Guest Post - Martina Boone on World Building

I'd like to introduce you to our fabulous guest blogger today... but Martina Boone needs no introduction.  If you're a writer and online enough to be reading my blog, then I'm betting there's very few of you who are not already fans of Martina's.  Martina, (along with the awesome Lisa Gail Green, one of this blog's followers), runs Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing, a blog that serves the writing community brilliantly.

But beyond Martina's resourceful blog and her supportive Twitter feed, I'd like to introduce you to Martina the incredibly talented writer and my insightful and caring critique partner (yes, I'm so lucky!).  Having been a fan of Martina's online world, I got to know the real person when I read one of her manuscripts -- and was blown away.  I will tell you, honestly, a comment I gave her after reading her story -- "I cannot wait until this gets published so I can create a fan blog for it!"

Seriously.  It's that good.  And I do not say this lightly when I say that Martina reminds me of JK Rowling.  She knows how to work with mythology, complex themes, and subtext (oh-my-god SUBTEXT!) to tell a fun and compelling story.

I was thrilled when Martina's lovely short story, "Bringing Lula Home," was chosen along with mine to be included in BelleBooks' newest collection of Southern-style short stories, Sweeter Than Tea, that released this week.  You'll absolutely love Martina's story of reconciliation, long-hidden family secrets, and a woman's triumph in reclaiming the art buried in her own heart.

So, please, join with me today in welcoming Martina as she shares her wisdom on creating an intriguing, full world for your characters to inhabit.  (And believe me, can Martina world-build).

Also, one lucky commenter will receive a copy of Sweeter Than Tea.  So, make your voices heard!

World-building: The Hooks of Magic in Your Book

By Martina Boone

One of the things that J.K. Rowling does best with her Harry Potter books is the way that she twists and incorporates classic mythology to create something new. Myths have undoubted power. Tapping into them is a great way to add heart and depth to a modern story because, over time, the power of myth has burned into the human dna. 

As Joseph Campbell, perhaps the best known writer on the subject of mythology, put it:

"Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths."

When we write at our best and most enduring, I am convinced, we are writing our own personal spin on a myth. The deeper the myth and the more we embellish it, the truer it becomes. And at its core, fiction is truth. Unless we make a story true, we cannot make it readable.

So what is truth in fiction? Emotion. That is the real power of myth: honest emotion shown in a way that others can understand and relate to their own experiences.

We all know there are only a handful of stories in the world. What sets them apart are:

• the craft and the artistry with which they are told
• the timing in which they are delivered, and
• the characters that bring them to life.

To paraphrase what Susan said in her wonderful guest post this week on the Adventures in YA Publishing blog, the truth is in the details. That is why we have to spend time on world-building. Whether we are writing fantasy or southern literature, paranormal or mystery, our characters must inhabit complete worlds populated by other round characters. They must all interact in interesting locations brought to life by unique and identifiable music, food, weather, clothing—all the trappings of actual life. In order to create a living, breathing book, we have to also create community, a place where readers want to move in and stay a while.

Here is another quote from Joseph Campbell:

"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.” 

What does that really mean? What is the experience of being alive in a book? It is the experience of what it means to be the characters in that book. It means that we aren't simply showing the action. We are making the reader experience it along with the characters. To do so, we invoke what the character's see, smell, hear, taste, touch, feel.  And we make that unique. That's what Jo Rowling does best. She makes her world and her stories unique but universal at the same time. She taps into the power of myth to reach the deepest truth and build the truest fictional world.

Think about some of her most powerful images:

• The boy with the thunderbolt on his forehead. Thanks to mythology, we all equate the thunderbolt with the strongest gods.
• The boy in the closet under the stairs. As a symbol, this has great power. Not only is he metaphorically "in the closet" – with his true self hidden, but he is at the basest part of the house, at the very bottom with nowhere to go but up. He lives in the dark, he lives as a servant. She's told us all of that in one sentence: "Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept."

