by Scott King
•How does magic work?
•What does muggle mean?
•How can motorcycles fly?
•What happened in Godric’s Hollow?
•Who is Sirius Black?
In a few chapters we will go into more detail about creating mystery, but for now, just notice that it’s there. The world and plot are set up in such a way that it leaves the reader wanting to know more. That desire is so strong that it literally convinces them to push through to the next chapter.
Readers want everything to make sense and when they don’t have enough information to make sense of things, they will dig until they have answers. One of the greatest ways to hook a reader is to not give that answer upfront.
“Muggle” has become such an everyday pop-culture term. It’s wild to think that at some point a person might not have known what it meant, and yet here in “The Boy Who Lived,” the term is thrown out without any explanation. This creates an itch in the reader’s mind. It’s a mystery and they want to know what it means. If the answer was given right away it would be just a boring term, but by holding the meaning back it makes the word seem more special and powerful.
“The Boy Who Lived” is an amazing example of how to create mystery and if you are struggling to see that, imagine how different the chapter would be if the answers were given up front. That amount of information would bog down and ruin the chapter. It would take pages to explain how transfiguration works and be boring. The information about Voldemort and what he did to Harry’s parents would be meaningless because it would lack the emotional connection that the reader later develops with Harry. Then there are other issues, like why are owls used to send letters or how magic-devices like the Put-Outer work. Explaining these things would put hard brakes on the story. Leaving out those explanations creates mystery that leaves the reader wanting more.
Chapter One TakeAways:
•Hook your readers in the opening.
•The choices you make are promises you are making to the reader.
•Establish the genre and tone of your story.
•Establish your characters quickly and in a clear manner.
Chapter Two
The Vanishing Glass
Chapter Summary:
This chapter takes place ten years later, and like “The Boy Who Lived,” it is broken into two halves. The first establishes who Harry Potter is and what his home life is like with the Dursleys.
Harry is tormented by his cousin Dudley, he lives in a cupboard under the stairs, and he has to wait on the Dursleys, doing stuff like making them breakfast. It is a miserable life, where Harry is treated horribly, and yet in the darkness, he’s managed to become a fairly well-balanced and happy child.
The second half of the chapter takes place on Dudley’s birthday. A babysitter falls through and the Dursleys are forced to take Harry on a trip to the zoo. Dudley is, of course, angry about this, but they are in a jam and so Harry is allowed to tag along on a real family outing.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley warn Harry, “no funny business,” since he has a history of causing trouble. Strange things seem to happen all the time around Harry, even though he has no control over them. At the zoo, things appear to be going well until Harry begins talking to a boa constrictor. Dudley’s friend sees the incident and calls over Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. As they look, the glass for the snake enclosure disappears and the snake escapes. Once home again, Harry is punished for the incident and sent to his cupboard without getting dinner.
Descriptions That Reveal Information:
Where “The Boy Who Lived” was all backstory and setting up the world and mysteries, “The Vanishing Glass” is all about the reader getting a chance to meet Harry Potter. This is two-fold. There is getting to know Harry and his personality, and there is setting up what his home life is like with the Dursleys. This whole chapter is a big manipulation to establish his character and to make the reader care about him.
The way Rowling makes the reader empathize with Harry is masterful. She doesn’t just throw in a paragraph saying that Harry has a crappy life. She offers snippets of information bit by bit that together form a complete picture of what Harry’s life is like.
The opening paragraph of the chapter starts with a description, not of Harry, but of the Dursley home and how it is nearly unchanged from what it looked ten years ago. The biggest change is in the photos on the mantle. Instead of showing a beach ball-looking baby Dudley, they show a chunkier blond boy living a life where he does tons of fun stuff like going to the fair, spending time with his dad, and playing cool computer games. Then almost as an afterthought the omniscient narrator chimes in with the sentence, “The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.”
It is a small thing, but it says a lot. From that one paragraph, it’s made clear to the reader what the Dursleys think of Harry. Harry is not their son. They did not welcome him into the home and are not raising him as their child. Harry is an outsider and is treated as such.
Rowling could have written a description of the Dursleys’ living room saying something like, “It has four walls, crown molding, and a proper-colored couch.” Instead, she uses her description not just to get visual points across to the reader, but to reveal important information. She continues to use the same method throughout the entire novel.
Anyone who has read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or seen the movies knows that Harry lives in the cupboard under the stairs. It’s one of those well-defined attributes of Harry Potter that people know and yet in the book itself, the reveal that he lives there is brief and casually thrown out.
A knock awakens Harry and is followed by his aunt’s shrill voice. They talk back and forth. Then, several paragraphs later is the sentence, “Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.” This is description with purpose. It sets up that the scene has actually been taking place in this dank cupboard and it shows the character’s strength establishing that Harry is not the kind of kid who is scared or shies away from dark things.
