Harry Potter #1

Yes.

Um . . . yes. I would say a few people here probably have.

Have read all of them.

Yes. In fact, I'm sure quite a few of us on AW have read it.

*puts tongue firmly in cheek*

Dwayne, could it be possible that you have lived through the last ten years and missed ALL of the Potter phenomena??? Unless you live under a rock on some undiscovered island in the Pacific, I don't see how you could have missed it.

I collect first editions of the HP series. I'm sitting on at least one 1st/1st for each book, with several 1st/1sts in different languages as well.

I'll just add, I too have read them ALL, twice. Once by myself, and a second time aloud to my children. I've also seen all the movies (to date) a dozen times each (at least) and played the DVD game (at which my son routinely thrashes me).

Do you have a followup question?

You don't have to be a huge fan to enjoy reading other people's work. I wasn't into the craze, but I did love reading the stories.

DwayneA said:

Currently, I've finished the first two chapters. I've noticed that the author takes some time off from the action to describe stuff such as the strange things that happened to Harry while he's around. I know this is telling, not showing. What was the author accomplishing through this? Is it okay to tell rather than show? Or do you have to "show" all the way through?

Click to expand...

What was the author accomplishing through this?
~She was trying to tell you things that were important to the story but that would be boring to "show".

Is it okay to tell rather than show?
~Yes.

Or do you have to "show" all the way through?
~No.

She's setting up his past so you understand the context as his present unfolds.


SASS- reading through the series for the 3rd time, and listening to the audio books.

I was mulling this over. I think the trick is to know WHEN to show and WHEN to tell.

A lot of people get caught up in RULES that are really suggestions. I would say Rowling is a great story teller, even if the mechanics could use some work. Obviously it is the story that matters, given how many people love the books. It doesn't really matter if a sentence would be tighter by taking out the word "seemed", if the story is so good you lose yourself in it.

May I make a suggestion? Try just enjoying the story and examine the writing later. Have fun and come back, I've been aching to discuss these books again.

My advice is to pay special attention to these elements:

1)The care and respect the author gives to her settings.
2)The constant presence of "loose threads."

The author does these things very well, in my opinion. But also, pay special attention to how #2 works against her, as the climax nears. Sometimes loose threads and cliffhangers prevent a tale from achieving an organic resolution. If you can learn how to do one without compromsing the other, bravo!

Enjoy the book!

What loose threads are you referring to? I thought that by book 7, she'd tied them up pretty well.

Back to the show don't tell question in reference to the beginning of HP#1.

Ok I'm still mulling, obviously.

In Uncle Jim's novel writing thread he mentions the starting point. if you've written quite a bit and discove the story you want to tell doesn't start until a chapter or two in, you've written back story you can cut. So, by Rowling telling, she is summing up the back story to get to the start of the story, which is Harry when Harry gets his letter, imo.

sassandgroove said:

What loose threads are you referring to? I thought that by book 7, she'd tied them up pretty well.

Click to expand...

I'm referring to the general obligation to tie loose threads, and the effect this can have on the resolution. I don't know anything about book 7, but this is worth studying in book 1.

well it is a planned series, she knew she would be writing 7 books when she wrote the first one. So it isn't as though the loose ends don't get addressed later. In a series, you want some, to get people to read the next book. I think she does well in having a resolution for each year while building an overall story arch. I am sorry, but if you haven't read the whole series, how can you assume that the loose ends in book one don't belong there?

I'm not talking about the loose ends that did NOT get tied. I'm talking about the ones that DID get tied, within book 1, and how they may have prevented the ending of book 1from being as natural as it could have been.

It's a common problem in novels. When we force our characters to "tiddy up," it's hard not to lose something. Considered for this purpose as a stand-alone work, book 1 can teach us a lot about why this happens.

well without specifics, I can't agree or disagree.

Harry Potter started exactly where it should have, with a first chapter that is, in my honest opinion, amongst some of the most interesting, grab-you-and-hold-you writing I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

When in chapter 2 she tells some backstory, I'm so hooked by chapter 1 I'd have probably finished the book just on that alone.

A cat reading a map. A trick of the light? It was now reading the sign that said...no, no looking. Cats couldn't read maps, or signs.

I mean. Cmon. Friggin amazing writing.

As far as loose ends and juggling them (bias as I may be, being a tremendous fan of the HP series) I feel that JKR did an amazing job, especially into books 3-5, in leaving just enough loose ends untied to bring you back for the next one, while still resolutely completing the novel. The only book which didn't finish at any reasonable point was the sixth, but by then who cares you'll read #7 too or you wouldn't have read 6

Hi Antar. Welcome to AW.

I agree- but my point was Harry's story- that part we experience from his POV- starts when he is 11, when he finds out he is a wizard. The beginning is more backstory, imo, setting the scene. Part of the magic (heh heh) of the story is that Harry has been separated from the magical world, so that we get to see the wonders of that world with him. If it had been from, say, Ron's POV, the magical world wouldn't seem wondrous to him. It would be harder to convey because nothing's new to him, while it is all new to Harry.

I'm glad Dwayne. Was there anything else you liked about it?