

It’s very important to have, but when used indiscriminately, it can create plot holes. The lesson for aspiring storytellers is to pay close attention to their novelty. And don’t even get me started on time-turners. Talking paintings are really cool, but they raise the question of why Harry and company didn’t ask Dumbledore’s painting for more information in book seven. Unfortunately, some of Harry Potter’s novelty comes at the expense of setting integrity. Without novelty, a story is dull, and the readers will never get to the deeper stuff. Novelty is what grabs readers before they’ve had a chance to get attached to characters or plot. It’s a critical element of audience enjoyment. Novelty in stories isn’t empty razzle dazzle. Chocolate frogs that hop are just weird enough to be cool without confusing the reader, as are paintings and pictures with subjects that move around and visit each other. Rowling does an impressive job making the wizarding world seem different from our own, without making it so different that the reader can’t understand it. Smaller-scale elements are novel as well. So cool!īut it’s not just the big flashy stuff. The kids are brought to school on carriages pulled by invisible death-horses. The main wizarding sport is played by racing around on broomsticks.
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Hogwarts is full of enormous staircases that literally move around. Nearly everything in Harry Potter is designed to inspire awe and interest in the reader. But it had something that drew in readers that previous entries in the subgenre didn’t have: novelty.


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It wasn’t even the first magic school series to attain popularity. Harry Potter was not the first magic school series. Let’s look at five of the biggest strengths from the Harry Potter series. Rowling’s books are popular for a reason, and aspiring writers can learn a lot from them. There’s a lot to critique: a house system that seems designed to churn out evil wizards, potions that grant god-like powers, a sport where only one player on a team of seven matters.īut in the midst of all this critiquing, it’s easy to lose sight of what Harry Potter did right. Critiquing Harry Potter is a popular pastime among speculative fiction fans, and we’ve done our fair share here at Mythcreants.
