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Thursday, March 15, 2007, 12:23 AM================================================= When you're a newish writer, or even if you're a long-time creator of fiction, it is often useful to look at the work of other writers. This is a good way to get inspiration in a general way, but it's also an excellent means for sorting out what works and what doesn't work. If you write fiction with a fantastic element, or if you want to write for the "young adult" market, J.K. Rowling's blockbuster Harry Potter books are a useful tool. When you look at the work of another author, you want to note the places where the writing just seemed to work and the places that you thought were awful. Think about which elements you liked in the work -- which characters, which places, which things -- and which you disliked. Then spend some time trying to figure out why those things worked or didn't work, why you liked or didn't like them. Then think about whether you were supposed to like or dislike the things you did. All the things you notice are potentially useful in your own work, even if you hated the book and found nothing to like. After all, you'll have learn a few things not to do in your own writing. I took another look at the Harry Potter series with these ideas in mind, and came up with ten things I think writers, especially writers of fantasy fiction, can learn from the books. Most of these are things that J.K. Rowling did right, but one or two are things I think she could have done better. 1. What If? The Precipitating Incident "Precipitating incident" is a pretty big phrase, but all it means is "the thing that started the whole story." The precipitating incident is often the result of thinking "What if?" What if there was an ordinary, unappreciated boy who was really the son of great magicians and a potentially powerful magic-worker himself? That's the "What if?" of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone in the US). The precipitating incident is the event that really gets the story going, the thing that happens to take the character (and the reader) from everyday life into adventure (and it doesn't have to be a fantasy, either). In Harry Potter, it's getting those letters from Hogwart's. Because it starts everything, it's important to have a really good precipitating incident. 2. Change is Good Characters need to change. At the very least, the main character should change and grow and learn. It is possible to write a novel in which the main character doesn't change at all, but then it has to be very significant (and probably the point of the whole book) that the character can't change. In Rowling's books, Harry and his friends learn all kinds of things during the course of their adventures, but the most significant changes occur from book to book as the characters grow older and learn about themselves. 3. Take Charge No matter what happens to the characters, the main character eventually has to take charge and start being the one who acts, rather than just someone who reacts to what others do. At the point where the characters really take over and begin to solve their problems, the story begins to turn towards its conclusion. You can see this very clearly in the Harry Potter books -- all sorts of things happen that effect the characters, but at some point Harry begins to make things happen rather than just reacting, and he always ends up saving the day. Similarly, if you write a story with young people as main characters, you can't have the adults come along and make everything better; that would be a huge letdown for your readers. It's okay for adults to help now and then, but it has to be up to the kids to work everything out in the end. You'll notice that, in the Harry Potter books, adult characters like Hagrid and Dumbledore mostly just advise; Harry and his friends do the real work. 4. The Ensemble Cast Have you ever noticed how your favourite television shows have an ensemble cast (that is, there may be one main character, but there are several other characters that are nearly equally important)? The same thing can work for fiction. Of course, you can have fiction with one main character and many background characters, but having many important characters means you have great potential for sub-plots and interesting complexities that can make your work deeper. It also means that your main character has people to turn to for help. In Rowling's books, Harry Potter is the main character, but Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are nearly as important. These three characters have most of their adventures together, but they also go off and do their own things. Then there are the somewhat-important characters like Ron's brothers and sister, Hagrid and Draco Malfoy. imagine how much less interesting the Harry Potter books would be if these characters were merely in the background. 5. Mix Humour into your Fantasy In my opinion, the Harry Potter books became the hit they did because J.K. Rowling added in a good dose of comedy, even though the books can be quite serious at times. There is gross little boy humour involving boogers and there is a little slapstick and other such silliness to lighten the mood and make these books fun. Other authors -- Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett are good examples -- have had great success mixing humour and fantasy. Just like in real life, the humour keeps the story from become too dark and depressing, and it shows the author isn't afraid to not take herself seriously. 6. Limit Your Magic Also in my opinion, one of the problems with the Harry Potter books is that there are few (if any) real limits on the magic. All the students have to do is learn the right words and focus their attention and they seem to be able to do anything. This can lead the reader to wonder why Harry still wears glasses (for example). If magic can re-grow the bones in his arm, why can't it repair his eyesight? To be fair, though, Rowling doesn't resort to using a wave of the magic wand to solve all problems; her characters have to try hard to save the day. I do sometimes wonder why they have to work so hard, if they have all that magic they can use. So the lesson is: Put limits on your magic. Make it hard to use, or treacherous, or tiring. It'll make your work more interesting. 7. Fantasy can Intersect With the Real World One of the most fun things about the world Rowling created for her stories is that she allows the world of magic to intersect with the real world. In the Harry Potter books, all the magical things that you can think of exist in, but you have to be aware of the magical world to see them (and the magic folk don't like the Muggles to get too interested in magic). Letting magic and reality exist alongside one another allows the reader to think about what it would be like if magical things really did exist and increases the all-important sense of wonder. 8. Fantasy as Metaphor It doesn't have to be obvious, but fantasy can often be used as a metaphor for the real world. This works especially well when the real-world equivalent is too painful to write about as it really is. The Harry Potter books aren't so serious as all that but, like most fairytales, the adventures that the characters encounter can be seen as metaphors for the troubles young people experience as they grow up. If you really wanted to, you could probably find all sorts of metaphors like that, all through Rowling's books, but you probably don't want to dissect them so thoroughly. Essentially, all I mean is that fantasy is relevant in the real world, even though it doesn't exist. 9. Throw Rocks at Your Characters Try this: if your characters are stuck up a tree and can't climb down because there are rabid wolves waiting at the bottom, throw rocks at your characters. You don't literally have to throw rocks at your characters, of course, nor do you have to have the bad guys do it in your story. What I mean is that you can keep up the excitement in the story by making things harder for your characters. The harder things get, the more tension, and the more willing your readers will be to turn the page and keep reading. Think about the last book you just couldn't put down. I bet it was full of tension, even if it wasn't an adventure novel. Look at any of the Harry Potter books; bad things keep on happening. Just when it looks like everything will turn out okay, something goes wrong: the bad guy escapes, a spell goes wrong, Argus Filch catches our heroes going somewhere they shouldn't. 10. Self-Containment and Series Potential There's nothing more annoying than getting to the end of a book only to have to story end without really concluding, so that you have to go out and buy another book to find out what happens. On the other hand, if a book was really good, you want more. The way to solve this is to have a book that is a complete, self-contained story, but that has the potential to lead into another story. Rowling has used each school year at Hogwart's as the frame for her stories -- each year the characters have an adventure and at the end of the book the adventure is over and the day is saved. But at the end of each school year, there is another school year ahead, and the possibility of new adventures. Notice, though, that there is a story thread -- the conflict between Harry and Voldemort -- that leads through all the books and will presumably be resolved when the series ends. So, if you like the Harry Potter books or if you hate them, there are lots of things you can learn about writing by reading them. See if any of these elements will work in your writing! ======================================= yup that it visit . www.tokuasia.com =) Labels: and you get it right, learn more, practice more |