In her HARRY POTTER FOR WRITERS book, Susan Sipal does a brilliant job likening Harry Potter to the Hero's Journey story structure, and that is, of course, the classic mythic structure. As Susan put it, "To put it simply--the Hero’s Journey is the story plot which has lasted the longest because it strikes a basic, universal human chord of truth. Thus the Hero’s Journey is the archetypal outline for a blockbuster plot."

I couldn't agree more. I've based my own plot complications worksheet on the turning points in the Hero's Journey, and I love using that as a basis for getting my thoughts in order. But the Hero's Journey structure is only the beginning. It gives us the framework within which to weave our stories, and we do that by creating the most meaningful, interesting details we can possibly come up with and melding them together to make a new and vivid pattern.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that a kick-ass plot and some bits of mythology or symbolism are going to turn your opus into the next HARRY POTTER. What makes J.K. Rowling (and every other bestselling author) so successful is the specificity of the world-building. Tap into this in your own work by using hooks.

Susan identified "the hook" as another aspect of Rowling's success. She applied it to character:

"One technique JKR utilizes to make each individual stand out unique from the others is to give each character a hook; a description, personality trait, or association which defines him or her and distinguishes them from everyone else. A hook is one of the earliest and simplest tools to help familiarize your reader with your character. Simply put, a hook is something the reader can hang their memory on, that helps them, especially in the early stages of your story, remember who that character is and what their place is in your world."

In my own writing, I have recently discovered that I can apply hooks to every aspect of my work. I am becoming convinced that each world, each fictional community, each character, each location, each chapter, each page in the book should have a hook. 

• World: What sets your world apart from every other world? What makes it different than our world? What makes is more wonderful? More horrible? More terrifying? More beautiful?
• Community: What sets this group of friends or co-conspirators apart from the norm? What brings them together into a cohesive unit? What makes this "group" something that your readers will want to belong to? What is the hook on which this community is based?
• Character: What is the most memorable thing about your character? What distinguishes him or her from every other character? Physically? Personality-wise? In background? Include a hook for each.
• Location: What is the most memorable thing about your setting? Your overall setting? Your scene settings? Include a hook for every place, and include things that your characters can interact with to "set" the mood and location in the reader's mind.
• Chapter: What happens in each chapter that is unique? What is the one-sentence take-away and how did you make it memorable?
• Page: Is there a detail of character, setting, scene, or community that is memorable and alive?

World-building is easier said than done. I think it is probably the most difficult thing to do. The artistry in it comes not from including overwhelming details, but from selecting the most telling details. In choosing the details that will best convey the hook to the reader, and then by artistically showing different facets of the hook to set it in the reader's mind.

Think of tapping into the power of myth as the structure of the story you are weaving, and use the hooks of your characters, settings, community, and so on as the threads that create a vivid and detailed tapestry. When you put the warp and weft all together, you will have something unique and enduring.

Every story is different, even when they are the same at heart. As Susan and I both have short stories in the SWEETER THAN TEA anthology that just came out this week, I will use that as an example. The prompt for that was to write stories in southern settings that make you want to prop your feet up, sip a cold glass of sweet iced tea, and lose yourself in a way of life that exists between the pages of How It Was and How It Might Have Been—just a little bit south of the long path home. The thirteen stories in the collection couldn't be more different though. And each has its own cast of memorable characters and a setting that's unique and vivid.

So you see, there is world-building even in the world of southern fiction. There is world-building in memorable fiction everywhere. Just find your hooks and use them to weave your story.

****

Susan here - I can't tell you what a thrill I get from seeing myself quoted in the same post as the great Joseph Campbell! :-)

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Martina.  And everybody, the few of you who haven't already, be sure to visit Martina's blog, follow her on Twitter, and definitely check out Sweeter Than Tea!

Martina's Bio - Martina Boone writes fantasy and magical realism for adults and young adults when she isn’t writing web site copy, and resides in Virginia with her family, a therapy dog, two black cats, and as much wildlife as she can coax into taking up residence in the yard. 

(Check Out JK Rowling's Newest Release -- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here!)  
 

