Has anyone else tried the small-press route? What's been your experience?

Alicia

Bio:

Alicia Rasley is a Rita-award winning author and nationally known teacher of writing workshops. She teaches composition and tutors students in two state universities. She grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia but now lives in the midwestern flat land. Her book The Year She Fell has been a Kindle fiction bestseller.

Her blog is at: www.edittorrent.blogspot.com, and her website is www.rasley.com. Her writing book, The Power of Point of View, is still available from Writer's Digest Books. All her books can be found on her Kindle page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Susan here -- Thanks so much, Alicia, for sharing your years of experience and wisdom with us!

Alicia is willing to take questions, so please feel free to post in the comments.

Have You Considered the Risks of Publication?

2012-01-27T12:12:00.004-05:00

"My family and I were literally under surveillance for their amusement... There's a twist in the stomach as you wonder what do they want, what have they got? It feels incredibly threatening to have people watching you." -- JK Rowling

I read several blog posts yesterday discussing the news that JK Rowling had settled out of court with her former literary agent, Christopher Little. Speculation ran wild and rampant as to why she left Little and how much she had to pay to close his mouth. Some of the speculation was clearly negative toward Rowling, accusing her of betraying the man who brought her out of obscurity and "conjured up her millions." As if her storytelling had nothing to do with it.

But, what do any of us really know about what happened in that professional relationship? It's almost like looking at a marriage from the outside. If you're not in the bedroom, do you really know who said what and who did what? Plenty of writers leave their agents every day...and sometimes, for just cause. If you've been writing any length of time, I'm sure you know someone who has.

The repercussions are much larger, however, when you've achieved the wealth and fame of a Rowling.

Once, just like many of us, Jo was an unknown, unpublished writer who had no idea if her story would even sell, much less become a world-wide publishing phenomenon. As she said herself when asked if she'd known how successful her series would one day be, "I'd have to have been insane to have imagined this." And that was in the year 2000!

While most of us will not get the huge bank accounts, instant name recognition, and the perks that go along with both, we'll also not face the stress and trials of having (perhaps unwittingly) left our privacy behind.

If we leave our agent, we're not going to make headlines. While we might have a few writing friends and acquaintances gossip behind our back about why we did it and who done whom wrong, we're not going to become fodder for the tabloid press.

Also, most of us are at no risk of having reporters with zoom lenses snap photos of us in our bikinis as we vacation with our families on the beach. We don't have to worry about someone rummaging through our bins, looking for any snippet on our upcoming release. We're not likely to get sued almost yearly by some rinky-dink author from years ago with a barely published story claiming plagiarism. And we won't have to testify in court proceedings about reporters slipping notes into our children's backpacks.

However, as unlikely as it may be, for every single one of us, once we let our stories out into the world, we relinquish a certain amount of control over both them and our privacy. Have you considered this? Even without achieving the level of success as a JKR, many other writers have found themselves facing intense publicity and the loss of anonymity and the security that goes along with it. In an article publishing on Huffington Post this week, Amanda Hocking reflects on the "necessary evil" of letting go of her privacy to promote her books.

We want the best for our books. We tell stories because we want to touch hearts. We hope for the widest audience possible. If that is to be achieved, we must sacrifice certain things. Up front, we sacrifice time, money, and energy as we write late into the night after our day job, skip fun times with our families and friends, pour money we don't have into conferences and workshop to improve our craft. We're all familiar with these sacrifices.

But what about those sacrifices at the back end that we may not have planned for? I heard once that an aspiring author said to Nora Roberts that when she grew up, she wanted to be her one day. Reportedly, Le Nora responded, "Would you? Would you really?"

Think about the sacrifices that Roberts has made to get where she is, as well as the sacrifices she's been forced to make as a result. Think about the crazy fans, negative publicity, and intense scrutiny that has become the norm for authors like Roberts, King, and Rowling. Would you really want to sacrifice your privacy for that? And, by publishing, are you running that risk?

What do you think? I know this is going to seem like a ridiculous question to most, but have you considered the negative side of what you may face if your publication dreams become a reality?

Also, a heads-up -- You'll want to be sure to check back here next Tuesday when bestselling author Alicia Rasley will guest blog. She's drawing from her many years of experience, both with traditional publishers and with a smaller press, on where to go and what questions to consider amid all the changes in publishing.

Quote from JK Rowling taken from a CBC interview in October 2000.

Through the Trapdoor -- JK Rowling's Blueprint for the Harry Potter Series

2012-01-24T10:45:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks back, I did a post, Mirror Mirror on the Series, showing how JK Rowling had plotted books five, six, and seven to reflect three, two, and one, with four as the hinge. In putting that post together, I discovered another game she'd played, that's really more foreshadowing than it is a reflection. Jo foreshadowed key elements for the entire 7-book series at the end of the first.

Don't believe me? Then take a look at this.

Chapter 16 of Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, Through the Trap Door, takes the reader with Harry on a quest to stop Voldemort from capturing the Philosopher's Stone and obtaining eternal life.

There are several key gates/challenges along the way that Harry, Ron, and Hermione must pass in order for Harry to triumphantly face Voldemort at the end. And each of these challenges relates, in order, to an upcoming book.

1) Neville, a Toad, and a Chamber of Secrets:

The first challenge Harry, Ron, and Hermione face, before they even leave Gryffindor Tower, is Neville. But Neville is not alone. He's carrying his pet toad, Trevor. In fact, it's so important for the reader to know that Neville has Trevor that Jo mentions it twice. Neville has gathered up his courage to face his friends and stop them from losing any more house points. But Hermione casts a Petrificus Totalus spell on Neville, making him go all rigid and fall "flat on his face, stiff as a board."

A book later, we saw some other people struck with magic go all rigid, stiff as a board -- they too had been petrified. This happened in Chamber of Secrets as students were attacked by Riddle and Slytherin's pet basilisk, who was born of a hen's egg hatched beneath a toad. Maybe Hermione should have petrified Trevor as well when she had the chance**.

Then, on the way to the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, and Hermione run into Peeves, who though he can't see them, knows they're there and threatens to notify Filch. He is only dissuaded when Harry imitates the Bloody Baron and threatens Peeves.

Ghosts figured prominently into the plot of Chamber of Secrets as well with Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party and Moaning Myrtle's "guarding" of the entrance to the Chamber.

2) Prisoners of Devil's Snare and Dementors:

The second challenge the Trio faces also comes in a pair. Hagrid's pet, Fluffy, a three-headed dog, guards a trapdoor that drops them onto Devil's Snare. To get past Fluffy, Harry must play a bit of music from the flute Hagrid gave him for Christmas. And when they drop onto Professor Sprout's Devil's Snare, it immediately snakes its tendrils around Ron and Harry's legs and arms, imprisoning them. Only Hermione, the last to drop and the first to see the danger, can set them free with the light of a fire.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare...what did Professor Sprout say?--it likes the dark and the damp--"
[Hermione] whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth.

Sounds almost like casting a Patronus at a Dementor, doesn't it? A Dementor who also lives and breeds in the dark and damp.

We first meet the Dementors in Prisoner of Azkaban, where Hagrid again has a fearsome pet, Buckbeak, who Harry is able to tame and ride. And it is through Buckbeak, and the light of truth, that Sirius, a prisoner of lies, is finally set free.

3) Flying Keys and Disguised Villains:

Flitwick's challenge involves hundred of winged, flying keys, disguised as birds, where only one fits the door through which they must pass. The Trio must fly high among the keys to seek out and catch the one key which will allow them to continue. In a game of magical cooperation, Harry directs the other two and puts his Seeker skills to the test to identify and capture the true key.

In Goblet of Fire, Harry once again uses his flying skills to capture the golden dragon's egg, which is the key to the next challenge in the Triwizard Tournament. Furthermore, in this book, we are introduced to some very special keys, portkeys, which carry Harry and his friends to the Quidditch World Cup, and then Harry and Cedric to face a rejuvenated Voldemort in the graveyard. And finally, Pseudo Mad-Eye's disguise is removed to reveal the true face of Voldemort's most loyal servant, and the true Mad-Eye hidden in a trunk guarded by seven locks.

4) The White Queen of Death and the Noble Knight:

Fanart by glockgal

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione pass through the door guarded by keys, they are confronted with McGonagall's life-size, transfigured chess games. Harry becomes a bishop, Hermione a castle, and Ron a knight as he directs his friends about the board. Finally, Ron sacrifices himself to the white queen so that Harry can checkmate the white king and proceed.

In Order of the Phoenix, as the Order faces the Death Eaters in battle, a noble knight is indeed lost to a queen as Sirius is killed by Bellatrix, Voldemort's top female warrior, giving his life to protect Harry. Harry then confronts Voldemort and, in the end, forces him out of his body.

5) Potions and Memories from a Half-Blood Prince:

The Trio then passes a foul-smelling troll, who has already been knocked out by Quirrell, who'd placed him there anyway. They enter a room with a table holding seven bottles of potions--Snape's logic challenge. Hermione figures out the riddle, which allows her to determine which bottle is safe for her to drink to go back, get Ron, and summon the absent Dumbledore, and which one is safe for Harry to drink in order to proceed through the flames and face Voldemort alone.

In Half-Blood Prince, Snape is once again the object of a logic puzzle. Harry is in possession of Snape's old potions book, but doesn't know who the Half-Blood Prince is to whom it belonged. Not only must Harry figure out who is the potions master in this HBP challenge, but he is confronted with seven vials. Instead of potions, however, these vials contain memories providing insight in Voldemort's past to prepare Harry for the ultimate confrontation.

6) Facing the Conflict of Desire and Sacrifice:

Finally, Harry stands face to face to face with The Man with Two Faces. He looks deep into Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised and sees himself in possession of the Philosopher's Stone. And when Quirrell/Voldy finally attacks, he cannot touch Harry because of his mother's sacrifice to save her son's life.

Likewise, in Deathly Hallows, Harry must finally face Voldemort alone, but capable this time, after having passed through the prior challenges, of finally defeating him. After an internal struggle of facing what he truly desires, Hallows or Horcruxes, an intense challenge forced upon him by Dumbledore, Harry sacrifices himself to save others. As a result, he gives those he loves the same protection from Voldemort which his mother gave him.

I don't know about you, but I find it amazing that JKR had plotted her series so in depth from the beginning, that she was able to include all these clues in the first book. Foreshadowing like this comes from hard work and preparation. It is because Jo took the time to plot out her whole series before publishing Philosopher's Stone, and knew intimately what was to come, that she was able to drop these clues in from the very start.

What's more, JKR didn't stop with setting the stage for key elements in each of the books to come, but she also foreshadows the final battle. Each of the professors who provided a protection at the end of Philosopher's Stone, also provides a weapon against Voldemort during the Final Battle.

Professor	PS/SS Protection	DH Weapon
Neville	himself	himself as resistance leader and beheading Nagini
Peeves	himself	dropped giant worms
Hagrid	Fluffy	Grawp
Sprout	Devil's Snare	Devil's Snare
Flitwick	Winged Keys	Incantations; (a shield charm Protego Horribilis)
McGonagall	Human Chess Game	Mobilized Suits of Armor
Snape	Potion Logic Riddle	Taught Harry to control emotions and provided final memory
Dumbledore	Mirror of Erised	At King's Cross, informed Harry he had choice between joining his family or going back to fight, also forced Harry to examine his innermost desires and deliberately choose to not go after the Elder Wand for himself.

**Although it could be argued here that these points of comparison are more of a wrap-up, where she made the parallel links work at the end rather than having foreshadowed at the beginning.

A couple of other foreshadowed tidbits from the first book:

Petunia saw Dedalus Diggle in a shop in PS/SS when he bowed to Harry; he is part of Dursley's escort in DH
The original quidditch team are all at Hogwarts for the Final Battle
Snape is bitten by Fluffy in PS/SS and bitten by Nagini in DH.

I love how JKR plays with her reader by inserting these clues and making these connections. She used tricks like this to help set the tone and establish the rules. Jo wanted her reader to play along with her. While she wanted the reader deeply invested in the emotional arc of the story and characters, she also wanted their minds fully engaged in analyzing the mysteries and finding the Easter eggs hidden about.

I'm really curious, have any of you ever tried playing a game with your readers like this? Also, what other links between the ending of PS/SS and the upcoming books did I miss?

** The note about Hermione petrifying Trevor is meant as a joke as the basilisk is several hundred years old. But what JKR is doing here is providing a slight link from one toad to another. This is an example of her running bit clues.

Upcoming Online Workshop - A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter

2012-01-12T13:01:00.002-05:00

Are you a writer wanting to improve your craft? Would you love to learn some of JK Rowling's techniques which helped make Harry Potter the phenomenon it became? Put your cold days of February to good use and join me for my month-long online workshop, A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter.

Cost is $10 for the whole month. This will include all the lessons plus class discussions and feedback for any questions you have as to how the material relates to your own work. You can sign-up via PayPal below, and once you do, you will be subscribed to the class Yahoo Group. The workshop begins Monday, February 6 and runs through Sunday, March 4.

Beware -- the lessons are intense and include a lot of reading. While beginning writers will learn a lot, the workshop is not geared to be an introduction to writing but rather an immersion into what we as writers can learn by studying JK Rowling's work.

The normal lesson plans are listed below, but the course is flexible to the needs of the students, so will include new topics as brought forward by those who participate.

Workshop Summary:
Though many an envious writer would like to think JK Rowling’s secret to success is just a bunch of magical mayhem, we Muggle writers can learn from the skills which have made her Harry Potter series more than beloved, but truly an absolute obsession among millions.

Using Ms Rowling’s phenomenally popular series as a base, we will delve below the surface of her prose to determine what made her writing so magical for so many. Learn about giving the reader more, the value of subtext, using mythic themes and structure to advantage, plotting a trail-of-clues mystery, and the business of self promotion.

Please note that while familiarity with the series is helpful, it is not required. Also, this is not a workshop about writing fantasy (magic), but rather about how to learn techniques from a bestseller in order to improve your own writing and style. While fantasy will be included, the workshop is by no means geared exclusively to that genre.

Lesson Plan:
Introduction: No Polyjuiced Pretenders Here
(On Learning Techniques, not Cloning a Duplicate)

Lesson One: Characters with More Emotional Range than a Teaspoon
(Characterization)

Lesson Two: Quidditch, A Prisoner of Azkaban, and Thestrals to MoM
(Voice and Reader Fulfillment)

Lesson Three: Return to the Dursleys
(Establishing and Breaking Story Patterns)

Lesson Four: Shrieking Shacks, Whomping Willows, and Moaning Myrtles -- or the Dark Lord's in the Detail
(World Building)

Lesson Five: Revealing Wormtail
(Dropping Clues, Hiding Secrets)

Lesson Six: Put a Fidelius Charm on Your Godric's Hollow
(Backstory)

Lesson Seven: Myth Connections
(Mythic Structures, Archetypes, and Themes)

Lesson Eight: His Royal Snivellus -- the Ambiguity of Snape
(Themes and Borders)

Lesson Nine: Of Grindelwald and Hitler
(Real World Relevance)

Lesson Ten: Keep it FUN
(Engaging the Reader)!

Lesson Eleven: Draco Loves Hermione! At least in fan fiction.
(Fan Involvement)

Lesson Twelve: Make a Magical Impression in the Muggle World
(A Few Tips on Building a Public Presence)

Bonus Lesson: Flying High Above the Quidditch Pitch
(High Concept and Pitching Your Manuscript)

You can find out more about me by reading my bio page, past publications, and past workshops.

Sign up here:

A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter month-long online workshop

WHEN: Monday, February 6, 2012 - Sunday, March 4, 2012

COST: $10 USD

PayPal:

Notes:
As this is my first time teaching this class directly through my own blog rather than a writers group or conference, I am keeping the registration cost lower than normal.

Also, most of the prepared lessons are the same as what is included in the Kindle version, A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter. Where the workshop differs is in the personal feedback through the month-long course and the additional materials as presented due to the needs and questions of the participants.

Have questions? E-mail me at SPSipal AT gmail DOT com.

Try a Trelawney: When Will J.K. Rowling Announce Her Next Book?

2012-01-10T12:05:00.008-05:00

UPDATE: J.K. Rowling announced new release today (Feb. 23, 2012)!

Follow the updates at new post! Click for new post here.

Also, we have two predictions in the comment trail below that hit the mark or came very close. First off, author Lisa Gail Green predicted the next release would be for adults! Yay Lisa!! And I was 9 days off predicting when the book would be announced as I had chosen February 14 for an announcement.

Original post started here:
Many of you may remember that at the premiere of Deathly Hallows part 2 this past summer, J.K. Rowling mentioned in an interview that she had been waiting for the release of the last movie to move forward on a new book.

"I think always felt that I didn't want to publish again until the last film was out because Potter has been such a huge thing in my life. I've been writing hard ever since I finished writing Hallows, so I've got a lot of stuff, and I suppose it's a question of deciding which one comes out first. But I will publish again. And I feel in some sense this is a beginning for me as well as an end!" --JK Rowling

She has multiple books if she has to choose which comes out first. As it's been over four years since the release of Deathly Hallows, and now the last movie is out as well, I feel fairly certain that she'll at least make an announcement this year as to a new release.

But what will it be? We know from past interviews that she had at one point been working on a political fairy tale (whatever that may be) for younger children. She's also mentioned that she was working on something for adults and has promised at some point in the future to do the ultimate Harry Potter encyclopedia.

I thought it might be fun to have a Trelawney thread of speculation. In the comment trail below, cast your prophecy. You can predict the date you think Jo will announce her next book, or the type of story that she'll publish next, or when the book will actually be released. Or whatever.

Whoever comes closest to hitting one of these will win a copy of either A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter or Mad-Eye's Magical Eye (a Turkish nazar boncugu shown on the right) to hang on your wall. Your choice!

My prediction -- I think we might get a lovely Valentine's gift from Jo when she announces her next book, a political fairy tale for children, to come out in July 2012!

Also, you will not want to miss a fabulous opportunity provided this week by Jami Gold on her blog. Throughout the week, she'll be hosting a Pitch Your Shorts opportunity with editors from Entangled Publishing reading the pitches and making requests. So if you have a manuscript between 10,000 - 60,000 words, hurry on over to Jami's blog (after you cast your prediction below) and submit your pitch!

Good luck on both!

Guest Post: J.K. Rowling's Writing Process in Her Own Words, part 2

2012-01-05T09:39:00.003-05:00

Welcome to part 2 of Shelley Souza's fabulous compilation and analysis of J.K. Rowling's writing process from Jo's own words. Shelley has scoured old interviews to bring together anything JKR has said regarding how she wrote her phenomenal series. Part 1 was posted on Tuesday, and if you haven't read that yet, you will definitely want to check it out as well.

Here, in part 2, Shelley delves more deeply into what Jo had to say regarding her choices of names, her use of myth and folklore, and how everything was created from the core of Harry's character.

So, once again, please welcome Shelley!

A Peek Into J.K. Rowling's Writing Process in Her Own Words, part 2

When a writer who is character driven (as Rowling is) involves herself in a long project, a large amount of the material that's generated, in the creation of the characters and their world, will never find its way into the books. As she mentions in the previous quotation,[18] amassing that much material was, in part, for her own pleasure.

Part of that pleasure for Rowling is in the naming of things:

I collect names. I've always collected names, so I've got notebooks full of them.[19]

Ideas come from all sorts of places and sometimes I don't realise where I got them. A friend from London recently asked me if I remembered when we first saw Hogwarts. I had no idea what she was talking about until she recalled the day we went to Kew Gardens and saw those lilies that were called Hogwarts. I'd seen them seven years before and they'd bubbled around in my memory. When Hogwarts occurred to me as a name for the school, I had no idea where it came from.[20]

Names are really crucial to me. Some of my characters have had eight or nine names before I hit the right one. And for some reason I just can't move on until I know I've called them the right thing - that's very fundamental to me.[21]

Sometimes invention gives out. I was writing the latest chapter of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and I needed to come up with another name for another potion. I sat for ten minutes at the keyboard then I just typed “X”. I thought, ‘I’ll go back and fill that in later.’ Sometimes you really want to get on with the story. Sometimes names just come to you, which is a great feeling, but sometimes it is difficult and you have to batter your brain for a while. Sometimes it comes to you while you are washing up or on the loo or something. My husband is quite used to me saying, 'Wait!' then running upstairs and writing something down.[22]

The conception of new words:

I love making up words. There are a few key words in the books that wizards know and muggles, as in us non-magic people, don't know. Well, muggle is an obvious example. Then there's quidditch. Quidditch is the wizarding sport. A journalist in Britain asked me...she said to me, 'Now, you obviously got the word quidditch from quiddity; meaning the essence of a thing, its proper nature.' And I was really, really tempted to say, 'Yes, you're quite right,' because it sounded so intellectual. But I had to tell her the truth, which was that I wanted a word that began with Q—on a total whim—and I filled about, I don't know, five pages of a notebook with different Q-words until I hit quidditch and I knew that was the perfect one.[23]

And twisting the repertoire of folklore and mythology into a new narrative, to fit her story:

I've taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology, but I'm quite unashamed about that, because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard mythology. You know, we've been invaded by people, we've appropriated their gods, we've taken their mythical creatures, and we've soldered them all together to make, what I would say, is one of the richest folklores in the world, because it's so varied. So I feel no compunction about borrowing from that freely, but adding a few things of my own.[24]

The liberties Rowling has taken with words, mythologies and ideas of writers she admires (Dorothy L. Sayers’ belief that romance and mystery do not made good companions in bed, for example), are the building blocks of the wizarding world. For the reader they come to life in much the way Harry did for Rowling--with a sense of excitement and surprise.

You can always tell if it's a good idea because you get a physical response to it, you get this sort of big leap of excitement.[25]

This sense of excitement, I suspect, is also the gauge by which Rowling determined whether the internal logic of her characters and their plot was credible or not. Each new idea that gave her this "big leap of excitement" provided much needed inspiration to keep her on track, at a time when life circumstances were difficult and prospects bleak.[26]

When asked about the source of her books, Rowling says, "I get it all from remembering what it was like to be a kid. So everything Harry goes through, and all these feelings of being lost sometimes and confused, these are all things I remember really vividly.”[27]

Rowling’s answers to questions James Runcie poses, at the beginning of his documentary J.K. Rowling…A Day in the Life, show how her personal values have infused the world of Harry Potter, consciously and unconsciously:[28]

Runcie: What’s your favourite virtue?
Rowling: Courage.”
Runcie: What vice do you most despise?
Rowling: Bigotry.
Runcie: What are you most willing to forgive?
Rowling: Gluttony.
Runcie: What’s your most marked characteristic?
Rowling: I’m a trier.
Runcie: What are you most afraid of?
Rowling: Losing someone I love.
Runcie: What’s the quality you most like in a man?
Rowling: Morals.
Runcie: What’s the quality you most like in a woman?
Rowling: Generosity.
Runcie: What do you most value about your friends?
Rowling: Tolerance.
Runcie: What’s your principal defect?
Rowling: Short views.
Runcie: What’s your favourite occupation?
Rowling: Writing.
Runcie: What’s your dream of happiness?
Rowling. Happy family.

The plot came entirely from Harry. This statement, more than any Rowling has made about her process as a writer, reveals how she found the internal logic that holds the story together to create a plot that is loophole free.

He really is the whole story. The whole plot is contained in Harry Potter; his past, present and future—that is the story. Harry came to me first and everything radiated out from him. I gave him his parents, then his past, then Hogwarts, and the wizarding world got bigger and bigger. He was the starting point.[29]

In A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver writes:

The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem—the heat of the star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say—exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: not unconscious, not subconscious, but cautious. It learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. … If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself—soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.

