Interesting that Randy Ingermanson brought up the question about what makes Harry Potter successful over on his Advanced Fiction Blog. The comments end up posing the question whether the books are actually character driven or plot driven.
I suspect in good stories plot and character are so intricately woven, a person can’t really distinguish the two. This is the tangled web I referred to in yesterday’s post. But add to that the theme. If it is skillfully woven into the story, then it should appear seamlessly, as an outcropping of the character’s development.
Which brings us to the fourth element of fiction: setting.
It is in the setting of her stories that I think J. K. Rowling excels beyond most contemporary writers.
In examining the primary setting of the early Harry Potter books, I find myself camping on people as much as I do things. Hogwarts comes alive as a place, not only because of the moving staircases or the horseless cart or even the portraits whose subjects move about but because of the cast of minor characters. What would the school be without the teachers, the bullies, the nerd?
Then for the special fantastical touch, the ghosts take on roles, the owls display unique personality, the dragons (book 4) are different from each other.
Speaking of the fantastical, Rowling does an amazing job of marrying the make-believe of wizardry with the known of contemporary life. So the brooms used to fly about have new, improved models coming out from year to year. Wizardry books have titles that could have been about history or geography or science, the curriculum of the school advances as the students advance. In other words, there is a feel of the known given to the make-believe.
Without a doubt, the Harry Potter books reflect what an author can do with setting. But the key point is, it all contributes to the story. It’s not just window dressing.
In book one when we learn the owls deliver the mail to the students, that seems like a fun tidbit, but in book 4 when Harry needs to communicate with Sirius, the owls delivering mail are vital to the plot.
Ah, the truly tangled web of good story telling! All the elements weave together. Does the spider plan out his web, or is he just connecting the available points within reach?
Setting. Very important.
The setting, or milieu, in science fiction and fantasy is often one of the most important parts of the story. I had some issues a while back with some folks who don’t normally read this genre. They didn’t understand that I needed to set the tone in order for the story to move forward.
But “world building” is essential to good sci-fi/fantasy. The world itself functions like a character and needs backstory.
Think of “Dune.” There were so many layers in that book: religious, economic, social, political. It all added up to fantastic backdrop for the characters and the story.
A well-woven setting can make the difference between a good story and a classic.
Comment by Merrie Destefano — August 1, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
Harry Potter without the big plot would not have been a hit. A story about a magical boy that’s mostly rambling and lots of ordinary events and conversations. Ho-hum. What made Harry enthralling is that the plot was BIG, the type that Maass would characterize as BREAKOUT…a bigger than life hero, a bigger than life villain, a bigger than life conflict that affected the whole world.
Without a big plot and big conflict (and the delicious mystery element that kept you wondering), forgeddaboutit. Character alone doesn’t drive a mega-seller of that size. It’s gotta have something whiz-bang. (Think Da Vinci Code.)
Now, you can have a mega-seller that’s emotional and less plot-driven, but that usually taps into the huge readership of romance, which is a character-driven genre. If you don’t have intense romance, you better have big action/drama/plot if you want to catch a big audience.
In Harry’s case, Harry’s identity is, inextricably, the plot, so Rowling was smart to meld identity with inevitable conflict. The Boy Who Lived is also SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER in part the Villain Who Kills. Cool. The villain’s obsession with killing Harry (one of his core traits) will inevitably lead to his own destruction. Kill the boy = Kill self.
Mir
Comment by Mir — August 2, 2007 @ 8:55 am
Mir, I agree that the plot is what keeps readers flipping pages, but there are other excellent fast-paced stories from contemporary writers. Rowling excels beyond most others with her setting. And as Merrie said, setting can become a character, in the way it impacts a story. I don’t know if I’d go that far to say the setting in HP is a character, but it makes the fantasy seem so realistic, so believable, it enhances the believability of the characters and therefore the danger they are in. In other words, it all works together.
Becky
Comment by Rebecca LuElla Miller — August 2, 2007 @ 1:25 pm