New Release, Guest Post, and Upcoming Workshop

Today I've got several updates and news items I want to share with you:

Sweeter Than Tea - BelleBooks' newest collection of Southern short stories has been released and includes my story "Running Raw."  The book is available on Kindle and will be coming soon in paperback and other formats.  Running Raw is the story of a prodigal daughter returning home to run a "milk-shine" business to save the family farm.

Guest blog post - In celebration of this new release, I guest posted yesterday on "The Devil's in the Detail" at Martina Boone's blog, Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing.  Martina also has a story in Sweeter Than Tea that you must read - Bringing Lula Home.  It's very touching story with great atmosphere involving old family secrets and an artist reclaiming her passion.  Martina will be guest blogging here on Thursday, so be sure to come back!

Ascendio 2 012 - I mentioned a while back that I will be presenting A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter at a large fan and writer's conference this summer in Orlando.  Now it is only 1 month away!  Seriously, all you writers out there, you need to check this conference out.  It's got a wonderful writing track with a slew of great agents and editors in attendance:

• Joanna Volpe (agent)
• Lindsay Ribar (agent & author)
• Carlie Webber (agent)
• Ben Schrank (publisher)
• Cecilia Tan (publisher & author)
• Omnific (publishing company)

And the following authors: Lev Grossman, Beth Revis, Libba Bray, Veronica Roth, Aimee Carter, Michelle Hodkin, Kaza Kingsley, Mark Oshiro,  Connie Neal

Be sure to come back Thursday for Martina's post, and watch out for more changes and updates coming soon.... :-)

The Three Sisters in Harry Potter - Hermione, Ginny and Luna

Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos - the Moirai, or the three sisters of Fate

When I was working up the post on Luna -- The Eye of Harry a few months ago, it struck me that JK Rowling had used cat imagery with each of Harry's three main female friends.  Hermione is transformed into a cat in Chamber of Secrets through a Polyjuice Potion used improperly.  Luna wears the Gryffindor Lion hat in Order of the Phoenix as a vision of a modern Sekhmet.  And also in OotP, when Harry is with the Weasley kids awaiting news of their father after Nagini's attack, he sees Ginny "curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open; Harry could see them reflecting the firelight (p. 423, Bloomsbury)."  Very cat-like imagery associated with this daughter of a mother who was once described as a "sabre-toothed tiger" (CoS, ch. 3).

A triple Hekate

Why would JKR use cat imagery to link all three of her young female leads?  I've been pondering this for a while, and I think the answer lies, like the hints do, in mythology.  As Luna's lion hat was a tip toward the ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhment, so too were many ancient goddess associated with the cat family.  And when we're talking about goddesses, the threefold imagery is common across many cultures.  Whether  we look to the maiden/mother/crone manifestation so popular with Neopagans, a single goddess viewed in triplicate as with Hecate, the three mothers of the Matres or Matrones, or three sisters such as the Fates (or Moirai), the Norns, the original three Muses (later extended to seven or nine), or the Graces, it seems that frequently the fullness of the feminine divine was expressed in triadic.  Perhaps this was as a matter of balance.  A duality implies polar opposites, tension, but three suggests fruition, a stabilized harmony.

The Muses: Clio, Euterpe and Thalia
by Eustache Le Sueur

Of the triple goddesses mentioned above, while I think JKR employs maiden/mother/crone imagery within HP by the use of any of the three girls as maiden, Molly Weasley as Mother, and Minerva McGonagall (or Augusta Longbottom) as Crone, I don't think that's the triune goddess she is going for by linking Hermione, Ginny and Luna.  Instead, I think she seeks to invoke the Three Sisters.