This is what I think Rowling meant when she spoke of finding herself at the moment she hit rock bottom, when she discovered she had a strong will, and more self-discipline than she had ever suspected, to finish the only work that mattered to her.[30] When, in her darkest hour, writing was all she had left to fall back on, Fortuna smiled, because Rowling had always turned up to write, even when it didn’t appear to count.

There’s so much to say about J.K. Rowling that has helped me in my life outside of writing. But perhaps I’ll end with the two things that struck me most when I was searching for my path as a writer. In talking with Oprah Winfrey, Rowling described herself as someone who had very little self-confidence in most things except her ability to tell a story. She also told Oprah that she had never felt as excited about an idea as when Harry and a school for wizards leapt unexpectedly into her mind, even though she had never considered writing for children.[31] The story, she says, chose her; she didn’t choose it.[32]

I think that the biggest lesson from the success of Harry Potter is that you need to try not to follow a trend. It's almost a cliché. You have to follow your heart. In Harry Potter, the wand chooses the wizard; and when the wand chooses you, you take it. You don't try to find which other books are selling, which ones are hot right now.[33] Arthur Levine

“How do you want to be remembered?” Runcie asks J.K. Rowling at the end of his documentary.

“As someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.”[34]

The creative process is a mysterious thing. It's not linear, and it has its own agenda. It's not there for us to use it—we are here to be used by it. In this sense, J.K. Rowling gave fully of herself—her intelligence, wit, morality, political beliefs, knowledge of literature, life experience, and abiding faith in the redemptive power of love—to the agenda of the creative impulse that chose her to write Harry Potter. Her conviction in the one thing she believed she could do—tell a story—and her belief in the story that chose her, is the reason fans of all ages have fallen in love with Jo Rowling the person, not just with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. Through learning about what inspired her process as a writer, I gained insight into trusting my own.

-- Shelley Souza

BIO
Shelley Souza received a Master of Fine Arts in directing from U.C. Irvine and spent over two decades developing and staging new plays by established and emerging playwrights. She has authored hundreds of articles on new technology (which she loves) and ghostwritten four books of non-fiction for clients of an independent publisher. She is a member of the Authors Guild and SCBWI.

[18] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDhtJU7uLrQ
[19] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm
[20] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1001-sydney-renton.htm
[21] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc2.htm
[22] http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80
[23] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1299-wamu-rehm.htm
[24] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/1205-bbc-fry.html
[25] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-edinburgh-jones-official.html
[26] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-6zaa4NI4
[27] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/0199-scotlandsunday-goring.html
[28] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-6zaa4NI4
[29] http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80
[30] http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html
[31] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y8TJqBtV8Y
[32] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7nlfoMcwQ
[33] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1013-nyt-levine.html
[34] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-6zaa4NI4

Guest Post: J.K. Rowling's Writing Process in Her Own Words, part 1

2012-01-03T08:30:00.018-05:00

(Read part 2 of Shelley's post here.)

I am delighted to welcome to the blog today published writer and theater director Shelley Souza. I met Shelley recently through SavvyAuthors as a participant in my online class, A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter. As always when I present this workshop, I learn more than I teach, and Shelley is a perfect example of why. To help inform her own writing and understanding of craft, Shelley has delved deeply beneath the surface of Jo's work in order to understand the person and the process which produced Harry...thus she is a font of great insight. Also, having been raised in Britain, Shelley helped me understand much of the cultural background of JKR's work that I had missed.

Shelley is as enthused about JK Rowling's craft as I am, and because she believes the best way to understand Jo's writing process is through her own words, Shelley's spent a huge amount of time researching through old interviews. The post she has put together for us is a wonderful compilation of what JKR has said throughout the years in various interviews regarding her own writing process.

So now, please join me in welcoming Shelley!

A Peek Into J.K. Rowling's Writing Process in Her Own Words, part 1

As a writer, I am as much drawn to J.K. Rowling as I am to her books. The books came first but my interest in Rowling as a person and as a writer followed very quickly. As a reader, I would love to have read these books when I was young as much as I love reading them today. For one thing, they’re very British. And their inventiveness is legend. But as a writer, what inspires me more than Rowling’s imagination is her intuitive approach to the construction of the plot, and her self-confidence in her ability to tell a story.

I was born and raised in London (and attended boarding school). At first Harry Potter reminded me of one of my favourite series when I was about ten, the St. Clare books, by Enid Blyton. Both stories are set in a boarding school but that’s where the similarity between them ends. In Enid Blyton’s books, girls of a certain class in the forties and fifties attended boarding school. The goal was to train these girls to be morally good and practically efficient, in preparation for becoming a good wife and mother. (Not that I read them to learn how to be a good wife and mother! I liked the St. Clare books primarily for the classroom and midnight antics the girls got up to. And I also liked the teachers, in particular, the headmistress, who was always fair; unlike my teachers and headmistress in real life). Rowling has said the reason the Harry Potter books are set in a boarding school has nothing to do with the British class system.

In Britain, it's a big deal. In Britain, it's, 'Aha! So which boarding school did you go to?' I didn't go to boarding school. Harry Potter has to be set in a boarding school for reasons of plot. How would it be interesting if the characters couldn't get up at night and wander around? You're going to have them go to a day school and trot home, and then break into school every night?[1]

Readers readily accept that Hogwarts is a boarding school because Rowling plants the idea in their imagination before they see the school for the first time, along with Harry and his friends. Students arrive at night, after travelling all day on a special train. On their arrival, Professor McGonagall tells the first years that their house will serve as their family during their time at the school. Hogwarts provides a safe environment in which to meet even the most dangerous wizard. In the early books, it would be implausible for Harry to encounter Voldemort away from the protected grounds of Hogwarts. He wouldn't know enough magic to defend himself successfully against the greatest wizard of dark magic in the last fifty years. When a reader accepts the author’s main setting without question, the author has succeeded in laying down the cornerstone of her world in the reader's mind. Rowling's cornerstone is Hogwarts. It stands for the learning of magic; and as such plays a pivotal role in the continuity of the wizarding world.

The credibility of Harry Potter’s world depends on strict rules that govern the internal logic.

I loathe books that have inconsistencies and leave questions unanswered. Loopholes bug the hell out of me. I hate getting to the end of a book and thinking, but if so and so had told Mr. Y. back in chapter three, it need never have happened. And so I try to be meticulous and make sure that everything operates according to laws, however odd, so that everyone understands exactly how and why.[2]

The five years I spent on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were spent constructing The Rules. I had to lay down all my parameters. The most important thing to decide when you're creating a fantasy world is what the characters CAN’T do. . . . You can tell with The Simpsons. It's a work of genius. You can tell that they've structured it in such a way that they're never at a loss for what their characters can and can't do. That's why they're so believable - even though they're little yellow people.[3]

My impression of J.K. Rowling is that what you see in Harry Potter is who she is, as a person. Not the magic (which is her imagination) but her logic, morality, themes, and sly sense of humour.

When asked why the wizarding world needs money, she answers:

There is legislation about what you can conjure and what you can't. Something that you conjure out of thin air will not last. This is a rule I set down for myself early on. I love these logical questions![4]

And on whether Harry Potter is a moral tale, she says:

I did not conceive it as a moral tale; the morality sprang naturally out of the story, a subtle but important difference. I think any book that sets out to teach or preach is likely to be hard going at times (though I can think of a couple of exceptions).[5]

One exception might be Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

I know I read Little Women when I was eight, because we moved house shortly afterwards, when I was nine. Naturally, I whole-heartedly identified with Jo March, she of the burning literary ambition and short temper.[6]

Or The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.

The tone is perfect; a seamless mix of the fairy-tale and the real. It also has a plain heroine, which delighted me beyond words as a child, because I was a very plain little girl and I hadn’t met many literary heroines who weren’t breathtakingly pretty. The opening paragraphs of The Little White Horse have stayed with me all my life. Goudge says that there are three kinds of people in this world: Those who find consolation in food, those who find consolation in literature, and those who find consolation in personal adornment.[7]

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (the tale of The Deathly Hallows was inspired by The Pardoner's Tale); and possibly, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.[8]

I think it is fair to say Dumbledore embodies Rowling’s ideal philosopher.[9]

Finally, though not exhaustively, Jessica Mitford’s Hons and Rebels possibly influenced Hermoine’s conscience to fight injustice, just as Mitford's life has influenced Rowling's political beliefs.

Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War. She was incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target.[10]

Rowling has said she writes for herself and that she writes for herself as a reader. So that even though she is not writing with a particular audience in mind—“I never really imagine a target audience when I'm writing. The ideas come first”[11]—she is writing with a particular reader in mind: herself. When Diane Rehm wanted to understand why children were drawn to the books, Rowling replied:

That's such a very hard question to answer, because...without being disingenuous, I wrote what I wanted to write. And I wrote the sort of thing that I knew I'd like to read *now* as an adult, and I knew that I would have liked to have read it when I was 11.[12]

I didn’t go into it thinking, this is what works; therefore, I will do that. But from letters I get and the reactions I get, particularly from children, it is the characters they care about most. Yes, they are very deeply amused by the magic going on, and so on. But they really deeply care about the characters, particularly the three central characters – Harry, Ron and Hermione.[13]

In a sense, I'm too close to it to be able to see whether there's, you know, a particular thing that draws children in, and in many ways I don't want to analyze it too much, because I'm scared that if I decide that it's factor X that is making children in these numbers like it, I might try a little too hard to put a lot of X in book 4 or 5. And I don't want to do that. I just want to write it the way I'm writing it at the moment, and enjoy writing it, and do it my way, without trying to, you know, work to a formula[14]

Rowling’s decision to introduce the thestrals near the beginning of book five, instead of at the end of book four, reveals her thought process as both reader and writer. Because Rowling writes the idea of a story for herself, first, rather than with a target audience in mind, how she thinks as a reader during the course of her writing greatly influences the choices she makes as a writer:

At the end of Goblet of Fire, we sent Harry home more depressed than he had ever been leaving Hogwarts. Now I knew that the thestrals were coming and I can prove that because they are in the book that I produced for Comic Relief, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. These unlucky black winged horses. However, if Harry had seen them then, and we hadn't explained them then, I thought that would be rather a cheat on the reader in that Harry suddenly sees these monsters but we don't go anywhere with them. So to explain to myself, I said, you had to have seen the death and allowed it to sink in a little bit, before, slowly, these creatures became solid in front of you. So that's how I am going to sneak past that one.[15]

Her compelling cast of characters came to life in her imagination because she never faltered in her belief that Harry Potter was the story she was meant to write.

It took me five years to work out this very long plot. On that train, I came up with lots of the characters you meet at the school. Loads and loads of detail, but not really the narrative. It’s as though, subconsciously, for years, I had been preparing for writing Harry Potter.[16]

During those five years this mass of material was generated, some of which will never find its way into the books, will never need to be in the books. It's just stuff I need to know, for my own pleasure—partly for my own pleasure and partly because I like reading a book where I have a sense that the author knows everything. They might not be telling me everything but you have that confidence that the author really knows everything.[17]

At first glance it appears that there isn't much interpretative thought appended to the quotes I selected. I deliberately structured the post to comprise mainly of Rowling's words, not my interpretation of them, because I learned so much about my process as a writer, simply by reading what Rowling had to say about hers.

-- Shelley Souza

(Read part 2 of Shelley's post here.)

**^**

Susan here -- I can't thank Shelley enough for wading through all these interviews and organizing a wonderful peek into Jo's writing process. Please be sure to join us Thursday for the second half of Shelley's post. And in the meanwhile, you can get to know Shelley better through her Tumblr blog!

Bio:

Shelley Souza received a Master of Fine Arts in directing from U.C. Irvine and spent over two decades developing and staging new plays by established and emerging playwrights. She has authored hundreds of articles on new technology (which she loves) and ghostwritten four books of non-fiction for clients of an independent publisher. She is a member of the Authors Guild and SCBWI.

[1] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/0101-oprah.html

[2] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1001-sydney-renton.htm

[3] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-swns-alfie.htm

[4] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-swns-alfie.htm

[5] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm

[6] http://www.harrypotterfans.com/2011/06/j-k-rowling-chats-about-hidden-talents-and-favorite-books/

[7] http://www.harrypotterfans.com/2011/06/j-k-rowling-chats-about-hidden-talents-and-favorite-books/

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_influences_and_analogues

[9] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2003/0302-newsround-mzimba.htm

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_influences_and_analogues

[11] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/0099-amazon-staff.htm

[12] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1299-wamu-rehm.htm

[13] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-bloomsbury-fry.html

[14] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1299-wamu-rehm.htm

[15] http://www.mugglenet.com/jkr-royalalbert.shtml

[16] http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/0101-villarum-matsuda.htm

[17] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDhtJU7uLrQ

Through the Pensieve -- A Very Potter Year

2011-12-30T18:58:00.005-05:00

What a year 2011 was for Harry Potter fans! Even though the release of the last Harry Potter book was four years ago, J.K. Rowling still managed to heat-up the headlines, especially through the summer.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, released at midnight on July 15 to excited audiences in the U.S. and U.K.. Fans were both eager to see this final film of the beloved franchise, and also reluctant to witness the end. For many, as came to be said time and time again, Harry Potter had been their childhood...and they held on to savor those last thrilling moments.

But, one month earlier, on June 15, JK Rowling had promised her fans a new treat to come -- Pottermore! By the middle of July, no one was sure exactly what Pottermore was, but the anticipation of new material from Jo had lifted everyone's spirits and incited a massive online search for clues. The thrill of the hunt which had kept fans fervent from one Potter book to the next was renewed as readers tried to guess exactly what Jo had up her magical sleeve this time around.

When Pottermore opened on July 31 to Beta registration with 7 days of the Quill Quest Challenge, the internet (and this blog!) went wild. Fans were frenzied to catch their quill and ensure their early entrance into Pottermore. The Pottermore pearly gates were supposed to open to one and all in October, but, alas, beta testing has continued, the craze has died down, and now fans are waiting and hoping to hear from JK Rowling when and WHAT her next release will be.

Honestly, after what Jo said at the Deathly Hallows premiere about having multiple books ready to go, I had thought we'd be gifted with an announcement regarding a new release around Christmas. But if I may be so bold as to make a Trelawney prediction, I do believe we'll hear of her next release in the next three months -- perhaps as a Valentine's treat!

For me personally, through this blog, 2011 was a year of new ventures and experiences. I wholeheartedly joined in the craze of Pottermore speculation throughout the summer and enjoyed every minute of it. If you want to look back on some of the wild (and sometimes accurate) speculation that took place here, just follow the Pottermore label.

The beginning of summer was also when I decided to come out to play on Kindle for the first time. And I have to say, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made writing-wise. I'd been teaching my Writer's Guide to Harry Potter workshop for several years, the last few online. That workshop is what inspired this blog, not the other way around. So I had this material all written out, but only shared with a few people. Kindle allowed me to expand those few exponentially.

I enjoyed venturing into Kindle land so much, I even added to my workshop with the compilations of my analysis of the beginning and end of the Harry Potter saga through The Boy Who Lived Comes to Life and The Boy Who Lived Comes to Die. I plan to add more volumes to these shorter, targeted analyses in 2012.

Last year at this time, I analyzed which of my posts had gotten the most hits. For 2012, hands down would be anything I posted during the heat of the Pottermore craze. Posts like The Quill Quest is On! and Pottermore -- The Numbers Game garnered almost 40,000 hits together

But beyond Pottermore, the posts that seem to draw visitors to this blog the most have been those dealing either with the mythological aspects of Harry Potter, such as Mad-Eye's Magical Eye, mystery plotting techniques, such as One Potent Word, or posts on characters or characterization, such as Characterization in The Boy Who Lived.

One might think that with over 170 posts on Harry Potter I'd be running out of ideas. But the truth is the opposite. Every post I research seems to bring more ideas to mind. That recent analysis I did on Luna as the Eye of Harry showed me at least 3 other ways JK Rowling had used Egyptian mythology in related ways that I'd not clearly seen before, which I still have to research, write-up, and impose upon you all! :-)

So, together, with your wonderful comments and questions, I anticipate a very full and rewarding 2012!

I thank you all for being with me through an exciting 2011 here on Harry Potter for Writers, I thank deeply all the wonderful guest bloggers who posted here, and I look forward to an even better year to come! And to start the new year off right, be sure to join me next week for a special guest blog in two parts from theater director and author Shelley Souza, who has written a wonderful post on JK Rowling's writing process which is based primarily on quotes from Jo throughout the years. Shelley's put a Grawp-size amount of research into her post and you won't want to miss it!

I wish you all a very happy New Year. May 2012 be a year filled with the magic of an imagination that probes beyond normal boundaries, the knowledge to make good choices in your writing careers and reap the benefits from them, and the love and support of good family and good friends, both those near and online.

Happy New Year to Muggles and Magicals All!

Mirror, Mirror on the Series

2011-12-28T19:14:00.002-05:00

In life, mirrors reflect reality rather sharply and, to some POVs, unforgivingly. In fiction, especially fantasy, mirrors may take on a magical quality and provide insight into the subjects they reflect, or show people and action beyond its borders, such as the mirror in Snow White. However reflections also serve as a literary device. By mirroring a later action or scene against an earlier one, the author can, through differentiation, show character growth, deepening conflict, or earned triumph.

J.K. Rowling works frequently with mirrors both as a thematic image as well as scenic reflections. From the emulation of a heart's true desire in the Mirror of Erised at the beginning of her saga, to the providential eye of Aberforth Dumbledore watching over the Trio through the broken mirror, mirrored scenes provide the reader greater understanding through deepening perceptions and contrasts.

Perhaps one of the most striking mirrored devices is the framing of the series itself. Have you ever noticed that the last half of the series reflects the first with Goblet of Fire as the pivot-hinge? When you look at the series from this vantage point, Order of the Phoenix reflects Prisoner of Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince reflects Chamber of Secrets, and Deathly Hallows reflects Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black is introduced as a murderous escaped prisoner intent on harming Harry and almost loses his soul. In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius is the loving godfather, imprisoned in his own home, who saves Harry and loses his life.

In Chamber of Secrets, the mysterious Tom Riddle is introduced. Through Riddle's diary, Harry explores his past at Hogwarts -- but through a web of lies as Voldemort's soul presents it. A monster is set lose in the castle, and innocent students are petrified. In Half Blood Prince, Harry and Dumbledore together explore Voldemort's past through the truthful reflections of the Pensieve (itself a mirror-like object). In the end, the monstrous Death Eaters are set lose inside Hogwarts, and Dumbledore is killed defending his students.

And in Philosopher's Stone, Harry must seek out an object which in Voldemort's possession would grant him immortality. He believes that Snape is Voldemort's accomplice, but in the end, finds out Snape has been defending Harry all along. Likewise, in Deathly Hallows, Harry must seek out and destroy each of Voldemort's Horcruxes before he can confront him face to face in the Great Hall. However, in DH, Hermione, Ron, and Neville also help to destroy the bits of Voldy's soul. As in PS/SS, Harry believes almost until the end that Snape murdered Dumbeldore on Voldemort's order and is his most faithful servant. Only near the end does Harry discovers Snape's pledged protection as a faithful reminder of his love for Lily.

Like many authors, Jo seemed very intent on bringing her series full circle in Deathly Hallows. And so, between book 1 and book 7, we can find many smaller reflections as well.

what Harry and Ron yearned for in PS/SS in the Mirror of Erised is gained in DH -- Harry is reunited through the stone with his deceased family, if only briefly. Ron achieves outstanding leadership and greater fame than any of his brothers as he helps Harry defeat Voldemort, including saving Harry's life and destroying the locket Horcrux.
Hagrid carries Harry to the Dursley home on Sirius' motorbike in PS, and away from it on the same bike in DH
Hagrid gives Harry Hedwig in PS, and is with Harry when Hedwig is killed in DH
Hagrid also brings Harry's body out of the forest in DH as he carried baby Harry out of the Godric's Hollow house in PS
Harry is warned (in a way) against robbing Gringotts in PS/SS and robs it in DH
Harry is symbolically adopted as a Weasley through Mrs. Weasley's Christmas sweater (jumper) in PS/SS and marries into the Weasley clan before the Epilogue of DH.

As a writer you can mirror your scenes to not only show plot changes and character development but to drop clues and hints of secrets as well. It’s a great technique to revisit an earlier scene through someone else’s POV to distinguish between characters, or through the same eyes as before to show how that character’s perspective has changed or developed. Once a scene’s structure has been established, its mirrored reflection can point to distinctions that hint at clues, secrets, and changes and help involve your readers deeper into the story as they analyze the parallels and differences.

Have you played with mirrored scenes or actions within a book or from one book to another within a series? What kind of changes did you project within your reflection?

A Harry Potter Christmas

2011-12-21T17:38:00.005-05:00

As I'm running around getting ready for Christmas in North Carolina, I can't help but think about the wonderful, snow-covered Christmases Harry spent at Hogwarts or with Sirius and the Weasley family. With each book, J.K. Rowling seemed to delight in crafting something special for two specific holidays. With Halloween usually came something appropriately spooky -- like trolls in the dungeon, or a Death-Day Party. But with Christmas came a Great Hall full of decorated trees, presents from Harry's new and expanding "family," and often new clues for the developing mystery.

Here's some of my favorite tidbits from each of the Harry Potter Christmases.

Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone:
Seeing the Great Hall decorated for the first time with 12 magical Christmas trees ranks right up there with Harry having his best Christmas (away from the Dursleys!) ever.

For his first real Christmas, Harry gets:

a roughly cut wooden flute from Hagrid that sounds a bit like an owl
fifty pence from the Dursleys
an emerald sweater and box of fudge from Mrs. Weasley
a box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione
and the invisibility cloak from Dumbledore

With the gift of the first sweater (jumper in the UK), Harry becomes an adopted member into the Weasley clan. And as George says when telling Percy he has to sit with them at the feast rather than the Prefects, "Christmas is a time for family."

Three of these gifts are necessary tools to help Harry figure out the mystery surrounding Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone. The invisibility cloak helps Harry sneak around Hogwarts. Flamel is revealed to the Trio through his Chocolate Frog card, and Hagrid's flute helps them get past Fluffy.

Beyond the wonderful Christmas feast and the fun wizard crackers, perhaps the greatest gift this first year came indirectly from Dumbledore. When he not only returned James' invisibility cloak, but also left the Mirror of Erised out for Harry to discover, he gave Harry the wonderful, but addictive, gift of seeing his family alive beside him.

The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness. (p. 259, Scholastic)

Chamber of Secrets:

For Harry's second year at Hogwarts, he gets more gifts, another midnight adventure, and yet more clues.

Gifts:

from the Dursleys, a toothpick and a note asking him to stay at Hogwarts for the summer
a tin of treacle fudge from Hagrid
a book, Flying with the Cannons, from Ron
an eagle-feather quill from Hermione
and a sweater and plum cake from Mrs. Weasley

Once again Harry enjoys a lavish feast in the richly decorated Great Hall with warm and dry (the best kind!) enchanted snow falling from the ceiling. The rest of the Trio's Christmas evening is spent drugging Crabbe and Goyle and then taking the Polyjuice so they can quiz Draco regarding the Heir of Slytherin.

Unfortunately, Draco says he doesn't know who opened the Chamber of Secrets, but shows an article about Mr. Weasley being fined for his bewitched car. And worst of all, Hermione's transformation leaves her a half cat for a few weeks. However, they do find out from Draco (via dear old Dad), that the last time the Chamber was opened was 50 years ago and the one who opened it was expelled.

