So, shouldn't we be able to study her work, discover that secret, and incorporate it for ourselves?
I've taken apart and analyzed JKR's craft in the Potter series for seven years now. (7!! The magical number! Surely something good is coming my way now. Or...would that be a Horcrux? :-( ) Anyway, I will tell you honestly and truthfully that there is no....
Wait, that's what you hear from every other writer, isn't it? There is no secret handshake. There's only crafting a good book and working hard to get it out there.
From my perspective based purely on Harry Potter...yes, and...no. There is a secret. And it is part of the "good book" thing, as well as the "getting it out there" doohickey. But it's something a bit more tangible and not something I hear discussed often in the way that I see JKR doing it.
Engage the reader.
There it is. That's the crux of what you need to know. But it's much easier said than done, and we need to look to Harry to see how JKR did this.
First, unless you've been hibernating in a writing cave the last two weeks (and certainly not been reading this blog), then you know that JKR has recently done it again. She's shaken up the publishing world and unleashed a Fiendfyre among her fans...without even releasing another book. It's all about Pottermore, and more Potter is what it's all about.
On the surface, Pottermore will be the online home of JKR's soon to be released e-books. She's venturing into self-publishing, but in her own way and with her usual trademarked style of engaging the reader. Pottermore will not just be a shopping cart where you can get the electronic books with a few new toys to go along. No, Pottermore will showcase the hoards of backstory and worldbuilding info JKR has been guarding for years in her vault of a brain which her fans have been clamoring to break into. The site promises to involve readers in engaging with each other to discuss the story as they discover the new information and share their own fanart and fanfiction. Games will be included, but the focus, JKR promises, is to bring the literary story to a new digital generation.