The Fates (or Morai) were known to spin the fates of all people.  Clotho spins the thread creating life; Lachesis uses a scale to allot or determine the portion of life each will receive and a cornucopia to dispense their fortune, and Atropos snips the thread bringing that life to an end.  Ginny, as a younger version of her mother of seven, (her middle name is Molly), signifies the creation of life.  Indeed, to Harry under the effects of the love potion, Amortentia, Ginny's smell is of spring flowers.  Hermione, with her keen mind and her sense of justice, represents the scales of Justice of Lachesis.  It is fitting that she goes into a legal career, fighting for the lives of all magical creatures, when she graduates Hogwarts.  Luna, with one eye always in tune with a world beyond our own, and an ear which hears the voices beyond the veil, is aligned with the bringer of death, Atropos.  Interestingly, there are a variety of needlework imagery associated with Hermione, from successfully changing a match to a needle in her first Transfiguration class, to the knitting of the hats for the house elves, to the scissors she uses to trim Harry's hair while on the run in Deathly Hallows.

Wadjet-Bast

But the three sisters are not only found in the Fates or Graces.  In looking back to the Egyptian mythology from which the cat-like imagery originated, we see many sister-goddesses as well.  Although relationships among the Egyptian deities is fairly fluid as the mythology evolved and developed over thousands of years, there are three goddesses who were considered daughters of Ra, and thus sisters -- Hathor, Bastet, and Sekhmet -- the last two with feline representation.  All three of these goddesses were at time considered to be the Eye of Ra

Sekhmet

The Eye of Ra (Re) was a powerful, feminine element in Egyptian mythology, personified by a variety of goddesses, and depicted as an all-seeing eye and solar disk.  The Eye was Ra's creative partner and protector.

"The Eye goddess acts as mother, sibling, consort, and daughter of the sun god. She is his partner in the creative cycle in which he begets the renewed form of himself that is born at dawn. The Eye's violent aspect defends Ra against the agents of disorder that threaten his rule. This dangerous aspect of the Eye goddess is often represented by a lioness or by the uraeus, or cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Ra)

Hermione, Ginny and Luna are three very different girls from three different families who come together for a common goal, and though there is at times conflict between them, in the end, they find a harmonious balance as they seek to aid and protect Harry in his goal to vanquish Voldemort.  In many ways, Luna is the opposite of Hermione, with her belief in a logic outside the norm and Hermione's firmly rooted in reality.  Likewise, Ginny embodies the fiery elements of the Sun, whereas Luna the more mystical, shaded elements of the Moon.  Ginny is a natural risk-taker; Hermione has to force herself to challenge authority.  Hermione is Muggle-born, Ginny is pure blood, and Luna, though born of both witch and wizard, lives on the outskirts of magical society, both through the eccentricities of her father and his work at the Quibbler as well as her own non-conformist views.  In their role of assisting Harry (Ra/Horus) Hermione has keen insight into the problem at hand, Ginny provides fearless action often when others are hesitant as shown in the battle at the Department of Mysteries, and Luna sees what others cannot or will not.

In the defeat of Voldemort, Luna leads Harry to the diadem of Ravenclaw and the final Horcrux (aside from Harry himself) to be found, Ginny participated in the Battle and comforted the wounded during the lull between the fighting.  And Hermione, of course, was with Harry throughout the whole Horcrux hunt, having the honor of dispatching that part of Voldemort's soul lodged within Hufflepuff's cup.

The Graces at Pompeii

Perhaps the most telling moment of how these three girls become Sisters occurs during the Battle of Hogwarts when they join together to fight against the female who epitomizes the dark side of the Goddess: Bellatrix.

"Bellatrix was still fighting too, fifty yards away from Voldemort, and like her master she duelled three at once: Hermione, Ginny and Luna, all battling their hardest, but Bellatrix was equal to them, and Harry’s attention was diverted as a Killing Curse shot so close to Ginny that she missed death by an inch--" (p. 589, Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury)

It is, of course, at this point that Mrs. Weasley steps in, and in her sabre-tooth tiger form of mother and protector, utters her most famous line -- "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" -- and puts an end to the demonic evil that is Bellatrix.

But again -- the girls -- united as one, brought together for a common goal, became sisters in their role as the Eye of Ra and protector of Harry.  For JK Rowling, I think it was important to balance out a story which focused on a male hero and villain with the overwhelming support of the Female in all her divine glory.  Through Hermione, Ginny and Luna, JK Rowling was able to sketch a portrayal of various aspects of womanhood, sisterhood, and the balance in a relationship of very different people.  It also emphasizes JK Rowling's theme that family is not merely a matter of blood kin.