Prisoner of Azkaban:

This Christmas day dawns a bit darker than the last ones. Harry has recently found out that it was Sirius, his dad's best friend, who supposedly betrayed his parents, and Hagrid received a note that Buckbeak is a wanted hippogriff.

To shake things up a bit, while JKR briefly refers to Harry's gifts (a scarlet sweater from Mrs. Weasley with a Gryffindor lion, plus a dozen mince pies, cake and nut brittle ), Harry quickly brushes these aside to seize upon the mysterious Firebolt (from Sirius).

While Ron and Hermione fight over who could have sent the Firebolt, Crookshanks launches after Scabbers and Harry's Pocket Sneakoscope goes off. Ron kicks at Crookshanks, misses, and...notice this little bit:

"You'd better take that cat out of here, Hermione," said Ron furiously, sitting on Harry's bed nursing his toe. (p. 226)

You think that hurt toe may be a clue to another missing digit in this book?

At the Christmas feast, Jo, through Professor Trelawney, introduces the idea that when 13 dine together "the first to rise will be the first to die!" (p. 228, Scholastic). Although this dire threat does not play-out in PoA, as Harry and Ron rise together and neither dies, it does find fulfillment two books later in Order of the Phoenix when Sirius is the first to rise from a table of 13.

Alas, not only does Harry not enjoy a Christmas day adventure in PoA, but he also gets his brand new Firebolt confiscated by Professor McGonagall and a well-meaning, but immediately black-balled, Hermione.

Goblet of Fire:

This year, the halls of Hogwarts are bursting through the holidays with the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball approaching. The Hogwarts' staff goes all out in the decorations to impress their guests. Of course, one of the items that impressed me the most was the level of detail Rowling takes her world building. I still giggle over Peeves' rude Christmas lyrics sung through the enchanted suits of armor.

Harry is awoken this Christmas morning with Dobby looming over him in bed, anxious to give his present, and the reader is immediately given a contrast between Harry and Dobby. While Harry, who'd not even considered getting a gift for Dobby, quickly dives into his trunk and pulls out "his oldest and foulest, mustard yellow" socks, which "had once belonged to Uncle Vernon" and passes them off as a gift to the house elf, Dobby gives Harry socks that he made himself, with wool purchased from his piddly wages from working at Hogwarts. Perhaps this is why it was so important to Rowling two books later to have Harry dig Dobby's grave by hand to show his growth and new understand of the importance of relationships in life.

In fact, Harry doesn't even appreciate the significance of Dobby's gift at the moment, preferring instead the other "more satisfactory" gifts (save for the Dursleys'):

a single tissue from the Dursleys
Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland book from Hermione,
a bulging bag of dungbombs from Ron
a penknife to unlock any lock, undo any knot from Sirius
a box of sweets from Hagrid
and Mrs. Weasley's sweater with a dragon on it as well as mince pies

However, most of the excitement comes with the Yule Ball in the evening. Ron and Hermione fight, Harry overhears Snape and Karkaroff talking about the Dark Mark, and then the shock of the overheard revelation from Hagrid to Madame Maxime of his being half giant.

Order of the Phoenix:

As the books grow darker, so too do the Christmas scenes. In the fifth book, Christmas comes just after Mr. Weasley has been bitten by Nagini, nearly died, and Harry believes himself to be possessed by Voldemort.

On the bright side, Harry gets to spend Christmas at the home of his godfather Sirius and almost the whole Weasley clan. On the dark side, Harry is afraid to be near them for fear that he may attack and kill those he loves most. And while the readers can laugh over seeing Lockhart even dopier than before, offering his autographed picture with looped-up writing, it's painfully heart-wrenching to witness Neville's visit with his parents in the closed ward. As Harry reflects, he'd never found anything less funny than the empty Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrapper that Neville's mom gives him.

However, throughout the scenes, Jo manages to sneak in a couple of clues, such as the potted plant which does in Broderick Bode, and upon returning the Grimmauld Place, the reemergence of Kreacher looking happier, and more subservient, than before.

Harry's Christmas haul:

a homework planner from Hermione
Practical Defensive Magic book from Sirius and Lupin
a furry brown wallet with fangs from Hagrid
a small Firebolt model from Tonks
a box of Every-Flavour Beans from Ron
a sweater and mince pies from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley
and a "truly dreadful painting" from Dobby that turns out to be of Harry.

Half-Blood Prince:

After attending Slughorn's Christmas party, which ended with Harry eavesdropping on the confrontation between Snape and Draco regarding his mysterious "job" and Snape's vow, Harry gets to spend this Christmas warm at home with the Weasley clan and friends. Last year, I did a more in depth post on Christmas Eve at the Burrow and the lovely clues Jo managed to weave into this scene.

It is Christmas Day, however, when the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, visits the Burrow and Harry. While Scrimgeour tries to persuade Harry to be the ministry's poster child in its fight against Voldemort, Harry questions the Minister's tactics as Scrimgerous interrogates him regarding Dumbledore's activities:

'What is Dumbledore up to?' said Scrimgeour brusquely. 'Where does he go, when he is absent from Hogwarts?'
'No idea,' said Harry.
'And you wouldn't tell me if you knew,' said Scrimgeour, 'would you?'
'No, I wouldn't,' said Harry....
'Well, it is clear to me that he has done a very good job on you,' said Scrimgeour, his eyes cold and hard behind his wire-rimmed glasses, 'Dumbledore's man through and through, aren't you, Potter?'
'Yeah, I am,' said Harry. 'Glad we straightened that out.' (Bloomsbury, p. 326)

What a distinct turnaround in Harry's attitude from the prior year when he'd been yelling at Dumbledore and his lack of attention through Phineas Nigellus Black.

Gifts:

a sweater with a Golden Snitch design from Mrs. Weasley
a large box of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products from Fred and George
and a package of maggots from Kreacher (yum! love those maggots!)

Deathly Hallows:

Harry spends this last, and darkest, Christmas Eve in Godric's Hollow, visiting the home where Voldemort killed Lily and James, then his parents' grave, and finally fighting for his life against Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's house. As a final tragedy, as he and Hermione make their escape, Harry's wand is broken.

On Christmas Day, Harry and Hermione read a copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore while recovering from their wounds on watch in their tent. Harry is devastated to find out about Dumbledore and Grindelwald's friendship and their plan to subjugate Muggles for "the greater good." He feels like he has lost it all...the wand he hoped would help him win-out over Voldemort, his faith in his mentor, and his best friend Ron.

Perhaps, then, as a belated Chrismas present, shortly after midnight on Boxing Day, Harry follows the Silver Doe and discovers not only the Sword of Gryffindor, but the present he most needs at this moment...the restoration of Ron by his side and the hope that the other losses may also be found anew.

If you'll notice, with all these Christmas scenes, JKR manages to expand upon similar themes throughout the course of the series, while varying the scenes and deepening and darkening the story. From the first Weasley sweater that proclaims Harry as one of the Weasleys, to Christmas with his godfather Sirius and visits on the closed ward where Neville visits his family, to Harry's Christmas Eve trip to his family's homeplace and gravesite, family is probably the most crucial element of all Rowling's Christmas scenes. Along the way, however, she throws in adventures, danger, and loads of clues.

If you're writing a series and have incorporated recurring elements, such as a holiday, have you considered how you can use developing themes and contrasting action and images to alter these elements from book to book? And, on a less writerly note, how many of you have wanted to spend Christmas at Hogwarts? I think I'd actually prefer the Burrow!

Happy Holidays to All!

Deja Vu Blogfest -- A Taste of Magic

2011-12-16T07:11:00.006-05:00

So in reading one of my favorite bloggers early this morning, (thanks Laura!), I discovered that today is Deja Vu Blogfest. What fun!

In looking back over my earlier posts from over a year ago, I decided to revisit this one, because, to be honest, it needed a touch-up.

Hope you enjoy a second, improved helping of A Taste of Magic. Oh, and please skip over to Wednesday's guest post from fabulous debut author Michael L. Martin, Jr. and post a comment on A Sense of Wonder to win a copy of his book Burn in Hades. Winner will be announced in this space at noon today EST. So hurry!

Congratulations Suzanne Lucero! You're the winner of Michael's book Burn in Hades! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'll send you an e-mail about which format.

A Taste of Magic

When working with an element unfamiliar to your reader, such as a certain magical spell or fantastical beast, it is important to introduce how your creation works before using it in an important situation, especially a situation that involves a twist or mystery. You have to play fair with your reader by exposing the magical function before the magical result is critical to the story.

J.K. Rowling was really good about this. For example, we saw McGonagall transform as an animagus long before the Padfoot, Wormtail, Prongs, and Mooney thread of Prisoner of Azkaban. Likewise, Jo introduced the Polyjuice potion as a relatively minor plot point in Chamber of Secrets before it became a major potion of concealment two books later.

In looking at Goblet of Fire, I found two magical elements that JKR deliberately introduced to her reader at the beginning of the story which played a crucial role in its climax: the Portkey and Prior Incantato. Early in the book, Mr. Diggory used Prior Incantato to discover the last spell cast from the wand Winky had been discovered with...Harry's own. Hermione gasped in horror as a shadow of the Dark Mark emerged from Harry's lost wand.

When traveling to the Quidditch World Cup, Mr. Weasley tells Harry that the Portkey they are about to take is an object "used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time if you need to." And when Harry asks what type of objects they are, he replies, "Well, they can be anything...Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them." (p. 70, GoF).

Portkeys can be anything...like a TriWizard Tournament Cup! And mirroring the beginning of the book, Cedric takes hold of the Portkey along with Harry to a meeting that involves Death Eaters. At the dark moment, however, the Portkey transports Harry and Cedric into a much more deadly encounter where Cedric loses his life and Prior Incantato unleashes "the ghost of a spell" (p. 136) that reveals Harry's deceased mother and father.

When working with new elements, magical or otherwise, that play a crucial role in the climax or mystery of your story, it's important to be sure that you have introduced your reader to them, and the way they work, beforehand. Give your reader a taste of magic early on by introducing creations of your own imagination in such a way that your reader can be an active participant in discovering your story's secrets. Don't just spring a crucial surprise on them that they could not have guessed. They'll feel cheated.

What magical or fantastical elements have you introduced into your story and how have you introduced your reader to its important function?

Guest Post: A Sense of Wonder

2011-12-14T08:21:00.005-05:00

Today I am thrilled to introduce you to a debut fantasy author whose book I absolutely LOVE! Michael L. Martin, Jr. has written a unique adult fantasy featuring a former slave and deceased convict who journeys across multiple realms from various cultures of the Underworld in search of redemption:

Cross never forgives because he never forgets.
Haunted by the Hell of his past transgressions, he sets out on an epic journey across the underworld to paradise--not to frolic in the gardens with the righteous, but to drink from the river Lethe which causes complete forgetfulness.
He's a rare soul who remembers his life before death, known throughout the underworld as "The Man Who Remembers". There's a bounty on his memories, and envious spirits hunt his head to steal them.
Erasing his mind will get the spirits off his neck and allow him to keep his crown on its throne, but he will have to continue his afterlife in an ignorant bliss. Even more unfortunate for him, paradise is guarded by a great wall that annihilates any soul that gets too close. No member of the damned has ever broken in.

Michael's vision is truly epic and his concepts amaze me. Burn in Hades is a story that, like Rowling's, contains layers upon layers of meaning all wrapped within an entertaining story and sandwiched between intriguing characters. I'm so excited about this book, that I could go on and on, but if you'd like to read more, check out my review on Amazon here.

Be sure to read the contest info after Michael's post as he's giving away a copy of Burn in Hades! Now, please welcome Michael!

Congratulations Suzanne Lucero! You're the winner of Michael's book Burn in Hades! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'll send you an e-mail about which format.

A Sense of Wonder

Not every story needs to evoke a sense of wonder, but many of us have fallen in love with our most cherished stories because of the awe they’ve struck within our imaginations.

What is a Sense of Wonder?

Many writers and critics have their own definition.

And I have mine. When the reader side of me grows curious about a setting with a desire to explore it long after the story is over, sometimes even wishing that I could live in that world, that’s how I know I’ve been smote with the lightning bolt of awe. Also, when the writer side of me wishes I had thought of that concept first.

What a sense of wonder doesn’t mean is that you must write fanciful fiction in a whimsical style. It doesn’t mean that you can’t evoke a sense of wonder in a story written in a serious tone or haunting style. Any story of any genre can evoke some sense of wonder in the reader.

J.K. Rowling was a master at a sense of wonder. I’m going to share with you some tricks and treats from her bag of goodies.

How Do Writers Evoke a Sense of Wonder?

It starts with you as the writer. You must be in awe of the world you’re creating. If you don’t find your setting inspiring, readers probably won’t either.

You must be that excited tour guide that can’t wait to show the tourists what lies around the next bend. But you can’t show them everything at once. That would be overwhelming.

The Setup and Punchline

Start small and branch out. Think of your story as an inverted pyramid.

Begin at a single point (the bottom tip of the triangle) with small reveals here and there. As you move up the pyramid it gets wider. The more it branches out, the more you reveal. Little by little, peel that curtain back more and more as you progress through your story. Give readers a peek. Then reveal another curtain. The flat part of the inverted pyramid should be right around your climax. That’s when there should be no more curtain games. Everything comes out into the open either before or during the climax.

From the very beginning of the Philosopher's Stone, there are small wondrous moments. From the cat reading the newspaper to the vanishing glass and Harry speaking Parseltongue to the boa constrictor. In fact, these weren’t just setting up events in the Philosopher’s Stone. They foreshadowed even greater events in the future of the series.

Peculiar things occur just out of the readers reach, stirring their curiosity. But that’s just one technique for the setup.

It was on the corner of the street that [Mr. Dursley] noticed the first sign of something peculiar
– a cat reading a map.

(picture via The Harry Potter Companion)

Another way to approach the setup is to make the character struggle for a specific goal. This is important because we readers tend to connect with a character who strives for something attainable yet out of reach. We root for them to succeed if we like them.

And Harry has a rather difficult time getting to Hogwarts at first. It begins with the letters to no one. During these shenanigans with Uncle Vernon, the reader grows more and more curious about what lies ahead.

Caution: Prolonging a reveal can potentially backfire if stretched for too long. A reader can become disinterested with finding out what’s behind the curtain. But J.K. Rowling and other great storytellers counter this by giving the reader peeks at other interesting things along the way while doling out hints of what’s to come.

This is where we meet Hagrid for the second time. He’s familiar to us because we readers met him earlier. We’ve witnessed the giant crying like a little baby and we like him, so when Harry meets him for the first time, we already trust him and accept all the hints he drops about Hogwarts. But still, he doesn’t spoil everything.

From there it's onward to Diagon Alley (more hints) and Harry is then dropped off at Platform 9¾ (more struggle). And even after Harry gets through all that, we're still not at Hogwarts yet. We meet new friends and new enemies and discover new clues during a brief bit of travel on the Hogwarts Express.

Now on to the big stuff.

Scope and Depth of the World

Your worldbuilding comes in here. Think bigger than big is.

I’m not one of those writers that think worldbuilding should take place at a particular stage of the writing process. Personally, I world-build before, during and after any stage of a draft. I never stop world-building until the novel is published. And if I’m planning a series, I never stop world-building ever.

Not every story requires extensive world-building. You may go as far or as short a distance as you prefer. There aren’t any world-building police who will come and arrest you because you didn’t compile a family tree for background character #86.

But I’ve discovered through my own writing and from studying my favorite authors that going that extra mile, including that additional piece of detail that doesn’t seem like it matters at first, makes a world of difference between a setting that feels complete and sufficient and one that jumps off the page and feels like it exists in real life. It truly is the little things that count. They tend to make the big things seems bigger by contrast.

Again, every story doesn’t need so much world-building. Every reader won’t be interested in everything your world has to offer, but you can please some readers some of the time. There’s also potential to get lost in the worldbuilding to the detriment of your novel. You might forget about plot and neglect to tell a great story. You may never finish the manuscript at all because you’re afraid to move on until you’ve figured out the puzzle of your world, which may never happen. Very often it never happens.

In the end, each storyteller must determine how much world-building is necessary on an individual basis.

Characters

Your character(s) should be in awe of something in your world. No, they shouldn’t be gawking at every least little thing. That would get annoying and reduce the intended effect. But there should be at least one thing that makes them go, “Wow! That’s pretty cool.” Or “that’s really weird!”

Moments that stand out as significant events to the character also stand out to the reader in the same way. Readers will wonder about what’s occurring because the character is wondering.

If the character is amazed then the reader will know that they probably should be amazed as well. That doesn’t guarantee that they will be, but if you don’t let them know when an event is significant, they might miss its significance.

Tone and Word Choice

This will most likely come more into play during the revision/editing stages of your manuscript when you can really focus and home in on the concrete images you want to project into the reader's mind.

Your choice of words will determine your tone and the effect on the reader.

Invent Stuff

From portkeys to gillyweed, J.K. Rowling invented a great number of concepts specifically for the Harry Potter universe, seemingly out of necessity.

I can’t speak for her or any other writer, but I can speak for me. Often, I’m forced to invent concepts because the story requires it. This keeps things fresh and unexpected for readers.

The mundane is your frenemy. Readers need to feel grounded in a world full of unfamiliar things. But you can utilize the mundane to your story’s advantage by contrasting it with the extraordinary things that populate your world.

Take something familiar and give it a new twist. But not a twist for twist's sake. It must make sense within the context of your world.

You can’t really avoid the mundane. There’s nothing new under the sun. True. Technically. But…

“Discoveries” are made every day if you look to science. New species are found deep within the ocean or in extreme climates previously thought to be uninhabitable, advancements push the envelope of technology, and new information is learned on the mysteries of our universe.

These findings expand our outlook and broaden our view of our puny lives. They may not be new on galactical time scale; they’ve always been around, but they are new to us. That’s key to understanding how to evoke a sense of wonder in your fiction.

By virtue of these here Internets everyone knows everything there is to know. Some fiction readers have seen it all and have become jaded. Wizards, elves, and dwarves can all become mundane when there’s a sense that they have been overdone.

However, new readers are born every single day. When trying to evoke a sense of wonder, the jaded readers may not be your audience. But that doesn’t mean you can’t “wow!” them with 3-dimensional characters who aren’t just props to support your plot or worldbuilding.

Place your extraordinary characters in extraordinary situations so that they may do extraordinary things.

Bio:
Michael L. Martin Jr. is an author of fantasy who believes magic should always be magical because it's, well, magic. His tales combine fantastic monsters, magic and mystery with a dash of whimsy. His characters embark on dark journeys and fun adventures through wondrous worlds. Burn in Hades is the first novel of his upcoming Life After Death Trilogy.

Michael, thanks so much for this fabulous post! If you all would like to read more about Michael, you can find his blog here and his Twitter here.

For now, Michael has a book to give away! Burn in Hades is available on Kindle, Nook, and iBooks. If you'd like to win a copy on one of these platforms, all you need to do is comment below and ask Michael a question. It can be about his story, his writing process, what made him choose the Underworld as his setting...whatever you can think of!

I will choose one winner by random generator Friday at noon EST and announce here! So, fire your questions away!

Do Your Secondaries Have Lives of Their Own?

2011-12-13T11:00:00.003-05:00

Harry Potter is all about Harry. He's our hero. He's the Boy Who Lived who is prophesied to defeat He Who Should Not be Named. So everything that happens in a Harry Potter book should be all about him, should in some way contribute directly to his hero's journey...right?

And yet, in Rowling's world, many of her characters, aside from her hero, have compelling goals and journeys of their own that only indirectly affect Harry's.

Fred and George's business ventures are a good example. There are points when their goals and Harry's intersect, such as when Harry gives them his Tri-Wizard gold as starter capital, or when they show Harry some of their dark arts defense products -- which Draco later uses against Harry and the Order. But by and large, the twins' joke shop and Harry's quest to end Voldemort are two separate journeys.

In Chamber of Secrets, Filch tries to use Kwikspell to improve his magical abilities. Lockhart gives advice to Hagrid on how to keep kelpies out of a well. Percy snogs Penelope in secret. And in Half-Blood Prince, Mrs. Weasley comforts Tonks on her relationship woes with Lupin.

While elements of these actions provide clues or serve as a foil for Harry's own journey, they also show the rich lives going on beyond Harry's own aims and control. In other words, JKR's characters seem so real to us partly because they not only have their own aims and problems, but they also interact with each other without Harry as center.

Of course, Ron and Hermione, being the two primary secondaries, have the most going on. Here's a great example from Order of the Phoenix of Hermione pursuing her own goals and interacting with Ron where Harry is merely an observer:

'They're hats for house-elves,' she said briskly now stuffing her books back into her bag. 'I did them over the summer. I'm a really slow knitter without magic but now I'm back at school I should be able to make lots more.'
'You're leaving out hats for the house-elves?' said Ron slowly. 'And you're covering them up with rubbish first?'
'Yes,' said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag on to her back.
'That's not on,' said Ron angrily. 'You're trying to trick them into picking up the hats. You're setting them free when they might not want to be free.'
'Of course they want to be free!' said Hermione at once, though her face was turning pink. 'Don't you dare touch those hats, Ron!'
She turned on her heel and left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls' dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats.
'They should at least see what they're picking up,' he said firmly.

While Hermione's quest to free the house-elves resonates to some of Rowling's deepest themes, here, the interaction between Hermione and Ron speaks more to their opposing personalities and developing relationship than it does to Harry's need to understand his role in freeing the wizarding world.

Creating our secondaries with the same passion and eye to detail as we do our heroes and heroines makes for a truly engaging read. However, for most of us, we will not have the ample word count that Rowling's status and the length of her series provided. Still, a few words can pack a powerful punch if chosen wisely.

How much care have you put into creating your secondary characters? Have you envisioned ways in which your secondaries can interact with each other that don't revolve around your hero? Do they have full lives, goals, and problems of their own that they must struggle with as well? And how can you sneak all this onto your page while keeping the forward thrust of your story firmly focused on your hero?

I'd love to hear examples of what you've done with your secondaries!

Also, please join me tomorrow when we have a special guest. Fabulous debut fantasy author Michael L. Martin, Jr. will be here to discuss "A Sense of Wonder" in reading Harry Potter and writing our own stories. I absolutely love his book and can't wait to share it with you!

Guest Post: When the Reader Becomes the Enemy: Lessons from Pottermore

2011-12-08T08:10:00.001-05:00

I am thrilled to welcome to the blog today Jami Gold. Whenever I read Jami's blog, I feel that she has written her post just for me. She has such a personal and caring way of writing, and she's always in tune with topics of high interest in writer-land. Her balanced and insightful perspective helps shed new light on any topic, whether it's discussing the advantages between traditional and direct publishing or dissecting a popular movie for plot points. The discussion in her comment trail is often as enlightening as her wonderful posts. And to top it all off, she's a wonderful person who does whatever she can to help out other writers!

Today, we're fortunate to have her help navigate the troubled waters of Pottermore. Please join me in welcoming Jami to Harry Potter for Writers, and please also check out her blog and Twitter!

When the Reader Becomes the Enemy: Lessons from Pottermore

This past weekend, the Pottermore Insider reported that Pottermore will be offline for at least a week, and the complaining and gnashing of teeth has been deafening.

Oh, wait… It hasn’t.

How is it that one million people can be denied access to an online site for an undetermined length of time and this not be huge news? If Twitter or Facebook were down for even a day, it would be an important story on all the news sites.

Instead, the few people talking about the shutdown at Potter-specific websites aren’t making enough noise to carry the story into mainstream media. Why?

Because the beta users of Pottermore—the biggest Harry Potter fans—have by and large gotten bored with the site.

