I Can't Really Help It

I am really and truly starting to get excited about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Let me tell you, July 15 can not get here quickly enough.

I've already asked my super wonderful mother-in-law to pretty please consider babysitting that day so I can go see it. I am sort of trying to convince my husband to take the day off of work so we can go see it together and as early in the day as possible.

The corners of the internet that I frequent are abuzz in a pretty much non-stop flow of details popping up here and there about the film. Not all of them are spoilers, mind you (well, not for anyone who has read the books). There are bits about the casts saying their final farewells and doing interviews about the experience now that it is almost completely totally over. There are just posters for the film being released for each of the characters, and trailers abound, of course.

I am as curious to see what is new and different from the book as I am excited about finally getting to see this epic tale--and it is epic, make no mistake about that--come to its visual conclusion.

The stars lined up wonderfully when Part 1 came out last November. My husband and I just happened to have planned a weekend away to Austin, just the two of us, that coincided with the film's release. I left the theater absolutely amazed and in awe. It was so fantastic! How on Earth was I going to be able to wait another eight months to see the rest of it??????

But those eight months are almost gone by. It is almost here. Every day there is something new out there to keep my anticipation elevated.

I may have mentioned here that I have been reading the Harry Potter books to my daughter at bedtime. It is slow going, we only get through about half a chapter a night. I know she is too little to truly understand, but I am establishing the routine of a story at bedtime, sharing with her something I love (setting the groundwork for it to worm its way into her consciousness and effortlessly become a beloved part of her life later down the road), and it is a chance to read through the series again. We are about half-way through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows right now. We are almost to the part where the first movie ended. Each night as I read to her, it gets more and more difficult to hold back, and to stop for the evening.

When this book was released, I was almost done with my reread of the first six stories in the series. In fact, I was finishing up The Half-Blood Prince when it arrived (I had pre-ordered it and, of course, selected same-day delivery). As soon as I finished book six I picked up my lovely copy of the final book in this cherished series, took a deep breath, and dove right in. I did not come up for air until I had finished. I stayed up until about six o'clock the next morning reading the entire thing. I could barely make myself stop to eat that day, I just couldn't put the book down. Reading it now in bits and pieces is an exercise in patience unlike any other I have ever known. Probably, it's good for me, but still. It is a challenge.

I have a predilection for books that come in series. Be they trilogies or more drawn-out affairs, I like getting several books to get to know a world and its inhabitants. Many of them I have read through two, maybe even three times. But I have lost count of how many times I have read and reread the stories so masterfully told by J.K. Rowling. These are books that I pick up only to find myself utterly lost within their pages.

Rowling has worked a powerful magic in writing these books, and I will forever be grateful to her for giving them to us. She could have easily accepted the movie deals and stepped back, letting Hollywood have its way with her work, but instead she was involved almost every step of the way through all eight films. These movies certainly have their ups and downs, but there is no denying that they have magic in their own right as well. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the final installment holds in store for us! I have no doubt I will be thoroughly enchanted.

So, to J.K. Rowling, I tip my hat. From the very bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. These are stories that will weather the generations, in both formats, I'd wager. I fully expect to be reading them to my grandchildren one day. Thank you for inviting me with you on this long, strange, wonderful journey. My life has been all the better for it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is how writing is done right.

Looking For The Right Voice

I have been reading the Harry Potter books to my daughter for a while now.  At bedtime, we get through about half a chapter, sometimes a little more, a night.  We're up to Order of the Phoenix right now.

I know that she's way too little to really understand what is going on in the story, but she still seems to enjoy the time.  It helps set up the bedtime routine for later on down the line, and it also shows her that the big books without pictures can be just as interesting as the card books she plays with every day.  Also, the earlier I can get her to soak up and develop a love for Harry Potter, the better.  I am enjoying this time as well, especially because I know it is short-lived.  It is only a matter of time before Baby Girl realizes how much better her daddy is at reading stories to her (he does the voices remarkably well, a task at which I usually fail spectacularly) and demands that he be named the official Story Reader of the house.  But for now this is our time, and I am loving it.  Also, it gives me a chance to read through the Harry Potter books yet again, and that's never a bad thing.

But in reading these books to my daughter, I have discovered a couple of things.  The first is that I am pretty sure these books really weren't meant to be read aloud.  While the narrative is incredible, Rowling's sentence structure and overall narrative style doesn't lend itself to the translation from page to voice.  Part of this is because with the way she writes it is ridiculously easy to get caught up in the scene, carried away with what is going on, and you want to read at the pace of the characters.  Doing this aloud leads to all kinds of tongue-tripping craziness.  These books are meant to be devoured in large chunks at a time, while you are curled up on a sofa, under a blanket, with a nice cup of tea, lost to the rest of the world.  Which leads me to the second thing I have discovered.

I want to write like J.K. Rowling does in these books.

I don't mean that I want to write YA, because I really don't.  But I have noticed that while I am reading Harry Potter, I feel like I am in the room with these characters, experiencing what they are experiencing as it happens.  That's because in addition to telling (and showing) us what Harry, Ron, and Hermione are up to, Rowling also takes the time to slip in what is going on over in that other corner (Fred and George testing their Skiving Snackboxes on a group of first years, perhaps), or maybe down that corridor over there behind them (Mrs. Norris eying Lee Jordan suspiciously as he walks to class with his hands shoved firmly in his pockets and a mischievous smirk on his face).  The reader gets the sense that while we are going through the story with Harry and his friends, they are not the only people in this world.  Very rarely does Rowling have the trio secreted in a private dining room where they can talk about their plans in complete assurance that they won't be overheard.  There is always a risk of an eavesdropper at Hogwarts, always the chance of being interrupted.  Interruptions are as likely to come from a well-meaning friend as from a malicious foe.  As a result, it feels so much more natural than most stories do.  So much more real, despite that it is set at a school for witches and wizards. 

She also has given these stories the most amazing voice.  Despite the heavy and dark nature of the overall story, or perhaps because of it, she manages to keep a lighthearted tone throughout.  These people are just silly, and in the best way possible.  Just as I read through the scenes in which Harry is in grave peril wanting to bite my nails and both hesitant and anxious to turn the page, I read through other scenes trying to control insane fits of giggles, often failing.  Because, well, goodness, who doesn't laugh out loud when Neville causes a brief distraction by turning into a canary?

I don't know why, but something about the silliness strikes a chord in me.  It makes the scary stuff more real, somehow.  It also manages to give a sense of truth to the characters.  They seem to react more naturally to the events that occur around them.  That voice, that balance between preposterous and real, that is something I want to capture in my own writing.  I'm not really convinced of my own brand of humor enough to try to be funny when I write, and often my characters are coming up against some heavy, end of the world sort of foe (which is a crutch I rely on far too much and am trying to be aware of and avoid).  I think, no, no, being silly just wouldn't fit.  But then I read Rowling and I think to myself, maybe it can.

At the very least, in Rowling's books I have a fine example of stellar world-building and the use of humor to infuse some reality into a very unreal situation.  I doubt I'll ever quite capture lightning in a bottle the way that she did, but that won't stop me from trying.  Sometimes that's all you can do.