If there is one thing I would change to have hit this theme home even more, I'd have made Mrs. Weasley's use of the word daughter plural rather than singular.

Question -- as Hathor is often associated with cows, I'd think it interesting if JKR had included any bovine references or images within Potterverse, but haven't yet found any.  If you know of one, or other needlework imagery associated with Ginny or Luna, please comment below!

(Check Out JK Rowling's Newest Release -- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here!) 

Harry Potter Books Coming to Kindle Owner's Lending Library

Amazon has just announced that all 7 Harry Potter books by JK Rowling will be coming to their Kindle Owner's Lending Library.  Currently, readers can purchase the electronic Potter books for their Kindles, but must do so through Pottermore with Amazon providing links.  With Pottermore having sold nearly $5 million worth of e-books in its first month alone, Amazon must be seeking a heavier paycheck.

The Kindle Owner's Lending Library is part of the perks available through Amazon's Prime.  Members are able to check out a book a month for free through this lending library.  Authors who put their books into KDP Select receive a percentage of funds set aside monthly.  The more books an author has checked out, the more they receive.

I'm very curious to see how the Kindle Owner's Lending Library and KDP Select will be affected by the inclusion of the Potter books.  But I'm even more curious as to how a deal such as this will affect Amazon's growing power in the publishing marketplace.

What do you think?  Are you glad to see the Potter books available for a free library through Kindle?  Or are you concerned about Amazon's increasing dominance?

Kreativ Blogger Award & a Peek at My WIP

I usually don't like to focus on myself on this blog, but Melinda Collins of the fabulous Muse, Rant, Rave blog, gave me two awards a couple of weeks ago that I thought would be fun to share here.

The first is the Kreativ Blogger Award, and I have answered its 11 questions below. (Actually, I think the questions I answered are a combo of awards put together by Tina Moss and passed on to Melinda).  The second is the Lucky 7 Meme, where you share part of your WIP, and I have copied that below the Q&A.

I hope you enjoy this short break, and I will update later in the week with more info on what's new and exciting in all the developments coming out from J.K. Rowling.

1) What setting best describes you?  A cabin in the Appalachian mountains overlooking a clear mountain stream.  Actually, to make that even better, connect it by wormhole to a mountain in Turkey, on the Black Sea Coast, overlooking some ruins.

2) What was your favorite childhood book?  I would say it was a series.  I absolutely loved the Little House books, but I always came away feeling like a naughty, spoiled girl after reading about Laura's life.

3) Besides reading and writing, what are at least two of your favorite past times? I spend a lot of time fermenting. :-)  I make kefir, kombucha, beet kvass, yogurt, all kinds of cheeses, and really anything that can be improved with the addition of time and microorganisms.  Besides that, I love spending time with my family.

4) What is the coolest/strangest thing you've ever done? Living in Turkey for several years with my husband and his family is definitely at the top of the list.  The first time we moved there, before kids, we lived in Antalya, on the southern Mediterranean coast.  We made friends with another Turkish-American couple and would go hiking together every weekend.  We didn't have cars, so we'd take a bus out to the mountains and follow a trail to the top of one.  There were always ruins to pass along the way.  One weekend we hiked to the top of Mount Olympus (yes, there is one in Turkey as well), and we camped overnight just above the eternal flames.  I think we even used the flames to heat tea.  A guy from Batman passed during the night, which made both my husband and the other Turkish husband a bit nervous as Batman, in eastern Turkey was near the area of some terrorist activity at the time.  The next morning, we were awakened to the sound of bells outside our tents as some very young goatherds and their goats traipsed silently by on their way down the mountain.