Wow, that’s… Sad.

How Did Fans Turn Into “Enemies”?

“Enemies” is a strong word, I know. HP fans still love Harry Potter—that hasn’t changed—but most beta users won’t be championing the greatness of Pottermore when it finally opens to the general public sometime next year.

Without their support, how much more will the site grow among those who are less fanatical? Or to put this in terms all writers can relate to:

What happens when your word-of-mouth platform rots beneath your feet?

Only time will tell.

Personally, I want to understand how this happened so I can avoid pissing off my future-fans. *smile* So let’s take a look at some of Pottermore’s problems to see what all writers can learn:

Expectations:

From the beginning, JK Rowling described Pottermore as an online reading experience. In fact, that’s very much what Pottermore is. But that’s not what the fans wanted. So no matter what Jo said, many fans “heard” a description closer to the online game they craved. The reality disappointed them.

As writers, we always have to worry about reader expectations. Readers have expectations based on the cover, the back cover copy, recommendations, the genre, etc. No matter how good our story is, if it doesn’t meet their expectations, readers might be disappointed.

Stickiness:

Pottermore has interactive slides to go along with the pages of the book…and not a whole lot else. A dueling game was very popular. Too popular. They had to shut it down because it crashed the servers. The only other “game” is brewing potions. So there’s nothing to keep people coming back once they’ve spent a handful of hours clicking around the pictures to find Jo’s new tidbits of information.

As writers, we have to keep our work top-of-mind with our readers. Being on blogs and social media can help a bit with this, but the best way to keep readers engaged is to give them new content, new information, new books.

Respect:

One of the loudest complaints about Pottermore has been the way this beta period has been handled. From the many broken promises of deadlines to the difficulty of giving feedback, this preview period—that was supposed to be a gift to the hardcore fans—has instead turned into a frustrating experience for many.

As writers, we have to remember that without readers, we’re just talking to ourselves in public. *smile* Our readers are our customers. We should be listening to what they have to say. And if we choose to ignore them, we have to be prepared for the consequences (see Expectations above).

Trust:

JK Rowling chose Sony as her partner for this experiment, and unfortunately, Sony has a horrible reputation. (Sony’s Playstation Network exposed information of 70 million users earlier this year.) Pottermore has suffered several outages like the one this week, and various glitches have prevented users from using the site as intended.

As writers, we need readers to trust in our ability to deliver a good story. Readers also want to trust that they’ll be satisfied with the ending, that we won’t waste their time, and that we’re competent enough to do the job (story-wise, writing-skill-wise, and formatting-wise).

None of this is meant to slam JK Rowling or Pottermore. Other than the technical issues, I think the site runs very much as she intended, and I can appreciate Pottermore for what it is rather than bemoan what it isn’t. However, I think it’s important for writers to understand these problems so we can prevent them from undermining our efforts.

Are These Problems Preventable?

As writers, we all want to build a platform, a stage from which word-of-mouth about our work can spread. It’s our job and our goal to make sure that word-of-mouth message is positive. Negative messages always travel faster and wider than positive, so prevention is important.

We need to manage expectations by making sure we’re not misleading readers. If the back cover copy implies a fast-paced, action-packed thriller and the reality is closer to a quiet romance, readers will be disappointed.

Likewise, if we’re too mysterious about the story, readers will come to their own conclusions. When story questions are dragged out too long, endings often can’t live up to the hype. We see this happen at the end of series all the time. Another common example is found in love triangle plots, where long build-ups over several books mean readers proclaim loyalty to one side or another, potentially being disappointed when their choice doesn’t win.

Our platform is made up of our customers (or potential customers), and that means we have to treat them with respect and keep them interested with new content. Our stories should be told with skill and without distracting errors. In many ways, we could—and should—exceed our readers’ expectations.

If we do that, the message spread by word-of-mouth will be positive and our platform will grow, strong and solid. Otherwise, all our efforts will fail, and we’ll become yet another example of “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” *smile*

Are you a beta user of Pottermore? Do you disagree with my assessment? Can you think of books or series where the readers turned against the story or the author? Can you think of other ways writers can keep their readers from turning against them?

Bio:
After politely declining to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, Jami Gold moved to Arizona and decided to become a writer, where she could put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fortunately, her muse, an arrogant male who delights in making her sound as insane as possible, rewards her with unique and rich story ideas. Fueled by chocolate, she writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy tales that range from dark to humorous, but one thing remains the same: Normal need not apply. Just ask her family—and zombie cat.

Find Jami at her blog, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Harry Potter Question and Answer Forum

2011-12-07T08:53:00.003-05:00

I'm coming to the end of teaching my online workshop, A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter, and as always when I'm wrapping things up, I discover how much I've learned by teaching. Throughout the multiple times I've presented this workshop, the content has grown and deepened as people ask questions that I've not covered. Together, we look for the answers. This new material is then included next time I teach.

It's always amazing to me how we all approach the same material from different perspectives. And out of this rich difference will come a variety of interests and questions we seek to explore. As many of you know, I love to delve into the subtext, especially the mythological references. But others are more intrigued with exploring how Rowling used archetypes or built relationships between characters or crafted unique words or a multitude of other aspects, some that I'd not thought enough about to even question.

So, I thought it might be interesting, at least for me, to open up a forum on this blog where you can ask questions...any question you want about the series...and I (and anyone else who wants to join in) will attempt to find the answers. In this way, the content of this blog can be shaped by more than just my limited area of interest and expertise.

Questions can be about anything within the Potter series, especially JK Rowling's craft in creating the books, the myths and literary references she employs, her writing process, questions about her career, or really anything else you can think of. I'll do my best to research and find the answers. Those that can be answered in a paragraph or two will be posted in the comment trail, but if one is really meaty, we'll make a blog post out of it.

So, please, anything you want to ask, just post it below.

Also, tomorrow I am very fortunate to welcome the awesome blogger and writer Jami Gold here as a guest blogger. She'll be discussing some of the disappointment fans have faced with Pottermore and what writers can learn from this. Please be sure to come and join in the wonderful insight and discussion Jami is always known for!

Now, someone get us started -- what have you always wondered about the Harry Potter books and never quite understood? What aspect of Rowling's technique has you most curious and would like to have explored? Post your questions below!

The Blood of Lily

2011-12-01T15:21:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm on an Egyptian mythology roll, because in doing last week's post on Luna as the Eye of Harry/Horus, I discovered quite a few other links JK Rowling made to these old myths. And here's one that seems so obvious to me now, that I don't know why I didn't see it before.

When I first started reading the Potter series, I always wondered with each new book why Harry had to return to the dreaded Dursleys each summer. Sure, as a writer I understood Rowling's desire to frame and pattern the story with Harry's annual exodus and return to the Muggle world, but as a reader, I kept wondering why Harry couldn't be allowed to go live with the Weasleys.

Of course this was all explained when Dumbledore talked about the spell of protection that he'd used to keep Voldemort from finding and harming Harry as long as he could call #4 Privet Drive his home. A spell that was born of the shared blood between Petunia and Lily.

However, this protection, dependent on a familial bond between two sisters who had no longer shared a relationship, always seemed a bit odd to me. And, as I've said before, any time Jo does something that seems a bit odd, you can guarantee that she's playing with either literary or mythological allusions. And the blood-spell protection is a prime example.

Consider the Egyptian amulet, the tyet, also known as the Blood of Isis (and we've discussed the links between Lily and Isis here and here). An ancient relic whose original meaning is shrouded in mystery, it has been theorized that the tyet, usually a red stone carving, represented either the knot on Isis' belt, which demonstrated her ability to both bind and release magic, or a cloth used to stem menstrual flow, and thus the "blood" imagery. The tyet was worn by women as well as used a funerary amulet, meaning it was quite often found wrapped in the bindings of the mummy, and was supposed to help in the deceased's journey to new life.

In The Book of the Dead, spell 156, used to bless the tyet, states, "You possess your blood, Isis, you possess your power, Isis, you possess your magic, Isis. The amulet is a protection for this Great One, which will drive away whoever would commit a crime against him."

With the above spell, it's easy to see why Jo would have placed this amulet on Harry as protection against Voldemort. The blood of Lily, sacrificed to save her son, and shared with her sister Petunia, is the tyet amulet, the Blood of Isis, which Dumbledore used to drive off Voldemort from harming Harry:

"You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he [Voldemort] knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated -- to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative."
"She doesn't love me," said Harry at once. "She doesn't give a damn--"
"But she took you," Dumbledore cut across him. "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you." (Order of the Phoenix, p. 736-7, Bloomsbury)

Lily's blood protection that flowed in Harry's veins was like a Blood of Isis amulet Harry wore which prevented Quirrel/Vapormort from touching him in Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. It was this same type of protection which Dumbledore placed upon Harry to protect him for all those years at Privet Drive.

Isn't that cool?

I love the idea of playing with old myths and beliefs in a new way, and JK Rowling was a master of it. Her world is teeming with these subtextual allusions that keep her fans discovering anew, even years after the last book was released. As a writer, I want to play with these techniques myself. Have you?

For more information on the Blood of Isis, check out this excellent article at Tour Egypt.

Luna -- The Eye of Harry

2011-11-23T13:19:00.002-05:00

Remember Luna in her lion hat in the match against Slytherin? That was quite a good comic gag, wasn't it? Quirky, weird Luna knew how to make her classmates laugh, whether with her or at her.

But rarely does JK Rowling weave in any comic element without layering a subtle level of meaning beneath it. And Luna's hats packs quite a roar.

'Hello,' said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Harry looked up: Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her and a few were openly laughing and pointing; she had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.
'I'm supporting Gryffindor,' said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. 'Look what it does...'
She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.
'It's good, isn't it?' said Luna happily. 'I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time.' (p. 357, OotP, Bloomsbury)

Now, compare Luna in her roaring lion's hat with the images of the ancient Egyptian goddess Bast (or Bastet) below:

Bastet was an ancient Egyptian goddess, sometimes associated with the moon, who in her earlier forms was pictured with the head of a lion. Later, she was frequently pictured with the head of a cat or the shape of a cat. This transition was probably made as Sekhment, another lion-headed goddess who was more violent in nature, gained in popularity. Bastet's nature was seen both as a fierce warrior and defender of Pharaoh and the sun god Re (Ra), as well as the gentle nurturer and protector of the home and pregnant women.

Who better to portray a strong woman associated with both love and war in Potterverse than Luna Lovegood (other than Ginny, who also has some similar cat-like qualities)? Indeed, in the book in which Luna first appears wearing her lion's hat, she becomes one of Harry's most powerful allies within Dumbledore's Army and warrior in the battle of the Department of Ministry.

But there's one other link between Bastet and Luna that I find the most intriguing. And that's the link between Bastet and the wadjet, the Eye of Ra (or Horus), which I've discussed a couple of times on this blog here and here.

This is a replica of the Gayer-Anderson statue
which shows more clearly the wadjet on Bast's collar.

The wadjet (also called the Eye of Ra, Eye of Horus, and the Eye of the Moon) which Bastet wears on her collar in the stature above, offers protection to the Pharoah as well as all-seeing divine vision beyond normal human ability. Luna, as one of Harry's bodyguards in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, not only saw the solution for how to travel to London by thestral, but fought bravely in the battle as well. But she also offers something no one else in Harry's friends can provide -- insight into the beyond. Where Professor Trelawney failed, Luna helped Harry uncloud his inner eye and find some solace in the knowledge that Sirius' voice had joined the others, which both Harry and Luna could hear, beyond the veil.

As pictured in the famed Book of the Dead, Bastet is also credited with slicing off the head of Apep, the great snake of chaos who battles Ra on his nightly voyage through the underworld. While it is Neville who cuts off the head of Nagini in the Battle of Hogwarts, Luna very definitely does her part to rid the world of part of Voldemort's slithering soul.

It is no coincidence that among Harry's friends left behind at Hogwarts that it is Luna who is held prisoner in the Malfoy dungeon. Not only does her presence there ensure the trap her father set for the Trio at the Lovegood home, but her escape with Harry, Ron and Hermione puts her in a key position to offer Harry the knowledge of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, one of the remaining Horcrux's Harry has to destroy in order to defeat Voldemort. Indeed, the power of Luna's inner eye is so strong, that she provides both guidance and protection to Harry in his battle to defeat the evil of the serpentine Voldemort.

This is the beauty of employing mythic imagery in subtext. Jo knew what she was doing when she placed that lion's hat on Luna's head and made it roar. With only a few lines, one image rich with meaning can pack a powerful punch.

Have you employed any mythic imagery in your work? While techniques like this may not fit every genre or story, it's fun to play with when it does. I'd love to hear of any examples from your work or others from Harry Potter.

There's Magic in Numbers

2011-11-11T09:51:00.011-05:00

NaNoWriMo Day 11 Tips from Harry Potter

Today is a significant date, is it not? Something special, almost magical, should happen on a day like 11/11/11.

Ever since humans started counting, we have searched for and found significance in these units of measurement. Humans as a whole are prone to supernatural thinking, and as we clearly understand the magic of words, so too do numbers hold sway over our minds.

Specific numbers have come to symbolize certain concepts in our Western mindset. Consider the forty days and forty nights of the Biblical flood -- a representation of a really long time. Or the completion hinted at through twelve disciples and twelve constellations.

Marking time seems to have been the first prompting for humans to count. And with the regular lunar phases, the moon gave ancient people a calendar in the sky. One hypothesis suggests that the 30,000-year-old markings on a bone tool discovered in the Blanchard rock shelter in France represents phases of the moon.

Notice how the markings are presented in a serpentine image -- even back then a link was made between the monthly renewal of the moon and the regenerative nature of the snake as it sheds its skin.

Coming forward a few thousand years, people continued their fascination with the study of time as they marked numbers and counted astrological events on the passage tombs in Ireland.

Note: This picture has been enhanced to show markings stronger.

This kerbstone at Knowth is theorized to show either a lunar or solar calendar with certain marks indicating days counted.

And we must not forget that good old ancient Ionian Pythagoras (of the triangle fame) who based a whole philosophy based on the universal harmony found in numbers.

Rowling uses numbers for magically symbolical purposes throughout Harry Potter. Of course, the most obvious is her use of seven. Seven is the most potent magical number -- seven books, seven years at Hogwarts, and for Voldemort, seven pieces of his soul. But when old Voldy makes a mistake and accidentally splits his maimed soul into eight with the murder of Harry's mum, he shares his Parseltongue abilities and gives Harry an unintentional tool of insight into his mind, which leads to his downfall.

Other numbers held power throughout the Potterverse as well. Rowling has said that the Dursley home is at #4 Privet Drive because she never liked the number four. Throughout the series there are numerous references to pairs and mates and the number two -- perhaps hinting at Neville as the second child of the prophecy, or the bound-but-separate dual nature of Harry and Voldemort's nature. And perhaps drawing upon Biblical ideas of twelve companions of Jesus, the home in which the Order of the Phoenix first comes to life is at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, where when 13 sit down to dine Harry's first night there, the one who rises is the first to die -- Sirius. And thirteen is the chapter all of the early books in which Rowling chose to give her hidden villain a cameo appearance (a post for another day!).

Using numbers to hint at deeper meanings is just one tool we as authors can choose to employ in our stories -- if it fits our story and our style. However, it's good to know that if we choose to, we'll be using a magical tool employed by keepers of time for millenia.

I'd love to add more instances to this post of numbers used magically or symbolically both within Potter and ancient times. Can you spot some more? Have you used numbers to convey deeper meaning within your own story? Please share in the comments if you have!

Blanchard bone picture photo credit.
More on the Blanchard bone markings.

Grimmauld Place is a Grim Old Place

2011-11-09T10:59:00.001-05:00

NaNoWriMo Day 9 Tips from Harry Potter

I bet many of you deep in NaNo are still struggling with the name of your main character or secondaries. And those of you writing fantasy may be racking your brain to come up with words for your unique creations.

If there's one thing that JK Rowling excels at (and there are many) it's creating words and naming characters that hint at their inner truth. In fact, early in the Potter craze, Galadriel Waters of Wizarding World Press coined the term "Rowlinguistics" to characterize all these delightful new words and names. In almost every chapter of her Ultimate Unofficial Guides to the Mysteries of Harry Potter came the subheading of Rowlinguistics where she explained the possible origin of any new words or names presented in that chapter...and there always seemed to be new ones. Rowling's creative imagination knows no end.

One of the first types of clues that fans latched onto when the Potter series was brand new was the meaning behind the names. Indeed, the first fansites were mostly an accumulation of names and their possible origin and meaning. Rowling liked to work with flowers (Petunia, Lily, and Fleur), stars (Sirius, Regulus, and Bellatrix), and especially mythology (Minerva, Remus, and "Argus" Filch).

But even more thoughtfully, Rowling created new words, sometimes through a simple twist in spelling (Knockturn Alley for nocturnally) , or through a combination of old English (Grimmauld = grim + auld for old) (Dumbledore - old English for bumblebee), or foreign words (Vol-de-mort = flight from death). Perhaps her most complex creations were by way of a portmanteau - a blending of two words to form a uniquely new one. Examples of these include Gringotts (gringou [French for miser] and ingot), Umbridge (umbrage and bridge), and Durmstrang (Sturm und Drang).

As writers, we spend a lot of time making sure we choose just the right name for our beloved characters. Names and words created with a fresh spin can intrigue your reader and point to your deeper secrets. But, beware, if not done with skill, they can just look awkward, or worse, cliched. I'd be careful of naming a YA heroine Lilith, for example, or any play on Persephone. And anything that makes the reader stumble, like Gilga'de'Ore, is probably not the best choice. And, of course, you'll want to consider names appropriate to your time period or culture.

What names or words have you created for your current story? And which of Jo's creations did you find the most appealing?

Attaining the Impossible

2011-11-08T11:14:00.001-05:00

NaNoWriMo Day 8 Tips from Harry Potter

Kiki Hamilton, the fabulous author of The Faerie Ring, posted an awesome quote on her blog yesterday:

It's one trick to manifest exactly what you want.
It's another to bring about something even better.
Leave the door open,
The Universe

It stuck with me all day and really got me thinking. To me, this quote speaks of enlarging our possibilities, of opening the door to imagination, of believing in serendipity.

As writers of fiction, we are doubly cursed, or blessed if I'm going to learn from the above. Not only must we attain what seems impossible in our own lives, which surely characterizes publishing in today's market, but we must create characters who succeed beyond the ordinary in every story that we write.

That's one reason why I think so many of us find JK Rowling's story so inspiring. She attained the impossible not only in her life, but also in her creation. And she did it both times in a manner uniquely her own. She opened doors no one thought possible to go through.

While her welfare mom makes it big story is definitely inspiring, and certainly shows a woman who succeeded beyond the ordinary through utilizing her imagination to the best of her ability, what I'd like to focus on here is how she challenged Harry to attain the impossible in his defeat of the darkest wizard of his day.

Harry did NOT kill Voldemort.

Contrary to how most writers will execute their triumphant climax of hero defeating arch-villain, Harry did not cast a killing spell that ended Voldemort's life. What killed Voldy was his own rebounding killing curse which he shot because he did not understand what this 17-year-old kid had learned.

And that's the beauty of Jo's spin. There is the difference of how opening the door of imagination attained the impossible for her character.

Here was a kid, a boy who was never the best in his class, who did not have the happiest, most secure home life, who did not start off with the most impressive magical abilities, but who through no fault of his own was thrown into a course of action where he must kill or be killed. Harry accepted that he must meet and defeat a wizard renown for his potent skill and merciless dark magic. Not only that, this wizard had managed to attain the most powerful killing stick in the world.

And yet, in the end, Harry did not meet the Dark Lord as an equal. Harry met him as a superior, in his own terms, playing the game in a way others had discouraged. And that was not to cast a killing curse, but merely to disarm. Because Harry had learned through the course of his intensely tortured and personal journey the meaning of loyalty, love, and choice. He had won the loyalty not only of the Wand of Destiny, but of all his friends and companions at Hogwarts who fought by his side. Harry had learned to harness the power of love to not only forgive the man he'd believed had lived to torment him, Snape, but to offer Tom Riddle in his last breathing moments the opportunity to find remorse and live. And Harry had accepted his choice to not only walk into the Dark Forest and offer his life so that all those he loved, and even those he didn't even know, would live -- but to choose in that final confrontation to cast a spell to disarm the evil rather than kill the man.

Harry attained the impossible. And JK Rowling, Harry's creative goddess, provided her young readers a powerful lesson in choice and creating their own destiny.

But for us writers, she has also gifted us with wonderful examples. She had no idea when she was living on the dole in Edinburgh as a young mother spinning out her story that she could not contain, that she would attain the impossible in her own life. But she persevered, she stuck to her dreams, she committed to a young orphan that she believed in, and with hard work and growing skill, and a touch of serendipitous luck from the universe, she cast a spell that disarmed the world.

The goals we attain may not play out along the massive scale of a Rowling or a Potter, but that doesn't mean they will not be as equally powerful in our own lives. As long as we keep working toward what we most value...and as long as we open the door to the impossible along the way.

As you're working toward your final climax in your novel this month, take time to consider...Is your character attaining the impossible? How challenging have you made his goals? How difficult have you created her opposition? And in the end, have both you and your hero left the door open for an opportunity, a choice, you never thought possible?

Show Me the Funny!

2011-11-07T15:34:00.001-05:00

NaNoWriMo Day 7 Tips from Harry Potter

A most excellent post from Veronica Roth on YA Highway today called Humor, Contrast, and Harry Potter inspired me to offer you a sampling of some of my own favorite funny moments from the series.

Veronica does an excellent job of explaining why JK Rowling's sense of whimsy worked so well in a series that touched on serious themes and darkened as it progressed. I recommend that you hurry over there, after reading here of course, and enjoy her insight.

If you've been working hard on your NaNo project, I imagine you might need a humor break about now. So, grab some tea, sit back, and enjoy these funnies from various Potter books:

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy? You should have said something, we had no idea."
"Hang on I think I remember him saying something about it, once..."
"Or twice-"
"A minute-"
"All summer-"

"Now, you two - Behave yourselves. If I get one word that you've blown up a toilet or -"
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."
"Great idea though, thanks, Mum."

Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion.
"I let you sleep in my bed!" he said.

"Professor Dumbledore - yesterday, when I was having my Divination exam, Professor Trelawney went very - very strange."
"Indeed?" said Dumbledore. "Er - stranger than usual, you mean?"

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" said Fred.
"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" said Percy, going very red in the face. "It was nothing personal!"
"It was," Fred whispered to Harry as they got up from the table. "We sent it."

One of them was a very old wizard who was wearing a long flowery nightgown. The other was clearly a Ministry wizard; he was holding out a pair of pinstriped trousers and almost crying with exasperation.
"Just put them on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious-"
"I bought this in a Muggle shop," said the old wizard stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."
"Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these," said the Ministry wizard, and he brandished the pinstriped trousers.
"I'm not putting them on," said old Archie in indignation. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks."

A week after Fred and George's departure, Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way."

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

"Hello, Harry," said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," said Moody, turning his normal eye on Harry; his magical eye remained pointing up at the ceiling. "Damn it," he added angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps sticking - ever since that scum wore it - "
And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped out his eye.
"Mad-eye, you know that's disgusting, don't you?" said Tonks conversationally.

"When we were in Diagon Alley," Harry began, but Mr. Weasley forstalled him with a grimace.
"Am I about to discover where you, Ron, and Hermione disappeared to while you were supposed to be in the back room of Fred and George's shop?"
"How did you...?"
"Harry, please. You're talking to the man who raised Fred and George."

