I recently came across the following list on Amazon: “100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.”
As a fantasy writer myself, I decided to spend the next few years reading every book on this list and record the lessons I learned from each volume on how to be a great writer.
Apologies that it’s been so long since I posted. Between holidays, travel and illnesses in the family I have been all over the place.
PLOT: If you’re someone who has access to the Internet and knows how to use it, you probably know the plot of this book.
WHAT I LEARNED: I wrote my first Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone post this past August. At the time I figured I’d said all I had to say about the boy who lived and didn’t foresee any reason to return to Hogwarts any time soon. However, over the past several weeks, I kept stumbling into conversations about the series, until I came up with another (and probably more accurate) reason for its popularity.
There are dozens of reasons for the books’ mammoth success. Rowling weaves an intricately complex story set in an unbelievably detailed world. She populates this world with memorable characters who all have their own goals and agendas and fills her tale with both heart and humor. And, let’s be honest, timing had something to do with it. The world was ready for a series like this one. Had Philosopher’s Stone been published in 1987 instead of 1997 it would have most likely become a cult classic, not a multi-billion dollar behemoth.
So there are a lot of reasons behind Harry’s popularity, but there is one that stands high above the rest:
It makes magic look fun.
Let’s say an ancient man with a long beard and a talking raven knocked on my door and said, “Michael, you’re a wizard. Magic is real and I’m going to teach it to you!” The last thing I’d want to hear is: “By the way, the more powerful you become the more your soul will be corrupted. Also every time you perform magic the universe will exact a price from you ten-fold.”
No! What I would want to hear is: “This is how you fly,” “This is how you transform a stapler into a monkey,” “This is how you befriend a dragon.”
Libraries are full of countless books/series in which magic exists but the characters are taught to be wary of it. In A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, magic is a rarely seen mysterious force that exacts an impossible tole upon those who employ it. In The Magicians by Lev Grossman, magic is so difficult it’s almost impossible to get right and only makes the characters’ lives more miserable. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings the ring that makes you invisible contains a whole universe of evil and magic is reserved for ancient men and women (mostly men) who are wiser than both the main characters and the readers.
There are several reasons for this trend. Keeping the “supernatural arts” (is that a term?) at arm’s length makes them more mysterious. Also, every character needs problems so it stands to reason that the problems in fantasy novels would come from sorcery. Finally, since magic doesn’t exist in our world (as far as I know) there’s little point in telling a story in which the heroes use it to overcome challenges.
So I’m in no way saying that books with this take on the supernatural are in any way “wrong.” In fact the magical systems in A Song of Ice and Fire are much more surreal, intriguing and literary than anything in Harry Potter. What I am saying is that much of the appeal found in Potter’s Wizarding World comes from the fact that magic is so accessible.
As I mentioned in my previous H.P. blog, Philosopher’s Stone is fun in part because it’s a wish fulfillment story. Our hero is a bullied kid raised by parental figures who openly hate him, but one day he discovers he not only has supernatural powers but he’s being encouraged to use them. Most of the other characters want him to levitate objects and fly through the air. He’s never told, “If you perform magic, the dark arts will consume your soul!” He’s told “Do magic because you’re a part of our world now and it’s a part of you.”
Obviously, this take isn’t appropriate for every fantasy story (imagine if Stephen King had this outlook in Pet Sematary or Children of the Corn). You may be writing a story where a darker magical system is more appropriate. However, you may want to still consider the possibility that your characters could have some fun with the supernatural elements in their world.
Even when I was a kid (especially when I was a kid) I never liked the idea that magic was inherently wicked or will punish those who use it, a concept found in MANY fantasy novels. I know that Harry Potter wasn’t the first series to encourage its hero to use magic, but it was one of the first to really hit the mainstream, and that’s one of the reasons why it took the world by storm. Because at the end of the day we don’t want to be told, “Magic is real!” We want to be told, “Magic is real and please, please use it.”