5) If any character from any book could be your best friend, who would it be?  Well, considering the nature of this blog, I guess I'll pick a Harry Potter character.  And I'd pick Lupin.  I always liked him a lot, and except for his furry little problem, felt that we had a lot in common.  But it might be hard to be best buddies now, aside from the whole fiction thingie, as he's dead. :-(

6) If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? Spy on my teenage kids is probably not a good answer, I guess. No, of course I would never do that! :-)

7) What famous person (dead or alive) do you consider a role model for your own aspirations? I hope it doesn't seem presumptuous to say JK Rowling is one of my role models, because I surely don't mean in the way of achieving her financial success.  And I would honestly hate to achieve her level of fame.  But to be honestly true to my story, to have it well told, and to so engross the reader both above and below text...that would be my idea of ultimate writing achievement.  Also, to take any financial success I may experience and share it so well with others that I drop in income level would, I think, be awesome.

8) Which Greek or Roman (or other culture’s mythological) deity would you be (either who you’d like to be or who you most resemble)?  The Anatolian mother-goddess who is the predecessor of Cybele, Artemis of Ephesus, and many other mother-goddesses who followed.  She was worshiped, it seems, at the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to the new agrarian communities. Here's a pic.

9) Would you marry a Vulcan?  I did.  Just one who speaks with a Turkish accent.

10) Do you believe in any conspiracy theories? I'd like to answer this from a different, alien, angle.  I definitely do not believe aliens altered the course of human history, but I really like watching those shows that say they did.  Sometimes, it takes someone to look at historical evidence from a totally wacky angle to come up with interesting bits of possibilities that are not seen by the mainstream.  It's those little intriguing bits of forgotten archaeology and history, not the overall hypothesis, that I can get into.

11) If you were to reincarnate, what would you be?  Well, as cats are at the top of the reincarnation chain, I guess I'd like to come back as a house cat.  Sleep all day, have a house full of human servants to care for my every need, soak up the sun...what could be better?

For the Lucky 7 Meme Award:

Rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy the first 7 sentences, paragraphs or lines exactly as they are written, no cheating.
4. Tag 7 authors and let them know.

From my WIP, Call of the Jinn, a YA contemporary fantasy:

the cockpit, he stepped to the helm.
    "Dad, I'm fifteen." She followed in his wake, closing the door firmly behind her. "I'm not a child anymore. You've got to start telling me more about them...both sides."
    "You're still not ready." Fiddling with the GPS, he glanced at her over his shoulder, and his expression softened. "Listen, I lived among the Jinn most of my early life. You learn to recognize these things. High, uncontrollable passion is the truest mark of a Jinni. I've never met Hinkelstein, but have heard about him. He's an artist, running a musician hotspot, always in the forefront with anything provocative in the community, lets his passions rule his sense." 

And to continue both of these awards, I'd like to tag seven readers of this blog who I know have blogs of their own.  Pick either award, or do both, and if you do, please give us a heads-up and a link!

Tag! You're IT!!

1) Farida Mestek
2) Priya Sridhar
3) Jeremy Feijten
4) Nicole Rivera
5) Mary Ann Dennis
6) Leslie Rose
7) Laura Marcella

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

She's announced it! We've got a title, a description, and even a release date!

Coming from J.K. Rowling on September 27, 2012, The Casual Vacancy::

   When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.
   Seemingly an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
   Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.
   And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
   Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

See Jo's site for more info.  And come back here for more details as they are released.

Thanks so much to Farida for alerting me.  I'm knee-deep in edits and am offline to work.  As soon as I finish, though, will scrounge up all the details I can.

Criminal Profiling a la Supervisory Special Agent Dumbledore

If you've ever watched the TV series Criminal Minds, you'll know that this show takes the popular crime investigation plot to a deeper level as the investigative team delves into the mind of the unsub (unknown criminal subject) to understand his motivations, his modus operandi, and who he is likely to target next in order to aide law enforcement officials to prevent him from acting again.  The process frequently involves understanding patterns of behavior and past experiences which have influenced the unsub into acting out against others.