"What are you doing with all those books anyway?" Ron asked.
"Just trying to decide which ones to take with us," said Hermione. "When we're looking for the Horcruxes."
"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library."

"This is different, pretending to be me--"
"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."

Have you used humor in your story? Humor is an essential mechanism for how we humans cope with life, even the most negative side. As Veronica so wonderfully points out, it's an important element that needs to be included in our stories. But it is best served up when it flows naturally from the characters rather than forced from the author.

I'd love to hear examples of how you've used humor in your own WIP. Or tell me one of your favorite funnies from Harry Potter!

What Are Your Characters Eating?

2011-11-06T09:08:00.001-05:00

NaNoWriMo Day 6 Tips from Harry Potter

As it's day 6 of NaNo, and many of you have been hard at work at your keyboards, I'm imagining that you might be getting a bit hungry right about now. How would you like a handful of cockroach clusters? Don't find that appealing? Then maybe a bagful of blood-flavored lollipops from Honeyduke's?

Or, for those who prefer something homemade, there's always Hagrid's treacle fudge -- I hear it will really stick with you. If not, then maybe some of Mrs. Weasley's chicken and ham pie will hit the spot.

JK Rowling flavored her world with a mixture of exotic magical specialties and well-beloved British dishes. And her choice of food items in her story is quite deliberate and thoughtful. In an early interview with The Scotsman in 2002, she states that perhaps the book which influenced her writing of Harry Potter the most was Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse. She says:

"The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts."

Indeed, JKR uses her food not only to flavor her world, but to also show characters' personalities, such as Hagrid's rock-hard rock cakes, which he loves. She even uses food to hide clues, such as Dumbledore's chocolate frog card. Readers have had so much fun with Jo's creations, that fansites include fan-created duplicates, and there are even published cookbooks with recipes from her world.

Weaving specific food mentions into our stories may not suit every genre or every story. Some books may be too fast paced for anyone to stop and take a bite of food -- but then, surely, that lack would play a role in the story itself. However, most of us will have our characters eating at some point.

How much thought have you put into these bites? Have you used these opportunities for further world building and character development? Does your menu selection help to define your characters or maybe even hint at a clue for a mystery to come?

Putting some thought into the food our characters eat is a great opportunity to have a little fun with our world and our people. Don't let this opportunity go to waste.

How have you used food in your world? I'd love to hear of any unique food you've created for your story.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. My family had a yard sale, and after it was all over and done, I was too wiped out to get online.

JK Rowling quote source.

When to Put Your Brains into Your World Building

2011-11-04T07:54:00.002-04:00

NaNoWriMo Day 4 Tips from Harry Potter

Although I had planned to do a post today on food, a comment in yesterday's post from Farida Mestek made me think we needed a follow-up on world building. Food will come tomorrow.

UPDATE: I realized after posting this that I hadn't made one point clear. I'm assuming with the post below that a writer has already blocked in their large picture view of world building, and what I'm addressing are the details that sometimes only surface once the writing actually begins.

Farida points to a problem many writers face, especially when writing at the frantic pace NaNo pushes us to -- how much time do you devote to crafting the details of your world, especially when you are in writing mode rather than editing?

For many writers, when we are writing the first draft of our stories, we want the ideas to flow as freely and quickly as possible. We don't want to impede this creative process by stopping to analyze every word choice and world building detail. Indeed, this is part of the aim of NaNoWriMo -- to set your writing at such a fast pace that it pushes you into pure creation, past any barriers, and hold off the analytical editing for another day.

But world building involves both sets of skills -- creating and editing. Not only do we need to come up with intriguing fresh ideas to flesh out our world, but we need to analyze how they fit and in what shape.

How much of this you do at any stage of the writing process depends on how important that bit of world building detail is to your story. Here's a simple guideline, but it works for me -- if you cannot go forward until that piece of your world is fully fleshed out, if the determination of what shape it takes will change the course of what comes afterward, then by all means take the time to stop and get it right. However, if you know where you're going after this detail is worked in, and while it is important it serves mainly as flavor enhancement, then insert some sort of place holder in your manuscript to remind yourself to come back to it and move along.

Not only is this an effective use of your time, but my experience has showed me that these detailed items quite often spring forth more naturally once I've rested on them a bit. In other words, if I keep on writing, as my world comes more fully alive, when I go back to read, I'll know instinctively how to flesh out that detail that stumped me earlier. Or, quite often, while my mind is at rest, such as when driving, trying to sleep, anywhere away from the computer, it will suddenly come to me...and then I'm scrambling to find paper.

For examples from Harry Potter -- Of course I cannot know what went through JK Rowling's mind when creating the story, but I would guess that important aspects of world building such as the location and structure of the Ministry of Magic in Order of the Phoenix was created before she got into the actual writing of those scenes. However, I would not be a bit surprised that the important but less critical detail of the brains swimming in a tank in the Department of Mysteries was a later addition, perhaps even during a revision.

Does this mean that the Brain Room was a throw-away bit of world building? Not at all. Those tendrils of thoughts that shot from a brain and wrapped around Ron and caused him some mild damage are important reflections of the theme of the power of beliefs and the choice in accepting or rejecting them which JK Rowling weaves throughout her text. Details like this, when given meaning that relate to the whole, greatly enrich the reader's experience. But, in crafting the work, it's not one that the rest of the story thereafter hinged upon.

So, don't stress all the details when you're trying to write. And definitely don't use research as an excuse to keep you from creating.

I hope your NaNo writing is going well. Mine is slow, but my goal is not to get to the 50,000 word count, so I am fine with that. My goal is to simply break through to new ground in the second book of a series I am working on. If you want to friend me, I'm SPSipal on NaNo.

How is your story going for NaNo (or otherwise)? Have you been keeping a pace you're happy with? If not, what's been slowing you down?

How Deep is Your Department of Mysteries?

2011-11-03T10:00:00.002-04:00

Day 3 NaNoWriMo Tips from Harry Potter:

World Building. We all do it, even those of us not writing fantasy or science fiction. And as most of us are probably at an early stage in our NaNo novel, many may be facing some world building dilemmas about now.

How much world building do you include in a story, especially in the beginning? Of course, JK Rowling is quite famous for hers. Indeed, her highly detailed world building is one of the prime elements that made her series such a phenomenal success. Her readers loved the exquisite detail of her world and wanted to play within its virtual reality again and again.

For one example, let's look at the office building for the Ministry of Magic and in particular the Department of Mysteries which we first visit in Order of the Phoenix. Although located in the government region of London, the Ministry of Magic is, like many aspects of the magical world, the inverse reflection of the Muggle. Inside the MoM, witches and wizards arrive via fireplaces rather than revolving doors, and memos are sent as bewitched flying papers. Floor levels descend deeper underground as they rise in number, with floor nine of the Department of Mysteries and ten containing the courtrooms at the lowest levels. And inside the DoM, Unspeakables carry on their important but secret work exploring the deepest mysteries of magic in the Brain Room, the Time and Love Chambers, the Hall of Prophecy, and the Death Chamber.

But will that level of detail work for YOUR story?

This all depends on the nature of your story and genre. But bottom line, your setting should enrich your story, and now, at the beginning, as you are lumping clay onto your potter's wheel, is the best time to define and deepen the world in which it is set.

Take some time to consider some key questions:

Where will my main character need to go in the course of this story?
Who will he need to interact with?
How and where do these people work for a living?
How do they get their news? Their daily necessities? Their medical care? Their schooling?
What characteristics sets my world apart? Makes it unique? And how it is seen through my MC's eyes?
What laws (Muggle or Magical) govern this world?
How and where are my secondaries interacting with each other when my MC is not around?
If you're planning a series, where might your MC need to go in future books?
What does the nature, the geography look like?
What are some key bits of detail that you can weave into your setting description to breath it into full life, to hint at the deeper themes of your novel, and to delight your reader?

How well you define your world may very well determine to what depth your reader will want to live in it. Because when it comes to world building, the Dark Lord's in the details!

I'd love to hear some examples of scene setting and details that you're already working into your story! Also, what key questions do you consider when building your world that I have not included above?

Every Child In Our World Will Know His Name

2011-11-02T09:16:00.002-04:00

Day #2 - NaNoWriMo Tips from Harry Potter:

"These people will never understand him! He'll be famous--a legend--I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future--there will be books written about Harry--every child in our world will know his name!"

When JK Rowling put pen to paper to craft McGonagall's words in the very first chapter of Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, she had no idea how prophetic they would become. Now millions of people around the globe know the name Harry Potter and, indeed, celebrate Potter Day both on July 31 and October 31.

But once, just like many of us, Jo was an unknown, unpublished writer who had no idea if her story would even sell, much less become a world-wide publishing phenomenon. As she said herself when asked if she'd known how successful her series would one day be, "I'd have to have been insane to have imagined this." And that was in the year 2000!

Somewhere out there in NaNo land, one of us may very well be writing a story that one day will become a well-beloved story where millions of people will know our name. Or, at least several thousand.

Could it be you?

And even if such lofty goals are not in our sights or even in our hearts, by putting our own pens to paper or fingers to keyboard for this month of November (and after), we can at least discover for ourselves and our friends the delightful figments within our own imagination.

What are your loftiest goals? In your wildest dreams, what do you hope for your story? And in your more modest expectations, will you be happy having discovered and shared your inner world with any sized audience?

Quote from JK Rowling taken from a CBC interview in October 2000.

On the Benefit of Failure

2011-11-01T10:39:00.005-04:00

Happy beginning of NaNoWriMo!

In order to keep me focused on completing National Novel Writing Month this year, and to keep this blog going while I do so, I've decided to do something a wee bit different with Harry Potter for Writers during the month of November. Instead of my normal long (and sporadic) in-depth analyses, I'm going to post very short excerpts from Harry Potter or quotes from JK Rowling that makes one succinct but strong point to serve as inspiration for those of us doing NaNo. The trick is, I'm going to post these daily.

The tips may be craft related, examples of good writing from the series, or quotes that give insight into JK Rowling's writing process. Anything goes, but I'll keep them short and pointed so that we can gain the encouragement but hurry back into our stories.

First up, and this may seem a bit odd, but I want to focus on failure. Not all of us will complete NaNo, and that's ok. Many of us may also be frustrated by where we are in our writing journeys, worried that we haven't yet gotten that agent, editor, multi-book contract, NYT listing....

But I want you to listen first to some of my favorite words from JK Rowling, and they actually do not come from a Harry Potter book, but from her commencement address at Harvard in 2008 (bolded highlights are my addition):

I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one...So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies...

I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

Rowling's story, both in Harry and in life, is truly inspirational. Especially to writers. If you have not yet, you should read her whole address as she also speaks powerfully of imagination.

As we begin this fresh month of NaNoWriMo, let us not be afraid to fail, but afraid of never having tried. And remember that the length is not as important as the content.

Find me on NaNo at SPSipal.

Are you doing NaNo? If so, what story are you writing?

And thanks to Martina @4KidLit for the title of this series!

Submission Requirements for Amazon's New Science Fiction - Fantasy Imprint 47North

2011-10-19T09:06:00.004-04:00

I'm going to deviate a bit today from analyzing Harry Potter with some market info on Amazon's new 47North Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint.

Mongoliad from 47North

You may have already read about this new imprint and some of its launch authors and books, such as Dave Duncan, Stephan Leather, and Chris Roberson. All 15 launch books will be available in print, e-book, and audio. You can see more of the rollout at 47North's homepage. You can also read the official press release and a nice summary at Mashable.

But one thing that seems to me to be lacking in all this excitement is specific details for how to query or submit to 47North. All you get on their homepage is directions to send an inquiry to 47north-submissions@amazon.com.

As we've all got inquiring minds, I assumed some of you may want to know as well. So, I inquired. In response, here's what 47North said they'd like to see in submissions:

Proposals and manuscripts should only be submitted to one
imprint or editor at a time. We will communicate internally to make sure
your work finds its best home. For a full list of Amazon Publishing
imprints, visit: amazon.com/amazonpublishing

If you are represented by an agent, please have your agent
submit your proposal.

Submissions should include the following information:

Title and author in the subject line
Short synopsis of the book
Brief bio and bibliography of author
Full or partial manuscript (Word file, Times New Roman 12)
Comparable authors or titles
Any relevant marketing/PR strengths

So, for those of you with completed manuscripts, I hope some of you will submit and then come back and let us know what happens! Good luck!

Finally, as my October workshop got postponed, I have more available time for edits and have decided to take on a couple more this month. If you're in need of a professional edit before submitting to agents, editors, or publishing direct, check out my services!

Symbolism in Writing: Shell Cottage: A Respite from the Storm

2011-10-13T10:39:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry to have missed so many days blogging. The kids had fall break and we took a short, but much needed, vacation to the beach. Since getting back, I've been dragging and slow to catch up.

I really needed this break. Life has been rather crazy lately, and to go from nonstop work to three days of walking on the beach was rejuvenating.

As I walked on the beach picking up shells, I understood why JK Rowling brought Harry to Shell Cottage in Deathly Hallows. Didn't you ever wonder while reading that scene why JKR chose to have Bill and Fleur start off married life in a cottage in the middle of nowhere? Wouldn't you have thought Fleur especially would have craved some city life or Bill to be near some family?

But I think JKR designed Shell Cottage for a couple of very specific purposes -- the role it serves in this point of the story and the symbolism it provides.

Since Paleolithic days, shells have been viewed as symbols of life. Some ancient peoples painted shells with red ochre, symbolizing blood, and buried them with their dead, presumably to help them live again. Coming forward to Greek times, the shell was a symbol of Aphrodite, goddess of love, new life, and the dawn, as she rose from the sea on a scallop shell. Finally, in medieval times, the shell came to be associated with the pilgrimage of Saint James, signifying pilgrims on a spiritual quest.

Love, pilgrims, dawn, life, and death. All are found in the scenes JK Rowling set at Shell Cottage.

Harry apparates at Shell Cottage holding onto Griphook and Dobby, with Bellatrix's silver knife protruding from Dobby's chest. The first thing Harry faces at Shell Cottage is the death of the house elf who just saved his life, the slaying of an innocent. Working through the night with his own muscle, not magic, Harry digs Dobby's grave, and with the rising of the sun, plants the beloved house elf in Bill and Fleur's garden.

This moment marks a key transition in Harry's journey. As Harry enters Shell Cottage for the first time, it is with a new strength and determination. His days of wandering through the wilderness are over and he's taking charge. This new Harry has learned to shut his mind to Voldemort, to not act and seek out an item of immense importance, to instead stay and wait, dig a grave and bury a loved one. He felt "as though he had been slapped awake again."

As Harry washes Dobby's blood and the mud from the garden off his hands, "Dawn was breaking over the horizon, shell pink and faintly gold." Indeed JKR repeats the golden image of the sun many times -- "flecked with gold in the sunrise" -- as Harry interviews first Griphook over Ollivander. He acts to choose Horcruxes, not Hallows, to follow the path of eliminating evil rather than gaining power. The rising golden sun also marks the dawn of the final phase of Harry's alchemical journey as he is now fully mature, fully conscious and proceeding deliberately and decisively toward his chosen destination.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are indeed pilgrims on a quest, and for Harry, it is deeply spiritual. The "reddish mound of earth that covered Dobby lay ahead" in the spot where Harry reveals the truth of the Elder Wand to Ron and Hermione and his decision to not go after it. "He could not remember, ever before, choosing not to act." And even as he listens to Ron and Hermione once again play the opposing sides of his conscience, he knows he's made the right choice.

"Bill and Fleur's cottage stood alone on a cliff overlooking the sea, its walls embedded with shells and whitewashed." Harry spends much time alone at Shell Cottage, outside on this cliff overlooking the sea. It rejuvenates him, heals him from the endless wandering that has been his only reality for the last several months, and prepares him for the final journey of his quest which lies ahead.

It is no accident that Lupin arrives to announce the birth of Teddy at Shell Cottage. As a bookend to the scenes started with Dobby's death, Lupin's "tidings of new life were exhilarating." As Harry, Hermione and Ron leave at dawn to journey to Gringotts and begin the final quest to defeat Voldemort, "small green shoots were forcing their way up through the red earth of Dobby's grave." Life has sprouted from death. A new generation of wizards have already been born, and the love symbolized through Bill and Fleur's marriage and the peace of Shell Cottage has provided the Trio with the necessary strength and renewal to go forward.

JK Rowling deliberately chose Shell Cottage as the setting for two chapters which start with the death of an innocent and concludes with the birth of new life and hope. Within the respite and refreshment of its small confines, she has Harry accept the maturity and new resolve to face his final challenge. Setting, Transition, Symbol. When all put together with powerful if sublime symbols, it resonates deeper within the reader of the story's meaning.

Take a moment to think of your settings and your key moments of transition. Can you envision them more deeply, add more meaning, weave in universal symbols that will resonate with your reader? As writers we want to use every tool at our disposal to convey the full sense of our story to those who read it. Symbolism is a subtle but powerful tool for helping the reader to grasp more, to sense deeper, than the surface look and feel of the fast-paced storyline.

What symbols have you used in your story? Have you reflected on how they would change at moments of transition? Have you fully utilized your settings to convey your themes into more subtle territory?

P.S. - Need a professional edit on your manuscript before you submit or publish direct? Be sure to check out my services!

Tricking out Your Characters, a la Fred, George, and Peeves

2011-10-03T12:13:00.000-04:00

I've covered a few examples of archetypes on this blog, such as with Threshold Guardians and the Forbidden Door. Today, I'd like to look at an archetype that, in the write hands, can be one of the funnest to portray. Tricksters.

Tricksters are usually the center of fun, mischief, and mayhem in the story. They delight in upsetting the status quo or in “taking the mikey” out of other characters or the hero. They present the hero with a challenge unlike other characters as they question authority and promote chaos--encouraging the hero to question as well.

For tricksters in Harry Potter, we need look no further than Fred and George Weasley. They fit the Trickster description to a Wesley sweater embroidered T. Their spiritual counterpart is Peeves, which is why it was so delightful at the end of OotP, when Gred and Forge passed their mischievous torch to Peeves, and he seized it wholeheartedly.

"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley-- Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," [Fred] said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."
And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

Like many fans, I find Peeves and the twins’ antics totally amusing, and I fully understand why Dumbledore keeps Peeves about the place. In holding your reader's attention, it’s important to have someone kick things up a bit, to foster a constant element of surprise. Plus, there's the all-important trickster element of being able to say and do what no one else will:

“Oh potter, you rotter, oh what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fun.”
(Peeves, from Chamber of Secrets)

Without the Trickster upsetting the status quo, life would not only be duller, but the hero’s path more difficult. Tricksters provide aide for the Hero, if only indirectly. Not only can they poke the hero’s flaw (oh Potter you Rotter) quite painfully, but by showing clearly a different mindset, an opposing world view, an alternate way of being, they enable the hero to do the same. As Ginny says, when you’ve hung around Fred and George for a while, you start believing anything is possible.

JKR magnificently uses her Tricksters to not only upset the status quo, but to propel her hero onward in his quest. Without Fred and George, Harry would definitely not have discovered as many secrets about Hogwarts and his father.

"This, Harry, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.
"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need's
greater than ours."
"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really
need it anymore."
"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" said Harry.
"A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry
had mortally offended him. "Explain, George."
"Well... when we were in our first year, Harry-young, carefree, and innocent -"
Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.
"Well, more innocent than we are now-we got into a spot of bother with Filch."
"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason -"
"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -"
"--dentention--"
"--disembowelment--"
"--and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." ...
"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever
found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have
confiscated it."
"And you know how to work it?"
"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the
teachers in this school."
"You're winding me up," said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.
"Oh, are we?" said George.
He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that
I am up to no good."

Seriously, who else besides Fed and George would ever think to use that particular sentence as a password? It is through that Marauder's Map that Harry discovers not only passages into and out of the school, but the secrets to his father's friends and the truth of his betrayer. It is also through this map that ultimately Harry discovers the link between Draco and the Room of Requirement -- a link that allows the entry into Hogwarts of Death Eaters at the end of Half-Blood Prince, and parents and friends to fight against Voldemort at the end of Deathly Hallows.

When, at the end of Deathly Hallows, Harry and friends and the reader as well are suffering from the loss of Fred, Tonks, Lupin, and all the others, when our hearts are too heavy to end on a positive note, it is that trickster Peeves who says what no one else will and helps start the process of healing:

"We did it,we bashed them, wee Potter's the one.
And Voldy's gone moldy, so now let's have fun!"

Have you considered a trickster to help shake up your characters, to provide a different outlook on your world? If so, how have you incorporated a trickster into your story?

Peeves picture credit.

Guest Post: You Must Write High Concept!

2011-09-27T08:59:00.002-04:00

Today we welcome the always insightful Laura Pauling to the blog. Laura's blog is a must-visit for me because she covers the vastly changing field of publishing with a balanced and understanding approach to varied points of view -- and does all this with a spin uniquely her own. She frequently posts terrific movie and book reviews where she breaks down story structure and helps writers analyze what works, and what doesn't, and why. On her Twitter stream, Laura keeps her followers linked in to a wonderful assortment of craft articles, news on publishing, and recent releases from across the Internet. And if all that wonderfulness isn't enough -- she's incredibly generous with her knowledge and just a nice person! :-)

So, please, welcome Laura with me and read below her own insight on high concept:

You absolutely must write high concept stories.

Yeah, no. Hopefully you reacted to that statement with a bit of healthy rebellion.

But, I’ll admit. I love reading high concept.

Ally Carter’s spy series starting with I’D TELL YOU I LOVEYOU BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU could have been just a sweet high school romance. But no. The story is set at a private girls’ school for spies.

High concept.

Beth Revis’ series starting with ACROSS THE UNIVERSE could have been a murder mystery set in a small town. But no. The story takes place on a spaceship in outer space. High concept.

Harry Potter – you all know HP if you’re reading this blog – could have been a heartfelt story about a boy whose parents were killed and his journey to find himself. But no. It’s set in a castle-like school for wizards and Harry is the target of an evil wizard. High concept.

Do you want to create high concept stories? I could throw around words like irony, compelling mental picture, universal appeal, primal emotion, high stakes, logline, character arc, unique premise but I’m sure you’ve heard them before.

If you haven’t, then google high concept! You’ll find posts by Roni Loren, Story Fix, Rachelle Gardner, and even one by me that I wrote during the A-Z challenge last April.

These days it seems like high concept is the magical train that will carry you to the Hogwarts of traditional publishing.

Do you have to write high-concept? No.

If you want to write that quiet but powerful and literary story – then go for it. You can still add in some elements of a high concept story, like a strong character arc and high stakes.

If you want to write high-concept then take your ideas and go bigger. Add higher stakes. Add bigger conflict. Change the setting. You can train your brain to start thinking this way. Come up with five different high concept ideas every week. You’ll find one you love that hasn’t been done and is unique.

You decide. Write the stories you want to write. Put your heart into it. Put every aspect of craft you’ve learned into it.

What about after the high concept idea? Creating the high concept is just the beginning. All the elements of craft: structure, character, plot points, dialogue, voice, tension, conflict, narrative, exposition, setting, description – all need to be in place.

You story will need a character the reader can root for, emotion pulsing through out the pages, and masterful storytelling.

So fellow scriveners, pick up your wands, er, I mean keyboards, and create magic. And in the words of Donald Maass – GO BIG! Because even “quiet” books should have BIG moments.

Thank you so much, Laura, for helping many of us set our minds at ease about whether our beloved story has to be high concept or fail. I also love her point that even with a high concept, the execution has to carry the story through.

What do you all think? Do you seek to write high concept stories? Or do you write the story you want and then try to find a high concept in it later? Or not bother about high concept at all?

Please be sure to visit Laura's blog for more fabulous insight and follow her on Twitter to keep up on the latest writing posts and publishing news!

Bio:

Laura Pauling writes middle grade and young adult novels, sometimes funny, sometimes dark and twisty, but always with heart. On her blog, Laura Pauling, she breaks down published novels and movies to discover the secrets of story structure and likes to open discussion on publishing industry trends and issues.

Looking Back on Seven Special Posts

2011-09-26T10:52:00.002-04:00

Last week, the incredibly thoughtful Laura Marcella gave my blog the "7 by 7 Link Award"! As Laura said on her post when answering this award, it's a fun way to look back over your links and figure out which matches each category.

In looking back over my posts, I couldn't believe I'd reached 150 posts in 14 months! Some of these categories were a bit hard to answer--it's just my opinion, after all, and you may think differently. I'd love to hear it if you do.

But, here goes:

MOST SURPRISINGLY SUCCESSFUL: I think the post that surprised me the most (aside from the massive Pottermore hits) was one I did early on: The Godric's Hollow of Backstory. It surprised me because it's one of my simplest and shortest posts (maybe I should get a clue from that!), but it got lots of hits.

MOST CONTROVERSIAL: Likewise, I think it's another backstory post that has been my most controversial, but much more recent. I decided with Was the Pensieve Foul or Fair to for once not present a post from the slant of everything JK Rowling did was right, but to rather open it up for discussion and disagreement from you all. But, everyone who commented had no problems stating the Pensieve was most definitely not only fair but fabulous. So I was crazy for even questioning it! :-)

MOST BEAUTIFUL: There's two that appeal to me for this category. The first was a summary of the beginning of the Pottermore experience, Follow the Owl. I especially liked this post because it summed up for me so much what had made Harry Potter the beautiful experience that it was. Then, on a more personal note, my recent Family Stories is one of my favorites because of the memories involved.

MOST POPULAR: This is the only easy one to answer because the popular post widget does it for you. In fact, I'd taken the widget off because my Pottermore posts all dominate it, with The Quill Quest is On having garnered the most hits with 35,339 pageviews. (Truly, it's not me, it's the insanity of Pottermore!). It's not that I'm not proud of these posts, but most of them were attempts to figure out the secrets of the mysterious Pottermore before it was opened, so they are now a bit old news. The first non-Pottermore post to appear on my popular post widget is That Deathly Hallows Symbol.

MOST UNDERRATED: Maybe it was that I posted this one right before the July 4th weekend, but The Secret Handshake, JK Rowling Style, got fewer comments and hits than I was expecting, because in my POV, it's one of my most important posts. I think if we as writers can understand the "engage the reader concept," most everything else falls into place along with it. (Along with a lot of hard work, of course!)

MOST PRIDE WORTHY: Probably the post I have the most pride in is One Potent Word. I think I love this one so much because it was such an insight for me to see the power one word can have, and that one word being one I'd overlooked for so long while studying the text! Also, as I'd put this post together originally as a guest post, I'd sought out and gotten permission for the fanart I'd used to highlight the points. And the fanart is really awesome! I need to do that more often.

MOST HELPFUL: For this one, I'd almost like to say -- YOU tell me! I don't know, what's been the most helpful post to you? I'll toss out one I think was helpful -- The Shining Moments of Character Development, because of the study of how JK Rowling developed character arcs even for her secondaries -- but, truly, I'd love to know what you think.

Thank you, Laura, both for the award and the opportunity to look back over some posts I'd not remembered in a while.

And now, I'd like to send this award on to the following fabulous bloggers:

Jami Gold
Laura Pauling
Melinda Collins
Ava Jae

Finally, please be sure to come back tomorrow when Laura Pauling will be our guest blogger. You'll want to be sure to hear what she says about high concept, because, as usual, Laura brings her own interesting spin to the topic!

Telling Your Own Author Bio Myth

2011-09-22T10:36:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking a lot about myths this month as I teach the Conflicts of Myth online workshop with SavvyAuthors. Actually, I think about myths most months with my own writing, but this workshop has got me thinking about one slant of myth-telling which we haven't covered in regard to JK Rowling. Her own personal life-story myth.

Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. "Myth" is not a synonym for "lie," as many people today believe. Myths are ancient stories, usually involving gods and goddesses, that use metaphor and allegory to tell a deeper truth that's harder to convey with pure historical fact. They are the ancient novels of their day.

JK Rowling's rags-to-riches story has been told and retold so many times because it touches on a a theme that is universally appealing, especially in the United States. And thus, this goddess of authors and children's literature has been immortalized in our time. Which, if you haven't noticed, has been very good for sales.

You can look back to the earliest interviews with JKR in British papers in 1997 and they almost always had the same slant--welfare mom makes it big (or, "on the dole," in British terms). Of course, her “big” then wasn’t as big as it is today. But most of those early newspaper articles were written after she’d accepted the six-figure deal with Scholastic--an unheard of advance for a children’s author.

While I do not believe JKR deliberately crafted her bio as “welfare mom makes it big,” as she was working as a teacher at the time Sorcerer’s Stone sold, she obviously had to have mentioned her prior situation in those early interviews in order for the reports to sensationalize it. The reporters hit on the one item in her bio that they saw as the most marketable, and whether she liked it or not, she had to live with it.

Telling your own author myth is about taking the reins in crafting and discussing your bio. If you prepare yourself in advance, you can guide the media to the parts of your life you want emphasized and away from those you want out of the public eye. Take some time before your first interview, before creating your website, to determine what aspects of your life you don’t mind being put on public display and would make good copy for marketing and promotion. What angle can you play-up to give yourself a hook, an appealing myth that can be easily remembered?

Remember--myths are not lies! As myths are stories that represent a deeper, inner truth, a bio is a summary of the deeper meaning of your life designed for marketing. How can a full life be summed up in a couple of paragraphs? It can't. But a good bio will represent that part of you which is best presented to the public.

So, take a moment and think about your bio myth. What story about yourself best sums up who you are, what you write, and why you write it? Is there a slant you can truthfully give your life story that will appeal to the mass reading public? Determine your myth and present it everywhere that requires a bio, starting with your website and blogs, etc.

You might also want to determine what areas you’d like best left out of public scrutiny--such as the privacy of your children or your past life as an IRS agent. Communicate your wishes to anyone in your circle of influence who might comment on you publicly as well: your agent, editor, critique partners, spouse, best friends, parents, etc. You may not always be able to succeed at this, especially if you make it big, but you can learn to play the politician and stay on message, your message, when presenting your bio to the media.

Remember, your bio is one more arm of your story. It's a way for readers to connect with the storyteller that they most want to listen to. It's wise to craft your bio by keeping in mind appeal to future readers.

For an excellent post on more specifics for writing a bio, I heartily recommend checking out Jami Gold's post What Does Your Author Bio Say About You?

Have you thought about your author myth when constructing your bio? What aspect of your life story do you think will most appeal to your readers?

Also, if you're almost ready to send out a manuscript to an editor or agent and need a professional read, or if you've decided to publish direct and need a final professional edit, remember that I offer editorial services!

Persephone graphic credit.

Hermione Sneaks a Clue

2011-09-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

We've been looking at a lot of examples for how JK Rowling plotted her mysteries and hid her clues. However, most of these have involved examples of very important clues toward the primary plot mysteries. I thought it might be fun to look at an example of a simpler clue that gives a hint toward a secondary plot to show how Rowling works these mysteries across various levels of plots and characters.

Today's example comes from Order of the Phoenix (Bloomsbury edition) Chapter 16, "In The Hog's Head," page 309, where the group that will soon become known as Dumbledore's Army is meeting for the first time. They are all rather nervous, what with Umbridge's crackdown at school, meeting in a dodgy place, and a nearby heavily veiled witch whom Harry fears may be Umbridge. The atmosphere is set for a risky venture and Hermione is about to provide an important clue.

She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.

'I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think,' she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to.'

Bolds and italics are my addition.

In this short passage, JKR laid a critical clue that there would be a traitor within Dumbledore's Army and how Hermione would reveal her. Of course, in hindsight, we all know that this is the parchment Hermione had placed a binding oath upon, which later pox-marked Cho's traitorous friend. None of that is obvious here. However, with subtle wording, JKR played fair with her reader that something was afoot, giving three words/phrases showing Hermione's reluctance for asking people to simply sign a roster. Hermione even warned the students, and thus the reader, that they were signing an agreement--she just never said it was bewitched.

Another hint of what is to come lies a few paragraphs further into the text. JKR diverts her reader from the true traitor with Ernie Macmillan's reluctance to sign.:

But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"I--well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found...well, I mean to say... you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out..." ...

..."Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.

"No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I--yes, of course I'll sign."

Nobody raised objections after Ernie, though Harry saw Cho's friend give her a rather reproachful look before adding her own name.

If the witted reader was alerted to a sneak about, Ernie's pompous objections spotted him as the likely culprit. Still, there was Cho's no-named friend being rather forced to sign. Not being named, Cho's friend slips under the radar more so than Ernie. And Ernie's objections leaves the reader feeling that all the hints are building to Hermione accidentally leaving the list around as Neville did in Prisoner of Azkaban ... not to a betrayer "shouting," or in US terms "blabbing," Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge.

Sneaky...sneaky. That's JKR. She lets you know something is afoot, but diverts you into another direction. No in-your-face clues, but a well-laid trail just the same.

This is a simple little clue, but shows another example of how JKR always prepares the reader subtly for what's to come.

Most of us work secrets into our stories. It's an important part of keeping the reader questioning that we talked about last week. Once the reader knows all the answers, they lose interest.

How to keep the questioning tension uppermost in your reader's mind is a critical skill for any novelist to learn. Both through primary plot-shaping clues, as well as smaller secondary hints, we need to always keep our reader on the alert and guessing what mysteries and secrets are yet to be revealed.

Have you plotted secrets and hints into your story at various levels? Levels that include your secondary characters' secrets as well as your primary? Have you worked minor surprising twists in throughout your story and not just depended on the big one at the end?

A Quest for That Final, Missing Element

2011-09-16T10:35:00.002-04:00

Okay all you people who did not vote for Egyptian Mythology when I polled earlier on what you'd most like to see next on the blog. I'm going to subject you to one post of it anyway! Because, you know what? I love it!!! And it's my blog!!!!! Mwahahaha ha!!

You know another thing I love, and you can ask my kids to verify this, saying "I told you so!"

In putting together this Conflicts of Myth workshop that I'm currently teaching, I revisited one of my ancient writings on Harry Potter from...can you believe this...4 years ago! Before Deathly Hallows came out! Yes, I'm that obsessed, I was even writing then.

I carefully, lovingly pieced together a magnificent theory on what was to come in Deathly Hallows involving the revealing of One Last Memory -- the crucial knowledge of what actually happened at Godric's Hollow from one who was there...Severus Snape!

My theory was brilliant. It was detailed! It filled in every loophole!!! Alas, it was also totally wrong. :-( Sob!

(Actually, my current theory is that JK Rowling read my brilliant editorial, knew that I was on to her, and quickly had to replot and rewrite the whole last section of Deathly Hallows because she just couldn't accept having been found-out beforehand. Plus, we DID get one last memory involving old Severus, just not in the way I foretold.)

Ah, hum. So, anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, the Egyptian Mythology thingie. In reviewing this ancient bit of bullet-riddled theory, I came across one section that actually appeals to me even more now that we know the full revelation of Voldemort's Horcruxes. And it involves one of my other favorite theories, the Eye of Horus. Since I've already covered that one in depth on the blog, I'll simply refer you to that post for background.

But, knowing that most of you will not click that link and read, very simply, Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye seems to be a link to the Eye of Horus. The Eye was an amulet that provided protection for its bearer, until it cracked; it would turn back any evil directed its way -- much as Lily's charm did for Harry. Lily's charm, an amulet, get it? Metaphorically speaking, Lily pinned an Eye of Horus on her beloved son, just as mothers in Turkey still do today. (Though they tend to pin it to their clothes rather than their skin.)

JK Rowling has worked several of these Egyptian myths into the Harry Potter series, and one day I'll tell you the underlying reason why I think she did so, but for today...I just want to focus on the Eye (get it, focus, eye). (Yes, I know it seems like I've been drinking and I'll probably erase half of this in the morning, but for now it's fun. And no, I haven't.)

Anyway...here's one of the interesting meanings of the Eye of Horus. You'll not see this coming, I can guarantee it.

It was an ancient mathematical calculator!!

See. Told ya you wouldn't foresee that!

Each part of the eye was a fraction, that when added together equaled one. Here's an image that shows each part of the Eye with its fraction:

Now, the funny thing about this ancient fractional calculator is that it doesn't quite work. At least it doesn't work by modern standards. See, if you add all those fractions together you don't get the whole number one...exactly. And, no, it's not because the ancients couldn't do math. It's because they thought a bit differently than we do. It's because they valued something beyond pinpoint mathematical accuracy.

The element of the spirit.

The six parts which made up the Eye of Horus were used as mathematical symbols to represent decreasing fractions progressively halved (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64). Each of these Eye symbols and fractions also represented a sense (smell, sight, thought, hearing, taste, and touch respectively). The six parts together embodied a whole, a complete--except that they total 63/64, missing one small fraction, 1/64...the 7th missing magical element.

There was an esoteric meaning associated with this missing fraction. “The eye is the part of the body able to perceive light, and is therefore the symbol for spiritual ability.”[45] The missing fraction of the eye represented a magical element supplied by Thoth, which cannot be quantified, but without which nothing, and no one, is complete.[46].

Because this missing magical element is so important, JKR left us two direct clues regarding it within the Half-Blood Prince text--Golpalott’s Third Law and Quintessence: A Quest. But more on that in a minute. First, let's look at these six fractions and how they relate to the Horcruxes.

Let’s see--Tom Riddle's teen voice was recorded in a diary for a young girl to hear and follow years later, a ring is worn on fingers which touches things, a locket holds something you can look at, you can drink (taste) out of a cup, and Nagini, well, snakes are known for their keen and unusual sense of smell. In fact, in the CoS book as opposed to the movie, after Fawkes blinded it, the basilisk had to sniff Harry out. Coincidence? I think not!

Here's the parts of the Eye of Horus and how I think they played out in JKR's Horcruxes:

Eye of Horus part	Corresponding Horcrux	Fraction
Hearing	Tom Riddle's voice thru his diary	1/16
Touch	Peverell ring	1/64
Sight	Slytherin's locket	1/4
Taste	Hufflepuff's cup	1/32
Thought	Ravenclaw Diadem (wit beyond measure)	1/8
Smell	Nagini	1/2

I'll be honest with you, while this is fun to speculate, even I'm not sure that JKR intended these connections. One of the key doubts I have always had regarding this theory is due to the order of the fractions related to the Horcruxes. If I were the author writing it, I would have the Horcruxes created in the fractions' descending order starting from 1/2, to 1/4 until 1/64. That makes perfect sense in keeping with the decreasing divisions of Voldemort's soul as he rips it apart with each new murder.

However, JKR always plays rather loosely with her mythical links, and there is one final piece of evidence that strengthens my belief that she was at least giving a nod to the Eye, if not quite as literally as I would like to interpret. Golpalott's Law and Quintessence, a Quest both point to the Eye's same final, missing element.

In HBP, Golpalott’s Third Law is a potions’ law that Harry, and many readers, find quite difficult to understand.

Hermione recited at top speed: “Golpalott’s-Third-Law-states-
that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-
than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components.”

Then Slughorn clarifies, somewhat:

“...which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion’s ingredients by Scarpin’s Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements--”[47]

What all this means is that there’s an intuitive, almost alchemical knowledge which comes to bear in creating an antidote to a blended potion. Secret knowledge of an important missing element, so to speak.

In Chapter 15 of HBP, “The Unbreakable Vow,” Harry, while trying to avoid being dragged into Ron’s grumblings against Hermione, is reading a book for Charms, Quintessence: A Quest. I believe this is a very sly reference from JKR, to reinforce the Eye of Horus analogy and the stated Golpalott’s Law. Just to make sure we get the point.

Quintessence is an alchemical term for the mystical fifth element. Earth, air, water, and fire are the traditional four elements which make up everything that exists. In Harry Potter, JKR has confirmed that each Hogwarts House represents one of these elements: Earth = Hufflepuff, Air = Ravenclaw, Water = Slytherin, and Fire = Gryffindor.[48] And each of these elements is represented in the Horcruxes, with Gryffindor's sword being the most common item of destruction. But there is a fifth element, quintessence, which I think plays an even stronger role in the series, indeed is the embodiment of Harry’s personal quest.

From The Alchemy Lab:

The Quintessence is the fifth element with which the alchemists could work. It was the essential presence of something or someone, the living thing itself that animated or gave something its deepest characteristics. The Quintessence partakes of both the Above and the Below, the mental as well as the material. It can be thought of as the ethereal embodiment of the life force that we encounter in dreams and altered states of consciousness. It is the purest individual essence of something that we must unveil and understand in order to transform it.

Essentially, quintessence is spirit, it is soul. Quintessence, for JK Rowling, is embodied in Harry.

Voldemort didn't intend to make Harry a Horcrux. Harry's the missing element. He's the fraction of the equation which Voldemort could not comprehend, and thus did not take into account. He's that most important final element that brought about the failure of Voldemort's dark magic to secure eternal life.

As writers, this is the part of my post where I turn to how we can use these lessons learned from studying JK Rowling in our own stories...blah blah blah. Honestly, I doubt there's many of us that obsessive who will plot a subtextual reference to this extreme. And if you are one of those, you don't need me to point out how to do this yourself!

But, I'd love to know what you think. Am I off on a wild crumple-horned snorkack chase here? Or do you think, just maybe, JKR may have been pulling the Quintessence over our Eyes?

P.S. - Need a professional edit on your manuscript before you submit or publish direct? Be sure to check out my services!

Guest Post: Every Writer Has a Bit of Harry Inside ‘Em

2011-09-15T09:05:00.002-04:00

Today I am thrilled to welcome Melinda Collins to the blog. Melinda is a writer and music lover who also happens to live in my home state! (Though we haven't met...yet!) Although she just started blogging and Tweeting a few months ago, she's already made a huge impact. She shares her love of music and writing on her blog Muse, Rant, Rave, but one of her posts I love the most is her weekly Friday Favs where she sums up all the great articles and entertainment from the last week. She also sponsored the recent Week of the Writer with a whole week of posts crammed full of writerly goodliness. And her Tweet feed is is always a source of good links and interesting news.

Did you know I wrote my first novel with a writing partner, passing the book back and forth by e-mail? Well, so did Melinda. She and a friend in high school completed three (count them, 3!) books by passing back and forth between classes...when they should have been studying! But truly, we all know writing is more important.

So, please welcome Melinda as she shares with us what we all have in common with each other and with Harry Potter:

Every Writer Has a Bit of Harry Inside ‘Em

Believe it or not, writers have a lot in common with young mister Potter than we may not want to admit sometimes.

Now, while I could probably wear out my welcome here on Harry Potter for Writers by listing upwards of fifty of those similarities, I’m just going to stick to the more important ones….for now. J

1. We’re all a little lost until we figure out where we belong. Do you remember feeling like you didn’t quite fit in when you were younger? I do! I felt like a total nerd as I walked around with a Muse on my shoulder and ten different stories in my head. Though I wished it happened earlier, it wasn’t until adulthood that I figured out where I belonged – and that is in front of the keyboard, staying up until the wee hours of the night, arguing with ~~myself~~ my Muse. Until he started receiving the mysterious letters that Uncle Vernon wouldn’t let him read, Harry knew, on some small level, that he didn’t belong with the Durleys. Granted, he had no clue how important he was to the world of magic, but as I learned more about Harry in those first few chapters, I could instantly tell he felt just like me – a nerd that hadn’t found their niche yet. As artists, until we find an outlet for our creativity, we’re lost. As writers, until our characters – or Muse – find us, and we come to fully understand our creative potential, we’re getting pushed about by Dudley and sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs.

2. We wave a wand to produce magic. What? You don’t have one? I do. *ahem* While I would like to believe that my pen – or keyboard – is a magic wand, it’s just never going to happen. But, wait! Technically, these items are a wand for writers. The magic that happens while we’re writing a story is being produced by a wave of our ‘wands’. They may not be able to make a feather float in thin air, or rid ourselves of annoying distractions, but magical words appear on the page and have the power to enchant our readers from beginning to end.

3. We each have a circle of friends that have our back. Yes, Harry had quite a lot of friends. Even though he wasn’t very close with all of them, they were his friends regardless. They were even willing to stand by him and face the darkness they knew would be coming. As writers, the friends who have our backs no matter what are our fellow writers. Be it those you meet online through Twitter or blogging, or those you meet in critique groups, those writers know and understand what you’re going through better than anyone else. And when it’s time to face the demon, they’ll have your back and encourage you through every revision, every re-write, and every rejection. And, just like Harry, we have that smaller, more close-knit group of a select few – Hermoine and Ron, anyone? – that we share everything with. These special people are our spouses, best friends, siblings, or – dare I say it? – our pets. They are the ones who know our deepest darkest secrets and fears, and they are the ones who encourage us, more than anyone else, to keep moving no matter what.

4. We look to our ‘Professors’ to show us how our spells can be improved. Right now, I’m taking a four-week workshop on Savvy Authors titled ‘Advanced Dialogue’. Similar to the boy who lived, we all crave to learn more about the craft we’ve come to know and love. At the moment, my Dumbledore is Donald Maass, and my Snape is a certain workshop teacher that is seriously kicking my butt while teaching me how to become a better writer. Everyone has one, just like Harry. Who is your Dumbledore and Snape?

5. We each have a piece of the Dark Lord within us. C’mon, admit it. Your inner critic is just as bad, if not worse, than Voldemorte. And guess what? That Dark Lord lives within you. He sits on the opposite side of the fence from your Muse. He taunts your Muse as you write, reminding it that only one of them can live forever inside your brain. When you meet him face to face, sometimes you’ll run in terror, and sometimes you’ll walk away triumphant. But, unlike Harry, we never ultimately kill our Dark Lord. He still lurks in the shadows and only comes out when he finds us second-guessing the grand idea we just developed into an outline, or doubting the scene we just spent two hours pounding out. Only with the most awesome back-up that money can’t buy (aka: CP’s, editors, etc.), can we truly defeat our Voldemort once and for all.

So, please tell me: What do you have in common with the boy who lived? Or am I the only one letting their geek flag fly today? J

Susan here: I LOVE the idea of my keyboard as a magic wand! That just makes me feel all magical inside! And it's so true. What else do we do as writers but conjure bustling worlds, intriguing characters, and exciting plots out of the thin air of our imaginations? And though I hate to think I have a bit of Voldy inside me, I guess he's left his mark, because doubts, worries, and second guesses sure do haunt all writers.

Thank you so much, Melinda, for this fabulous insight! And everyone -- be sure to check out Melinda's blog and Twitter and share your thoughts below!

Bio: Melinda S. Collins is an admin assistant by day, and an avid reader and aspiring author by night. Anything and everything Paranormal, Fantasy, and musical interests inspires her.

Was the Pensieve Foul or Fair? One Method for How JK Rowling Revealed Backstory

2011-09-14T11:04:00.001-04:00

This post is a little different than my normal. In exploring this craft technique that JK Rowling used, instead of hitting on how it worked and why, I'd instead like to question whether it was her best choice, or if she could have chosen a more powerful technique for the same purpose.

And it all has to do with one of the aspects of writing that we struggle with the most: backstory.