The Criminal Minds' team of profilers, based on the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, helps law enforcement solve and prevent crimes with three main goals:

Holmes and Holmes (2008) outline the three main goals of criminal profiling:^[2]

• The first is to provide law enforcement with a social and psychological assessment of the offender;
• The second goal is to provide law enforcement with a “psychological evaluation of belongings found in the possession of the offender” (p. 10);
• The third goal is to give suggestions and strategies for the interviewing process. (Source: Wikipedia)

According to researcher and profiler Gerard Labuschagne, the investigative team follows a standard process which includes:

1) gathering information from multiple sources, especially if more than one crime has been committed
2) identifying significant and shared features from each related crime
3) determining the unsub's modus operandi or signature

Much in the same way, throughout Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore takes Harry on a quest into the criminal mind.  Specifically Tom Riddle's.  Dumbledore and Harry become a profiling team of two in order to delve deep into Voldemort's past, understand his patterns of behavior, especially in regards to the creation and hiding of his Horcruxes, so that Harry may survive their future showdown.

'Sir ... is it important to know all this about Voldemort's past?'
'Very important, I think,' said Dumbledore.
'And it ... it's got something to do with the prophecy?'
'It has everything to do with the prophecy.'
'Right,' said Harry, a little confused, but reassured all the same. (p. 203, HBP, Bloomsbury)

Look again at the Holmes and Holmes outline above.  As the profiler to Harry's law enforcement, Dumbledore helps Harry assess Voldemort in all three goals:

1. social and psychological assessment -- Through the Pensieve, Harry views Tom Riddle's troubled family history, his lonely years at the orphanage and the children he terrorized, his pack of "friends" at Hogwarts who became the first Death Eaters, and his need to set himself above all others and attain immortality.
2. psychological evaluation of belongings -- The Horcruxes!  Harry and the reader learn that Voldemort kills primarily to make Horcruxes to ensure his eternal life.  These bits of Riddle's soul are secured within physical objects, objects (like the Gaunt family ring and relics of the Hogwarts founders) that bear significant meaning to Voldemort.  What's more, these Horcruxes are then hidden in places that have played a prominent role in Riddle's life -- such as the home of his mother and a secret room at Hogwarts.
3. suggestions and strategies for the interview -- Throughout these journeys into Riddle's past, Harry comes to understand Voldemort, his goals, fears, motivations.  This insight plays a crucial role throughout Deathly Hallows as with Ron and Hermione by his side, Harry must stay one step ahead of Voldemort in his quest to seek and destroy Horcruxes, as well as when in his final confrontation, he offers Voldemort one last chance for redemption.

Along the way, following the process outlined by Labuschagne, Dumbledore and Harry gather information from multiple sources and crime scenes, identify the shared features within each of Voldemort's murders, and are then able to come to the conclusion of the nature and number of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

'But now, Harry, armed with this information, the crucial memory you have succeeded in procuring for us, we are closer to the secret of finishing Lord Voldemort than anyone has ever been before.  You heard him, Harry: "Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces ... isn't seven the most powerfully magical number ..."  Isn't seven the most powerfully magical number.  Yes, I think the idea of a seven-part soul would greatly appeal to Lord Voldemort.'   .......

   'However, we should not congratulate ourselves too heartily.  You destroyed the diary and I the ring, but if we are right in our theory of a seven-part soul, four Horcruxes remain.'
   'And they could be anything? said Harry.  'They could be old tin cans, or, I dunno, empty potion bottles ...?'
   'You are thinking of Portkeys, Harry, which must be ordinary objects, easy to overlook.  But Lord Voldemort use tin cans or old potion bottles to guard his own precious soul?  You are forgetting what I have shown you.  Lord Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical history.  His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling place in magical history; these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his Horcruxes with some care, favouring objects worthy of the honour.' (p. 470 - 471, HBP, Bloomsbury)

With her use of trophies and assessment of a modus operandi, it seems fairly obvious to me that J.K. Rowling studied criminal profiling to some extent to better develop Voldemort's criminal mind.  This is the kind of research and depth of character development we need to go to as writers if we want our readers to accept our characters, both protagonist and antagonist, main characters and secondaries, and relate to them as if they were real.

In the earlier books, Voldemort was not the fully-fleshed villain which he became later in the series.  Indeed, it was the criminal profiling journeys of Supervisory Special Agent Dumbledore and Officer Potter which helped both Harry and the reader finally get a feel for Tom Riddle as a complex and motivated individual.

Also, these Pensieve journeys throughout HBP played into one of Rowling's key themes of the series as well providing a critical clue for this particular book.  By studying Voldemort's backstory, the reader sees clearly the importance of choice along the way, especially as Harry's shadow, Voldemort's choices can be contrasted so starkly against Harry's.  Finally, by having the reader look literally below the surface of the Pensieve throughout Half-Blood Prince, Jo gives the reader the tools to look beneath the surface of the actions taken by THE Half-Blood Prince at its climax.

I've included a table below so you can refresh your minds on the Pensieve trips Harry and Dumbledore took to explore Voldemort's past and understand his present.  But, what about you?  How much research do you put into profiling your villains?  And, out of curiosity, are you into any of the currently popular criminal investigative TV show?  I admit I'm partial to NCIS.  Big Tiva fan. :-)

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; 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

Fan Fun and Writing Conference at Ascendio 2012

Hi All,

Sorry for the couple of weeks absence.  Every now and then I need a break to recharge my blogging cells. :-)

But there's an exciting event coming up that I want you all to know about.  I'm going to be presenting my Writer's Guide to Harry Potter workshop at the upcoming conference Ascendio 2012 in Orlando in mid-July.  I've been talking with one of the conference PR team, Heidi Tandy, who's really excited to get the word out to writers that this conference, which has always included participation and programs for authors, will this year include a special track within the conference especially geared to writers of both original and fan fiction.

The Quill Track will not only include workshops and panel discussions covering the craft and business of writing from experienced authors, but will also host several agents and editors who are Harry Potter fans as well!  It may interest you to know that some of the agents began as fan fiction authors themselves and were moderators on Fiction Alley.

Scheduled agents who will be taking one-page pitches include:

• Joanna Volpe with Nancy Coffee Literary & Media Representation
• Carlie Webber with the Jane Rotrosen Agency
• Lindsay Ribar, author and junior agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.
• Diana Fox with Fox Literary

And editors include:

• Molly O'Neill with Harper Collins Children's Books
• Cecilia Tan, author and publisher of Circlet Press

Plus many exciting YA (and other) authors will be attending, presenting, and signing books, including Aimee Carter, Beth Revis, Lev Grossman, Veronica Roth, Michelle Hodkin, and Mark Oshiro.  You can read all their bios at the Quill Track Authors, Editors, and Agents page.

Ascendio will be held at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando from July 12 - 15 and includes many exciting events for both writers and fans of the Harry Potter series, including a special after-hours event in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.  Full registration or one-day passes are available for the conference, and the hotel rate is the best available for the summer months.

Other programs of interest to writers include:

• panel discussions on hot topics in publishing, including commercial publishing vs. self-publishing, LGBTQ in YA, how to get an agent, and more
• practical presentations by successful fans-turned-published authors on how to go from fanfic to pro writing, as well as how-tos on self-publishing ebooks
• workshops on writing (fanfic and original) and critiquing

And for those of you who have ever written fan fiction, there will be a producer attending Ascendio who is filming a documentary on the history of fan fiction and its creation.

I'd love to meet you all in person, and what better place to meet than at a Harry Potter fan and writers conference!  Imagine it -- where else can you go to have both the fun of a fan gathering with the opportunities  of a writers event?  So if you can work writing and Harry in Orlando into your summer plans, join me for some fun!

Also, be sure to check by Jami Gold's blog if you haven't already as she's got some exciting things going on, as she usually does, especially for writers interested in fan fiction.  Jami tackled the ethical questions behind the prior fan fiction Fifty Shades of Grey, which has generated a ton of debate in the comments section as well as being highlighted on GalleyCat.


So, who all is planning on attending a writing conference in the upcoming months?  Which ones?  And, I'm curious, how many of you have written fan fiction?  I know several of you have.... :-)  (friends from the Ukraine, Puerto Rico, California, and Arizona come to mind!)