Memories play a key role in the revelation and withholding of information throughout the Harry Potter series. We have memories that are clear, and some that are fogged, memories that are shared, and some withheld, a memory that has been tampered with, and one sucked out of the holder’s body (along with his soul) through a Dementor’s kiss. Through it all, the reader learns new backstory that is relevant to the unfolding mystery...and is teased with what is yet to come -- until the final, and most potent, memory is revealed in Snape's dying breath.

In the course of Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore opens eight crystal bottles of memory (counting Slughorn’s twice). As the thoughtful, wise man he is, Dumbledore proceeds methodically and logically to reveal memories of Tom Riddle to Harry, and thus to the reader. He starts at the beginning, the circumstances behind Riddle’s birth, proceeds through his young years, and finishes with the adult Voldemort returning to Hogwarts to request a teaching position.

Groupings	Who's Memory	Scene/Action	Purpose	Date**
1	Bob Ogden, Department of Magical Law Enforcement	Visit to Gaunt family hovel to notify Morfin of his upcoming hearing	To see Voldemort's parents, the situation of his birth, the two Horcruxes (Slytherin locket and Peverell ring)	1925
2a	Caractacus Burke, co-founder of Borgin and Burkes	Buying the locket off Merope	To see the locket ended up at Borgin and Burkes and how bad off Merope had become	1926
2b	Dumbledore	Visit to Tom Riddle at the orphanage	To see how he terrorized other children, scorned death, his penchant for secrets and privacy, and collected trophies, among other traits of his personality	1938
3a	Morfin Gaunt	Morfin’s encounter with Tom Riddle	To see how Tom came into possession of the ring, apparently murdered his family and neatly placed blame on his uncle; also Dumbledore’s skill at obtaining difficult memories	1943
3b	Slughorn's tampered memory	In Slughorn’s office with Tom Riddle and friends	To show Tom Riddle with Marvolo’s ring; to start the thread on Horcrux, giving Harry, Hermione, and Ron time to investigate it and see how almost nothing is written or known about Horcruxes	1943
4a	Hokey	Don't know	Voldemort's obsession with collecting remnants of the Hogwarts Founding Four; how he obtained Slytherin’s locket and another possible Horcrux (Hufflepuff's cup)	1947
4b	Dumbledore (ten years after Hokey’s)	Voldemort requesting a position at Hogwarts	Voldy’s interest in Hogwarts as a place to find or place more Horcruxes (which gave Harry a reason for returning there in Deathly Hallows); to explain how the position of DADA instructor got cursed, and to show Voldemort appearing less human, meaning he's already formed several Horcruxes.	1957
5	Slughorn’s correct memory	In his office with Tom Riddle and friends	To show the magical #7; also discussion afterward revealing Horcruxes used as a weapon as well as a safeguard	1943

**These dates supplied from the Harry Potter Lexicon's timeline

All these prior memories build on each other, helping Harry and the reader to understand who Voldemort is and why he became the darkest wizard of his time. These memories also present the necessary clues about Voldemort’s Horcruxes to propel the action forward. We are therefore prepared, with the revelation of Slughorn’s memory, to understand and accept that Voldemort has killed time and time again in order to create immortality for himself and that for Harry to defeat him, he will have to seek out and destroy every last Horcrux.

However, even with the final bottle opened, the correct Slughorn memory, certain crucial questions remain:

What items have been made into Horcruxes?
Where will Harry have to look for them?
How will Harry destroy them?
Who will aide Harry in his quest to eliminate the pieces of Voldemort’s soul, and, finally, Voldemort himself?

Dumbledore begins to reveal key elements of these final questions to Harry, but dies before all is divulged. He can no longer share memories to aid in Harry’s quest... or can he?

One of the key mysteries that remained of the series going into the final book was the question of Snape's loyalty. Dumbledore had taunted Harry and the reader with the knowledge that he held proof of Snape's allegiance, but had never revealed the details.

“Professor…how can you be sure Snape’s on our side?”
Dumbledore did not speak for a moment; he looked as though he was trying to make up his mind about something. At last he said, “I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.”

At this moment, this pause in the exchange between Harry and Dumbledore, it seems that Dumbledore seriously pondered whether the timing was right to truly answer Harry’s question, perhaps whether to uncork a final memory. A memory that would finally reveal the truth about where Snape’s loyalties lie.
Snape’s loyalty had been the million Galleon question that had kept fans speculating since the release of HBP--well, actually since the very beginning. Why did Dumbledore trust Snape, and was he correct in doing so?

Unfortunately for Harry, this final memory resided in a living body (at this point in time). And Dumbledore, through his own loyalty to Snape, would not break that bond and reveal Snape's truths.

No, JK Rowling saves this final memory to come out in Deathly Hallows at a most touching point in the story...as Snape lays dying, having given his all to save the son of his lost love and fulfilling his pledge to Dumbledore to share this final memory when it would do the most good.

As writers, we discuss a lot about how to carefully reveal backstory during the course of our story. Lisa Gail Green had an excellent post about it up earlier this week. Backstory should be doled out carefully, in small pieces throughout a story, woven into the current action of that story as best as possible, and not in lumps that will slow down its forward pace.

Wherever backstory is discussed, there are usually warnings to not show it through flashbacks, dreams, or long, boring narratives.

While JK Rowling definitely aces the holding off on backstory until the reader is dying to know and not doling it out in a boring narrative, she does violate the dictate to not use flashbacks or dreams. The Pensieve, as creative as it is, is still a flashback technique. And we've seen her use of dream sequences in other places to show information that cannot be obtained through Harry's direct POV.

So, as a writer and a reader, what do you think? Was JK Rowling's use of the Pensieve and Snape's wisp of memory a creative and powerful method for imparting the backstory she needed at that point in the story to propel the forward action? Or were they merely flashy creative flashback tools that slowed the action? Could she have used a better technique?

It seems to me that the one memory reader's adore was Snape's final. Would his memory have been as powerful if we hadn't seen the sharing of memory technique earlier with less touching memories?

I'd love to know what you think! Share your ideas in the comments below!

Curiosity Killed the Cat but Captured the Reader

2011-09-12T10:11:00.000-04:00

As I was coming in my backdoor last night returning home after a meeting, I heard a frantic meow out of nowhere. I listened, trying to pinpoint which of my three cats it was and where he was at. It took me a while to realize he was trapped inside our backporch shoe cupboard. When I opened the latch, he shot out, yowling at me for having left him in there for who knows how long. He must have wandered in when I was getting my shoes out earlier in the day, he's done it many times before, and I'd failed to notice.

Curiosity almost got Crookshanks killed!

But what can be lethal in a cat is the most important characteristic of a reader that a writer needs to embrace. Curiosity truly is the most potent magic for keeping your reader's attention.

For the last few weeks on this blog, we've been looking at techniques JK Rowling employed to hide her clues. To me, these are some of the most powerful techniques we can learn from studying JKR's work because 1) she did it so well, and 2) she has shown over and over again how loyal fans will be if you capture their curiosity and never let it go.

It's simple, really. Readers (aside from your mom) stay with your story only as long as their curiosity is engaged. The minute they cease to care to discover what happens to your character, or their curiosity is satisfied, the book goes down. That's why you must build a story question from the very first, and keep a story question going until the very end, never letting that curiosity waver.

A story question, simply defined, is a question presented to the reader early on in the story that drives the characters and the action forward in order to answer it. Examples of some story questions include:

Will Dorothy get back home?
Will Indiana Jones recover the lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis?
Will Katniss survive?
Will Robert Langdon and Sophie discover the Holy Grail before the "Teacher?"

With Dorothy, her main story question did not begin until we were several scenes into the story and she'd landed in Oz. However, the viewer's interest was captured immediately by a couple of preliminary questions -- would Miss Gulch take Toto away from Dorothy? And then, would Dorothy get back safely to her Auntie Em?

Similarly, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the viewer is presented with the first question of whether Indiana Jones will escape with the golden idol and his life, before we are presented with the primary story question of the film.

Dan Brown works with yet another compelling story question technique. Although the question listed above is the overall question in that story, it is presented by way of a step-by-step progression of consecutive smaller story questions. Each question is presented in the form of a clue, that when solved, leads to the next one, and so on, so that the reader is never left without a burning desire to know the answer to a current riddle or clue.

As writers, we can work with single, double, preliminary-subsequent, or multiple story questions, in whatever way works best for our particular story. But what we have to be sure of is that even if one question is answered, another must be already in place, grabbing the reader by the eyeballs so that they MUST find out what happened.

But, what kind of questions work? And how do you creatively work these into your story?

For some specific examples, I thought it might be fun to look at the story questions JK Rowling employed in each of the 7 Harry Potter books:

PS/SS: Why did Voldemort try to kill baby Harry?

Notice that this is the first question proposed in the series and one of the last ones answered. It's therefore more of a series question than this story's question. As JKR has no intention of answering this question off the bat, she quickly proposes another one:

Who is sending all those letters to Harry?

Like in Wizard of Oz and Raiders of the Lost Ark, this question is a preliminary one that is answered quickly and designed to lead us to the point where the main story question takes over.

What was in that package in Gringotts that is now at Hogwarts? And who is trying to steal it?

You'll see from this first example and those that follow that JKR generally uses the two-question approach to each story. She has an introductory question that first presents itself at Privet Drive. This preliminary question lasts long enough to get Harry to Hogwarts, when the main story question takes over.

CoS: Preliminary: Why does Dobby not want Harry to return to Hogwarts?

Main: What lies within the Chamber of Secrets and who opened it?

PoA: Preliminary: Who is Sirius Black and why did he escape from Azkaban?

Main: Why is Sirius suddenly out to get Harry? And what made him betray Harry's parents years ago?

GoF: Preliminary: Who is Voldemort using to trap and kill Harry?

Main: Who set-up Harry to be a champion? And, how will Harry suvive the tri-wizard tournament?

OotP: Preliminary: Will Harry get expelled?

Main: What is the weapon Voldemort seeks that he did not possess in the last war?

HBP: Preliminary: What is Draco's mission that Snape has made an Unbreakable Vow to protect and assist?

Main: Who is the Half-Blood Prince? And is he good or evil?

You'll notice that with this preliminary question, it is not solved early on as the prior ones were, but continues and folds into the main question.

One thing that's really cool about this main question is that even though the reader does not know who the HBP is, the question about his true nature is the same one readers are asking about Snape throughout this book and the series.

DH: Preliminary: Now that Harry's blood protection has worn off, how will he safely leave Privet Drive?

Main: Where are the Horcruxes? And why did Dumbledore hide so much from Harry?

Even if Harry is able to kill all the Horcruxes, How will he defeat a wizard more powerful, more experienced, and much less noble than he is?

You'll notice that, as this is the last book, there are several critical story questions remaining to be resolved.

JK Rowling's reader is never left without a compelling question to propel their interest in the story until it is answered very near the end. While curiosity may kill the cat, it's the lifeblood for an author.

I read a story once where the author started off with a great story question which I was very curious to have solved. So, I read non-stop, until about half-way through the story, when the question was answered. My curiosity was assuaged and I set the book down to never finish.

Now the author, of course, did not intend this reaction. She had introduced a second question that was supposed to carry forward until the end, but the problem was that she only introduced it AFTER answering the first, and since my curiosity had not yet extended to the new question, and I did not find it as appealing as the first, it was very easy to set the book down.

Don't do this!

If you must answer one question before the book ends, be sure you already have the second one well under way and that it is more captivating than the first. Like with The DaVinci Code, subsequent story questions should become increasingly more compelling and complex.

Finally, one more note about story questions -- it's usually not sufficient to want to know in a mystery will the murderer be caught, in a romance will the hero or heroine end up together (duh!), or in a fantasy, will the Light Side defeat the Dark Side. These are foregone conclusions. What is compelling is the specific question that makes YOUR story unique from all the others of your genre. And your unique story question will be more powerfully portrayed if it comes forth from your main character's own personal goals, motivation, and conflict. Thus, your story question should not resemble any others.

Capture your reader's curiosity from the very beginning with a powerful, fresh, engaging story question, and never let it go until the very last page! This is the way to keep your reader's nose in your pages and have them coming back for seconds.

What is your story question in your current WIP? Are you using a single question, or multiple? At what point is it resolved? (Hint: should be as close to the end as possible!)

As the Wife of a Muslim-American, My Memories of 9-11

2011-09-11T09:07:00.003-04:00

Like most everybody above the age of six, I clearly remember what I was doing on September 11, 2001 when our world forever changed.

I was at my work with a regional office for Habitat for Humanity when it happened. We must have had a TV in the office somewhere, because I remember that after the first plane hit, we were all glued to the screen. None of us could believe what we were seeing as we watched the second plane strike, and then the towers fall.

As a staff, we were in the midst of planning for the annual Jimmy Carter Workcamp and Habitat's 25th year celebration and were due to fly out to it later that week. It was because of this trip that my boss did something I will never forget.

He took me aside and told me he thought I should not go. He was afraid that there would be a backlash against Muslims in the country and that I should stay close to my husband.

His perspective shocked me, not as much as the attacks, but still, in a very personal way.

See, I know my husband, had known him for many years at that point. There was no way, in my mind, that anyone could align this honest and caring man with the types of men who directed planes as weapons of mass, and blind, destruction. The men behind those attacks were not like any of my many Muslim family and friends.

I'd lived with my husband in his homeland of Turkey for many years. I'd woken and gone to bed to the call to prayer. I'd watched my mother-in-law, a woman as generous as my own beloved grandmother, cover her head and pray faithfully for her family's welfare five times a day. I'd visited my husband's aunts, uncles and cousins on festival days and shared in the coffee, tea, and sweets. I'd celebrated with his friends during Ramadan at the evening break-the-fast meals. The people, the customs, the holidays were as happy, peaceful, and loving as those I celebrated growing up in the Southern Bible Belt.

I'd also witnessed the "other side" during my time in Turkey. I'd received missives from the Embassy every few weeks alerting Americans to new threats against Westerners. And I'd watched on TV the Turkish news reports of terrorist attacks committed against Turks in Istanbul, or eastern Turkey, and once, Antalya where we were living. We walked by the charred remains of the restaurant two days later, still smoldering, a child's stuffed teddy bear (I kid you not) in the rubble. Those committing this violence were not like the Muslims I knew. They were mad men hurting the innocent families of people I knew and loved.

Turkey has a large and varied population. It always made me smile to hear them call themselves the melting pot, just like I'd always been led to believe was the domain of the U.S. -- except Anatolia has been melting together people of various origins and beliefs for thousands of years.

And that's just it. No American would assume to think that we could label all Americans with one stroke. Nor can it be done to Turks, or to Arabs, or to Persians, or Malaysians, or wherever Islam is practiced.

But, still, my boss' worry that my husband could be targeted by people who did not understand this simple truth became my own. And so I stayed at home. Along with the rest of the world, my husband, young son, and I watched the news every spare moment for the next couple of days. Together, we went to give blood, joining with others in wanting to do whatever we could to help. But, soon, he had to go back to work.

And that's when it happened. My husband DID get a reaction. He reported to me after a couple of days that people WERE treating him differently. They were going out of their way to be even nicer to him, to let him know that they were not blaming him, nor any other Muslim, for the act of a few mad men.

See, the world is filled with beautiful people with shining souls. Their acts of kindness just don't often make the news. And while an act of terror can destroy many lives in the blink of an eye, the generosity of countless more good-hearted people, whether Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or Jew, western, or eastern, or some melting-pot in between, can restore the hope and faith of a world filled with people who love more than hate.

It is because of my faith that I join in the wish and commitment of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and pray, "Peace at home, peace in the world."

PS: I know that many Muslim-Americans did suffer repercussions in the days and years following 9-11. But we live in a fairly progressive community, and what we experienced is just as real and true, if under reported. My husband says that only once since that terrible day has he faced someone's prejudice against Muslims and he's heard stories from friends of a couple of other incidents. But overall, we've experienced more the generosity of the human spirit rather than the dark side.

5 Points to Ponder on Pottermore (for Writers)

2011-09-09T11:42:00.001-04:00

JK Rowling's Pottermore site has been open almost four weeks now to a few lucky beta-testers. I was one of the very lucky early entries getting in on the second day, and thus have had time to thoroughly view the site and watch the reaction of people getting in as well as those still anxiously awaiting their owl.

In an earlier post, right after Pottermore opened, I speculated on what JKR's new endeavor would have to offer for other authors in the way of an example of how to interact with readers online. Now that I've had more experience with the site and its visitors, I'd like to share some concrete thoughts and examples.

Let me acknowledge from the start, as I did before, that most writers, myself included, will in no way be able to afford the kind of money I'm sure JKR has put into the site for design, administration, and publicity. Still, there's always creative methods of manipulating someone else's examples to suit your own ideas and purse strings.

So, here's some tips to get you thinking.

1) Engage Your Reader (or follower, or visitor):

As in everything else Rowling does, reader engagement is the key. The Pottermore site is fully interactive. It does not have the gaming power of a MMORPG, nor all the gadgets of a massive social media site. What it does have is enough elements across several formats to keep members happily engaged for a few hours and enough planned into the future to keep them returning.

Points to Ponder:
What have you done in your site to actively engage your readers or followers?
How many different formats have you implemented to do so?
What are your plans for the future to keep them coming back?

But let's get specific and look at these engaging formats in detail.

2) Presenting the Story:

The heart of Pottermore is a visual, interactive presentation of the Harry Potter series, book by book and chapter by chapter, with only the first book active to date. Viewers navigate from one chapter to the next, one scene to the next, exploring special moments of interest along the way.

Points to Ponder:
For most writers applying this to themselves, it would seem to be limited to books that have already been on the market for a while. However, I can envision other possibilities.

What if my upcoming story involves a backstory that may entice new readers to give the book a try? Or, what if I've spent a huge amount of time in world building? Could I slip some of this stuff to the reader in an engaging manner ahead of release to entice them further?

Or, if I'm writing a series, the possibilities of using a site like this to keep one book alive and hint at those to come are endless. The goal is to find a creative, new method of engaging readers AROUND your story without simply repeating your story.

3) Visual Stimulation:

The graphics on Pottermore are luscious and detailed. One of the most appealing aspects is that we know these graphics were overseen by JK Rowling directly, which gives them a sense of authority even over the movies. Of course, I'm sure they also cost a ship-full of galleons.

Points to Ponder:
Maybe you have artistic skills yourself. However, even if you don't that doesn't mean you can't offer visual insight into your own stories. Many authors are designing their own trailers and discovering sources for free or cheap art online as they do so. Tap some of these sources to make your website more visually appealing for your reader and to bring them into your world.

Or, if you have older kids, check with their friends or school art teacher and see if there's a budding young artist in the community who might be willing to share some of their talent with you. My daughter and her friends sit around drawing pictures all the time just for the fun of it, and a couple of them are incredibly talented.

Finally, there's massive communities of young artists online who may be willing to do some artwork tailored to your site for a reasonable price of for trade. Check out DeviantArt for a start.

4) Interactive Gaming:

In Pottermore, members can brew their own potions, duel another member with spells, and search and collect special items along the way. All of these activities not only earn the member points, but also earns points toward winning the cup for their House.

Points to Ponder:

The crux here is not that you need to have a game, which may or may not be appropriate to your genre, but that you need some form of entertaining, engaging reader involvement that preferably links them to other readers as well.

Possibilities:

a scavenger hunt for clues to your story you've hidden about your site
collectible cards of information scattered about. These cards could relate to the research you used to build your world, or to character backstory elements that never made it into the story.
small snippets of excerpts that you create exclusively for your online reader to find, or bits and pieces that were ultimately cut out of the story, but your reader may still find engaging
use all these items in a point collection system toward earning a prize
better yet, have your followers/fans divided into teams to gain points to earn this prize!

5) Social Media:

Fandom is always more fun when there are other fans to squee along with. In Pottermore, fans have the opportunity to engage with other fans not only through the games mentioned above, but also through certain portions of the site set aside for fan chat and feedback. While not offering a fully-functioning social media experience, fans CAN leave short messages for each other or the Pottermore admin in either their own House or the Great Hall. Fans can also upload and share their own fanart work and receive comments.

Points to Ponder:

How many opportunities have you provided your reader to not only engage directly with you, but with each other? How can you do this?

A forum, or bulletin board
An interactive feature on your site where they can upload and share their own short stories or works of art (whether fanfiction or otherwise) for feedback from others
Maybe a regular interactive chat that includes items of interest to your greater fan/follower community

As Pottermore goes along, (remember it's only in its beta-testing stage), I'm sure there will be more for me to share. But would love to hear for now what you think.

How many forms of interaction have you used to engage your followers, readers, or fans? Have you got any ideas as to what more you can do to bring people into your world in a compelling, entertaining manner?

And if you're really curious about what's inside Pottermore, or already a beta-tester, be sure to check out my Pottermore Forum and Wiki for more!

Guest Post: Is Fear Holding You Back?

2011-09-08T09:09:00.003-04:00

Please welcome to the blog today Ava Jae, a YA Paranormal/Urban Fantasy novelist who blogs at Writability. I first met Ava when she guest posted at Lyn Midnight's fabulous blog on Six Things that Made Harry Potter Special to Me and loved her humor and writing so much that I started following her immediately. She was one of the awesome bloggers in our awesome week of PotterChat back in July with her Top Five Harry Potter Moments, and I've learned quite a bit about the art and science of writing and blogging by following her wonderful Twitterfeed at @Ava_Jae.

A couple of things you should know about Ava are that she has a wicked sense of humor which is coupled with strong insight into what makes a story work. Besides being a Harry Potter fan, she also seems to have an ability to think along the same lines I do. Before I even posted Family Stories earlier this week, which confronted one of my fears of writing, she sent me this insightful article below sharing the same theme.

So, please, welcome Ava. If you haven't yet, visit her blog, and enjoy her amazing talent. Thanks Ava for sharing with us!

Starting any new venture is a terrifying experience, and beginning your journey as a writer is no different. The doubts set in the moment you even consider the idea—Are you really qualified to do that? No, that’s a terrible idea. You’re going to be awful. You’re not ready, maybe in a few years when you have more experience...

The funny thing about fear is that it’s really good at convincing us it knows best. If you’re a logical person like me, it’ll put up a sound argument that’d make an attorney proud. If you’re more emotional, it’ll attack your nerves and whisper doubts until you’re thoroughly convinced it's right.

For writers, it often begins with comparison. You see books on the shelves, articles in magazines, brilliant blog posts and think, I can’t do that. You see the charisma, the confidence on the page, the way the words just flow and marvel at their talent.

Here’s a little secret: what looks like talent, 9/10 times isn’t talent—it’s hard work; it’s hours, months, years of practice; it’s an unquenchable thirst to improve and a drive to succeed. But fear doesn’t want you to know that. Hard work is something you can do; the thirst to succeed is something you already have if you’re worried about your skill set, and a drive to succeed is something most people encounter in at least one aspect of their lives.

But talent. Talent is something you’re born with. You can’t fake talent. At least, that’s what fear wants you to believe.

Truth is talent can’t carry you to success. I won’t deny that some people start with a little more of a boost than others, but from there it takes perseverance and work and more work. But if you let your fear control you, if you allow the doubts to keep you from trying, you will never reach your dreams.

It’s a little hard to swallow, I know, but I hope it’ll motivate you to start. To push fear aside and begin that story you’ve always dreamed of, or that blog that you’ve been too nervous to launch, or whatever it is you’ve been too afraid to do.

Confession: I put off starting a blog for something like two years. Why? Because I was scared. Because I was convinced that I had nothing to say, that no one would want to read what I wrote anyway, that I’d be just another whisper in the clamor of the internet.

In short, I was afraid of failure. What I didn’t realize was that by not even trying, I was failing already. I allowed fear to hold me back.

I’m not going to pretend that I have some massively successful blog now, but in the short months that it’s been live (I launched in May) I’ve developed a nice community of readers and a steady flow of hits. What’s more is I’ve learned something about myself—I do have something to say. A lot to say, actually, that I never would have discovered if I continued to listen to the doubts.

Are you allowing fear to hold you back? Maybe it’s your first novel (or second, or third, or fifth for that matter). Maybe it’s a new blog, a guest posting opportunity or a hundred other new endeavors.

I challenge you to kick your fear to the curb and go for it. After all, you will never succeed if you are too afraid to risk failure.

Has fear ever held you back? How did you overcome it?

Bio:
Ava Jae is a writer, Photoshop enthusiast and X-men geek. You can find her weekly musings on her blog Writability, follow her on Twitter or check out her Facebook page.

Family Stories

2011-09-06T12:30:00.004-04:00

When I was growing up, my father used to tell me stories. I do not recall him or my mother reading to me, though I am sure that they did when I was very young, but I hold many fond memories, especially on long car rides, or sitting on the porch at Grandma's, of his telling me, my sister, and brother tales of his youth. Some stories were his, but others were those his father told him or the tall tales that his grandfather was known for. Great yarns of family ghosts and buried treasures and renegade cowboys from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. All these stories involved family, and telling them to yet another generation was a way of holding onto those who had gone before.

I never knew my grandfather. He died before I was born. I only vaguely remember my great-grandfather as he died when I was three. But because of the tales I've heard all my life that they told, or stories that were told about them, I know them both very well.

For the last couple of days, I have been alone with my parents at their lake house repairing damage from Hurricane Irene. No Internet, no children, just my parents and their stories. My father is heavily into geneaology. He took a class on memoir writing recently and has been busily typing away all his old tales and his memories into his computer. So, I helped him start a blog where he could easily share these treasures with the rest of the family -- including his many grandchildren who will read only if it is on the Internet. We've spent a lot of time the last couple of days discussing his memories, along with my mother's.

And through recounting my father's well-loved stories, I remembered one of my own. My grandmother used to tell me how she and my grandfather had met. It was a story I always cherished, perhaps because it involved such an unusual way to meet, perhaps because my grandmother was so dear to me, or perhaps because it helped me feel closer to this man that she obviously loved and I'd never known. But, for whatever reason, a few years ago, I decided to turn that family story into a book. I pieced it together with another story from my grandmother's youth and a memory from my father about a rumor circulating in the small-town he'd grown up in during World War II. Together, the three intwined into a plot, which would not have been a fictionalized biography of their lives, but would have had touching points.

In a fevered rush of excitement, and with memories of my grandmother raining down on me from her picture on my parents' mantel, I wrote the first three chapters of that book in a few hours. I then plotted out the synopsis. Reading over it, the intended story brought tears to me. The couple of times I've picked it up and read it since that night a few years ago, it has always done the same.

But, I set it aside. I never pursued writing it beyond the first three chapters and synopsis because I thought no one but my immediate family would ever want to read it, and I was pursuing publication. New York publication. My story did not fit into a neat bookstore category. It was not YA, not fantasy, not romance. Aside from one aspect, it was a quiet story, but one of emotional depth. It was, is, unlike anything I've ever written before or will likely ever write afterward.

Last night, I spent two hours talking with my father, answering his questions about self-publishing his memoirs and family history. The good news, I told him, is that now it is easier than ever to get stories like yours out. Stories that may not have the large market New York is seeking, but still deserve to be published.

Then today, my mother took me on a road trip to visit with aunts and uncles. My 86-year-old uncle lives beside a key setting in that story I abandoned long ago and he remembers when it was still in operation. We talked about it, and he gave me insight to help me visualize the setting better. At another home, my aunt shared pictures and memories of my cousin who died way too young this past year. The stories help her remember him and keep his spirit alive. With both visits, we retold old family stories, of loved ones long gone, but never, ever forgotten because of the stories we tell.

JK Rowling has said many times that Harry Potter changed significantly after her mother's death. If her mother had not died, Harry Potter would not have been the story it is today.

She incorporated bits of personal and family hsitory throughout her series. The Ford Anglia which Ron and Harry hijaked to Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets was exactly the car owned by one of Rowling's best friends which used to carry her to freedom in her teen years. Snape teaches potions because Jo never cared for Chemistry. She and Harry share the same birthday. The Dementors, we know, were born of her personal experience with depression as a single mother living on the British welfare system. Like Harry and Ginny, Jo's parents met on a train platform. And as any fan can tell you, Jo put a lot of herself into Hermione.

As writers, is it possible to ever write a story that we pour nothing of ourselves into?

And yet, I had pushed off one of the stories into which I had poured so much of my personal history because of fear of the market.

To me, this is the beauty of the e-book revolution. The journey my father has unintentionally taken me on the last couple of days, back into the memories of the beloved tales of my childhood, has reminded me why I am a storyteller today, like my father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather before me. My fathers told tales of their lives, of people they knew and loved best. I tell stories of fictional characters inspired by those I know and love. They told stories to keep memories alive, to pass along heritage. I tell stories to awaken spirits and remind us of our connection, even if it is not by blood.

Because from one culture to another, from one age to the new, from my family to yours, Story is what unites us all. Story is the power of meaning that flows eternally through the human blood.

And now, once again, my little family story that I love so dearly, but abandoned out of fear that it would never sell, is once again beating in my heart and filling my mind with possibilities. I sit here, at 12:30 a.m., instead of sleeping, with ideas clammoring to get out, bits and pieces of dialogue, snapshots of setting, whisps of emotion. (Of course, my lack of sleep could also have something to do with the coffee my mom serves which I am unused to. :-)

Coffee or not, my family story is running through my veins. This time, I will open myself to it. I am no longer afraid.

All the Kreacher's Men

2011-09-02T09:52:00.000-04:00

One excellent way to demonstrate character in a story is to show how your hero or secondary treats other people. Or, in the words of the immortal Sirius Black, "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." (GoF, p. 525) Through the course of the last three books, JKR gives the reader insight into the character of three men based on how they treat one considered an inferior, a house-elf named Kreacher.

Sirius Black -- In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius hates the sight of Kreacher and treats him terribly. But it is not Kreacher himself whom Sirius hates as much as it is what Kreacher stands for. Kreacher is the last surviving remnant (aside from Sirius) of the pureblood, aristocratic, and extremely bigoted Black family. Sirius seems to hate everything about his family and what they stood for, which resulted in him running away at sixteen to go live with Harry's father, James. Sirius' mother subsequently blasted her son from the Black family tree tapestry.

Unfortunately, this very understandable feeling Sirius harbors towards his family's prejudices results in him treating one beneath him with an attitude bordering on his family's bigotry. And in the end, is what causes Kreacher to fatally betray Sirius to his Death Eater cousin Bellatrix.

Lord Voldemort -- In the "Kreacher's Tale" chapter of Deathly Hallows, Kreacher reveals to Harry, Ron, and Hermione how his master, Sirius' brother Regulus, a Death Eater, had requested that Kreacher go with Lord Voldemort on a secret mission. This mission involved Kreacher accompanying Voldemort to hide his Horcrux locket in the cavern. Voldemort wished for a house-elf to accompany him because he considered the elf's magic less important and the elf himself expendable. Voldemort forced Kreacher to drink the basin of poison and then left the elf alone to die at the hands of his zombie-like Inferi.

Regulus Black -- In this tale of three men, it is Regulus Black, Sirius' deceased brother and former Death Eater, who comes out the hero. Upon Kreacher's return to the Black family home (having escaped the Inferi due to his special powers and loyalty to Regulus), the elf tells his favored master all that occurred. Regulus has Kreacher return with him to the cave and show him the way to the Horcrux. But instead of having "the inferior" house-elf drink the potion for him, as Voldemort did, Regulus drinks it himself, condemning himself to death at the hands of the Inferi. Regulus' last request is for Kreacher to return home safely with the locket and destroy it.

Harry -- I said this was a tale of three men, but truly it all comes down to Harry. Up until the point of "Kreacher's Tale," Harry first treated the house-elf as a grotesque curiosity, and then, after Sirius' death, as an object for his blame and hatred. But when Harry realized how Kreature had been abused at Voldemort's hands and by his potion, and why the house-elf was so blindly loyal to the Black family, then Harry's heart softened, and for the first time, he treated Kreacher as someone other than a creature, but human, and deserving of his respect.

As a character, Kreacher has two important roles. To the plot, he is important for hiding and revealing this clue regarding the locket Horcrux. But I think his deeper purpose in the story is to reveal the inner character of these men, and to show the changing and maturing heart of Harry.

As writers, we have many tools available to show character development. We can do this through their actions, their choices, the opinions of other characters, and in this example, in how our hero treats those around him, including his "inferiors."

Contrasts and comparisons. Foils and shadows. How powerful it is to show Harry developing beyond his hatred of Kreature to an attitude of trust and respect. It's almost, but not quite, as powerful as Harry's 180-degree turn toward Severus Snape.

But that's a post for another time.

How have you portrayed the way your hero and secondaries treat others? Have you included a "touchstone" type of character who reflects the developing arc of your heroine by the change in how she treats this individual?

Only a few days left to sign up for my new workshop: Conflicts of Myth: Using Classical Myths to Deepen Your Contemporary Novel. This is a month-long online class sponsored by SavvyAuthors that starts Tuesday. Sign-up now! (please :-)

Never Trust a Character! (If You Want to Find a Clue)

2011-08-30T12:24:00.008-04:00

This post is part of the Mystery Plotting series, in which we are examining, one by one, techniques JK Rowling used to hide clues and plot her mysteries.

As a writer, how do you feed misinformation to your reader? Not everyone or everything in life is straightforward and honest, nor should it be in our stories. We need those red-herrings and those twists and turns of a surprising plot to keep our audience on edge and reading at a fast pace. But readers also feel cheated if an author deliberately misleads them without properly motivating the "lie" or providing clues that they have done so.

Enter the voice of your characters. Characters can lie any time for various reasons -- but they MUST be well motivated. Whether through an outright lie, sly misdirection, or inherent misunderstanding -- adversaries, friends, and even the main characters themselves can misrepresent the truth through what they say or what they think. As writers, it is our job to ensure that their reason for lying or misleading the reader is a good one. As always, JK Rowling provides wonderful examples of all these.

Perhaps the easiest, and therefore most obvious method of character lies is through the mouth of the villain. However, if the villain is clearly marked as such and his antagonistic position against the hero clearly defined, any words he utters will always be suspect.

No, it's much more subtle to have well-intentioned characters feed misinformation due to their own lack of knowledge or false perceptions. How often did Ron and especially Hermione poo-pooh Harry's growing belief that Draco had become a Death Eater in Half-Blood Prince. Draco was too young, they said. Harry was just letting his own hatred of his nemesis persuade him to see something that was not there. And, yet, Harry was right. But if the reader had listened to the logical but wrong perceptions of Hermione and Ron, they were in for a surprise.

We also saw in an earlier example how Percy fed the reader the clue that Ginny was very upset about Harry being accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets. At the same time, Percy distracted us as to why his sister was truly upset through his own wrong understanding of the situation. Of course, how in the world would sixth-year Prefect Percy understand first-year shy Ginny's inner turmoil? Who would have suspected that she was upset about setting the Basilisk loose herself?

Mad-Eye Moody, as impersonated by Barty Crouch, is the chief antagonist throughout Goblet of Fire. However, this semi-mythical retired Auror is brought onto the scene through other characters' POVs, which while they may not be false, are definitely leading the reader away from the truth in this situation.

First, Cedric Diggory's dad, who works at the ministry, informs Mr. Weasley, and the reader, that the day before Mad-Eye is to take up his new position (at Hogwarts), that an intruder tried to get into his house and was attacked by his charmed dust-bins. But, notice Mr. Diggory's influential POV regarding Mad-Eye:

"Arthur, you know Mad-Eye," said Mr. Diggory's head, rolling its eyes again. "Someone creeping into his yard in the dead of the night? More likely there's a very shell-shocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings...I'll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window."

Mr. Diggory definitely doesn't believe that Mad-Eye might have truly been attacked, does he? So, neither does the reader.

A few minutes later, around the breakfast table, the rest of the Weasley clan's POVs add to our perception of Mad-Eye:

From George -- "Isn't he that nutter--"

An while Charlie asserts that "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him," he also states that "I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."

Moody becomes the coolest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor ever. Students line up outside his door to ensure they get a good seat in his class. Thus, because we've been told he's paranoid for good reason, and in the students' POV he's the coolest thing to hit Hogwarts this year, when in the Three Broomsticks Harry notices Moody drinking from his flask yet again, the reader is properly prepared to believe along with Harry the falsely planted reason:

Moody had told them all during their last Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that he preferred to prepare his own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for Dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.

Who would such a man of the ultimate deception? Through all this build up and then the final revelation, JKR has masterfully manipulated her characters' POV in the direction she wants to influence our own perception of her prime, hidden antagonist. And notice, the characters' all believe what they say because these perceptions are true for the real Mad-Eye! Because they are convinced, we are as well.

Throughout Goblet of Fire, JKR continues to utilize false perceptions from the characters to both reveal and conceal clues. In an example pointed out to me by a participant in one of my workshops (thanks Suzanne!), we're going to look at a more subtle example from Chapter 27, after the second challenge of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Snape confronts Harry during Potions class about stealing ingredients from his cupboard, which Harry angrily denies.

"Don't lie to me," Snape hissed, his fathomless black eyes boring into Harry's. "Boomslang skin. Gillyweed. Both come from my private stores, and I know who stole them."
Harry stared back at Snape, determined not to blink or to look guilty. In truth, he hadn't stolen either of these things from Snape. Hermione had taken the boomslang skin back in their second year -- they had needed it for the Polyjuice Potion -- and while Snape had suspected Harry at the time, he had never been able to prove it. Dobby, of course, had stolen the gillyweed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry lied coldly.
"You were out of bed on the night my office was broken into!" Snape hissed. "I know it, Potter! Now, Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your fan club, but I will not tolerate your behavior!..."

Then Snape threatens Harry with the truth potion, Veritaserum, to which Harry "wondered whether he ought to take a leaf out of Moody's book and start drinking only from a private hip flask."

Look at all the clues JK Rowling works into this short passage. Snape is missing ingredients in his private stores for Polyjuice Potion. We know, because the Trio brewed it up two years ago, that Polyjuice Potion allows one wizard to impersonate another. Snape's office was broken into on the night some of these ingredients were stolen. And who else was up that night, as JKR so slyly has Snape remind us? Mad-Eye Moody, who also just happens to drink solely from that private hip flask already mentioned and seen repeatedly.

An overwhelming amount of clues, is it not? And yet, how many of us slipped blithely by this because of the false perceptions from both Snape and Harry that fed us these clues? Snape believes the culprit to be Harry, which Harry confirms by remembering that Hermione did steal the boomslang skin two years ago. But notice that a time-frame is not specified by Snape. Why would he be talking about boonslang from two years ago right next to the gillyweed that Harry acknowledges is recent?

Or, in the words of Suzanne who pointed this out to me, the reader "naturally skipped right over all the Polyjuice ingredients -- BECAUSE HERMIONE DID STEAL THEM TWO YEARS AGO!!! -- and it never dawned on me that Snape undoubtedly meant THIS YEAR, when of course fake-Moody was having to replenish his supplies. It wasn't until just today that I realized this was a huge clue I had always overlooked because I always focused on the Gillyweed being stolen by Dobby for the second task. Brilliant!"

Indeed. That's quality sleight-of-hand!

Also, Snape's assumption that Mad-Eye was up and about to help cover Potter's tracks and Harry's earlier revealed perception about why Moody drinks from his hip flask persuade the reader to believe the same. Still, Mad-Eye is juxtaposed into this scene twice, and we know how JKR uses juxtaposition to place clues. So, in this example, JKR uses juxtaposition to hint at the person who is stealing ingredients and brewing Polyjuice, but uses false perception to distract from these same clues.

In the words of Mad-Eye -- Constant Vigilance!

As writers, we need to always remember that our characters do not always need to tell the truth, whether from telling an outright lie to believing untruths. But there's a very fine line between an unfair lie and a well-played twist. The "lie" or false information must be both well-motivated and a clue, subtle thought it may be, must be left toward the truth. These are tools we can use to not only create character conflict and deepen character development, but also to help reveal and conceal any mysteries we have within our text.

Have you used a character's false POV to hide a clue for your reader? How did you motivate your reader to either lie or misunderstand the truth?

Mad-Eye Kitty photo credit.

Organizing the Disorganized (including a few Tips for Bloggers)

2011-08-27T14:39:00.001-04:00

First off, an apology to those of you receiving this blog through subscription as you probably got a post from me this morning that looked suspiciously like spam. I was breaking up one of my pages into three, and accidentally posted my new page for A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter as a post rather than a page. Sorry!

Now, on to today's news! Changes, they are a'brewing.

This has been A Very Pottermore Summer for me! Due to the excitement generated at the beginning of the summer from JKR's wonderful announcement of her upcoming Pottermore website, and the subsequent traffic tsunami that resulted from it, I've made numerous changes to the blog, which you may have noticed.

Though this post does not fit within my general craft analysis, I thought some of you, especially fellow/sister bloggers, might enjoy knowing about a few changes I made and why. Some changes were made to increase the ease and functionality of my blog, others to unite my various sites in some resemblance of order, some to increase my outreach to other blogs and services, and still some to attempt to make all this time I spend obsessively blogging to actually contribute to the family financial coffers (ha!). Thus, today, I'm blogging about blogging:

Organizing My Disorganization:

1) Linking to my "Other" Sites: You'll see across the top half of my navigation bar above that I've added links to my other sites online. Eventually, I hope to have them all together under one roof, but for now, at least it's easy to get from one to another with a simple click.

2) Pottermore Wiki & Forum (for Writers & Fans): With the explosion this summer of interest in JK Rowling's newest project, I felt that Pottermore fans needed a site completely dedicated to Pottermore where they can share, discuss, and analyze all the new information which is currently being revealed. At my unofficial Pottermore Wiki and Forums, you can talks with other fans in the Forums, add and read articles posted in the Wiki, and analyze what's newly revealed in Editorials (still in development).

Writers! I'd love to have your input. If you'd like to add an editorial or write a post for the Wiki, please contact me at SPSipal AT gmail DOT com. You'll get to place an ad on your bio page on the Wiki and links within your posts.

3) My Kindle Store: Here is where you'll find all that I have offered on Kindle, including A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter and my shorter Boy Who Lived Guides (for Writers & Fans). As always, if you've read any of my books and liked them, I'd love it if you could post a review online. Likewise, I'm always trying to improve my work, and if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear from you!

4) Editorial Services: Yes, I offer editorial services in critiquing query letters, synopses, first chapters, and even beyond. As the page was a bit buried under my Kindle books, it's now got its own home.

5) CommentLuv: I'm SOO glad I installed the CommentLuv system before Pottermore hit. Some of my posts received hundreds of comments. Under Blogger's built-in comment system, that level of response would have been so hard to follow.

One neat feature I love best about CommentLuv is that as a visitor, you can insert your blog's URL and it will automatically link to your last blog post beneath your comment. So, by commenting here, you can also provide a link to your latest post! Nifty, huh? Check it out at IntenseDebate.

Outreach:

1) Upcoming Workshop: Starting Sept. 3, I will be giving a new workshop called "Conflicts of Myth: Using Mythic Conflicts to Deepen Your Contemporary Novel." This workshop, hosted through SavvyAuthors, will examine reasons for using mythic conflicts and will study various myths throughout centuries, cultures, and continents. Then we'll see how many have been used in movies and stories as we discuss how to best incorporate them within our own. Sign-up here! Soon!

2) Guest Blogging -- I LOVE hosting guest bloggers here, and I love to visit other blogs of similar minds and share my posts. If you'd like to be a guest blogger at Harry Potter for Writers, or host me at yours, drop me a note at SPSipal AT gmail DOT com. Likewise, remind me if we've already set one up and need to work out the details.

3) #PotterChat - After the wonderful week of PotterChat blogfest earlier in the summer, I started hosting a frequent #PotterChat on Twitter for all those interested in discussing the latest news in Harry Potter or Pottermore. Recently, I also added a #PotterChat Daily paper.li to my Twitter feed. It's a simple tool, that once set-up, automatically takes Tweets from your stream and puts them together in a newspaper-like post that others can subscribe to. I find it interesting myself for checking out news and links I might have missed that day. Your readers can likewise explore more posts on topics in their field of interest and find new people to follow.

Making Blogging Pay (or at least leave a tidy tip):
Blogging takes a lot of time. Blogging the way I have done it this summer takes a humongous amount of time. For the last three months, I was blessed that I had it. But now, with school and work starting back, the only way I can justify continuing this level of time commitment is if my work online can help pay the bills. Thus, I've added a couple of features:

1) Google AdSense: Most of you are probably familiar with this most popular method for adding ads and earning revenue from your blog traffic. On Blogger, it's as easy as clicking on your "Monetize" tab and following the instruction. You choose where to place your ads, but you really won't make any money unless your daily traffic is in the thousands.

To be honest, I'm not sure I'm going to keep it on this blog. I'm taking it out for a test drive. Would love to know from anyone else using it on their writing blog if you feel like it has been of any benefit.

2) VigLink: VigLink is an affiliate program which allows website owner and bloggers to, with the incredible ease of adding one simple code to their site, automatically monetize their links. Any links you already have on your site, or those added in the future that link to any merchants within the VigLink system, will automatically count as a sales-link without having to insert a special affiliate code.

One such merchant is Amazon. And if you, like me, live in a state where you cannot be an Amazon affiliate directly (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island, or Connecticut), then you may want to consider trying out VigLink yourself.

Feedback Requested:
Have you found any of these changes to be a distraction rather than enhancement? Do you visit more than one of my "sites" online?

How about you? I'd love to hear from other bloggers, and am planning an upcoming post to share your best advice:

What are your best tips for improving the effectiveness of your blog?
What are your best tips for increasing quality traffic to your blog, your Twitter, or wherever else you hang out online?
And if you've monetized your blog in any manner, what programs did you find the least offensive and most effective?

Photo credit.

Guest Post at Muse, Rant, Rave

2011-08-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

Today I am guest posting at Melinda Collins' fabulous Muse, Rant, Rave blog! My topic is The Top 10 Tips of Writing that I Learned from Studying JK Rowling.

Here's the #10 tip to get you started.

10) Plot like you're Hermione about to face her boggart:

Hermione's biggest fear was for McGonagall to tell her she'd failed all her exams. And so she always over-studied, ensuring that she was prepared and would never have to face this horror. J.K. Rowling, Hermione's real-life doppelganger, has stated that she is a heavy plotter, working out the details of each book before she writes, and having plotted out all seven when she was writing the first.

Now, I'm not saying that pansters are wrong. Lots of good stuff comes out of free-flowing writing and it can be a great way to get ideas flowing or even write a first draft. But before you even consider hitting send on a manuscript, at some point along the way you had better let your inner Hermione get hold of your work!

Certain types of books call for more plotting beforehand than others. Works like Rowling's with their multiple subplots and intricate trail-of-clues mysteries would be very difficult to write by the seat of your pants.

So, know your story and play to your skills. But keep Hermione close at hand when you need to be sure it all makes sense.

Now, head on over to Melinda's blog and read the other 9 tips!

And while you're there, be sure to check out the rest of this week's posts from other writers as Melinda has been hosting The Week of the Writer.

Be sure to leave a comment and follow Melinda's great blog. She usually does a wonderful wrap up on Friday's that points out great articles and entertainment for the whole week.