In the paragraph before, Rowling describes what Harry looks like and includes these two sentences: “Dudley’s favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast.” These two sentences establish Dudley’s character, Dudley’s relationship with Harry, and provide insight into Harry’s abilities. Dudley is a bully. Like his parents, Dudley detests Harry and goes so far as to physically beat him. Through all of this, Harry has managed to survive and in doing so has become quick enough to avoid Dudley’s punches.
Elevating descriptions to reveal information is a powerful tool, but even Rowling doesn’t use it all the time. Sometimes a room needs to just be a room. Near the midpoint of The Vanishing Glass, is the sentence, “It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families.” There is nothing spectacular or stand out about this sentence and that’s OK. Writing is about manipulating the reader and sometimes as an author you may just want to throw out a quick description so that the reader can focus on dialog or other things. Finding a balance between the kinds of description you use in your own writing is something you’ll develop over time, and as you read through the rest of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, keep an eye out for when Rowling’s descriptions offer more and try to decipher why she might have chosen to use it in those moments.
Meet Harry Potter:
This early in the novel, and even the series, Harry’s personality is hard to pinpoint. He’s a bit vanilla. By the end of the book, the reader will see that Harry is good, caring, empathetic, has some anger, but even so, his personality will come off duller than other characters. It’s important to note that this isn’t bad writing. It was a deliberate choice that Rowling made.
Keeping Harry’s personality more on the quiet side allows him to be a stand-in, like an avatar, for the reader so that the reader can imagine themselves in the story. This isn’t an uncommon
technique to use in a mainstream novel. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code was a phenomenon when it was released and it handles its protagonist in the same way. The main POV (point-of-view) character in it is like bland porridge. As readers make their way through The Da Vinci Code they can insert themselves into the action and more easily imagine themselves as being the ones on the adventure, trying to find the clues and solve and riddles.
As the Harry Potter series progresses, Harry’s personality will become more pronounced, but in book one, it’s softer compared to other stand-out characters like Hermione, Hagrid, or Malfoy. The other benefit of doing this is that allows a juxtaposition between Harry and the other characters. Harry is the stable window through which the reader will see the story as the narration shifts to a more third person limited, and transitions from the real world to the world of wizarding.
In “The Vanishing Glass,” Harry is dragged to the zoo. He knows he is unwanted. He is warned and threatened about his behavior. When treated like that, many kids would be upset. People like to be wanted and that in-your-face amount of dislike would hurt, and yet Harry is ecstatic. The trip to the zoo is one of the best days he’s had in a long time. While at the zoo cafeteria, Dudley’s dessert doesn’t live up to the boy’s spoiled standards and so his parents get him a new one. As a treat, Harry gets to eat the original. That’s really who Harry is at this point in the book. He’s merely a kid who is happy and appreciative of the things he does get.
Even with his softer personality, by the end of the chapter, the reader is one hundred percent on Team Harry Potter. That’s important because although the protagonist of a novel doesn’t have to be likable, the reader needs to feel some sort of connection. The reader needs to care about the point of view character enough for them to want to keep reading to see what happens. This entire chapter is a big manipulation to make the reader care about him.
In “The Vanishing Glass,” the reader learns Harry is not as special in the Dursleys’ eyes as Dudley is. They see Harry living in a dark cupboard under the stairs. They see him cooking and serving the Dursleys food. They learn about him being bullied, chased, and witness him being verbally abused. The Dursleys don’t want Harry around and don’t try to hide that fact that he is unwanted. The chapter is mean and every little nasty thing that happens further puts the reader on Harry’s side. The easiest way to get the reader to care about a character is to hurt the character and this chapter is one of the most brutal chapters in the book.
Establishing Character:
Dudley is a character that is so easy for a reader to hate. As a writer, it’s hard not to appreciate what Rowling has done with him. Dudley is the star of this chapter and he shines. Beyond being a bully, and the snippets of info that are revealed when Dudley and Harry are compared, the truly telling moment of the chapter that really shows the reader Dudley’s character is when the family is sitting around the table and Dudley is counting his presents.
Dudley counts thirty-six presents, which is two fewer than what he got last year. To the reader and even Harry, that seems like a ridiculous number of presents, but to Dudley, it’s not enough. He wants more and knows that he can manipulate his parents into giving him more.
Mrs. Dursley tries to placate Dudley by pointing out a present he forgot to count, but it’s not enough. Dudley turns his face red, shifting to throw a full tantrum. Mrs. Dursley picks up on it and immediately says they will buy him two additional presents. Dudley struggles with the math, but when he is told that he will end with thirty-nine presents, it’s enough to calm him.
Dudley’s want for presents has nothing to do with how many presents he gets. All that matters is that he gets more than he did before. It’s such a stupid childish mentality and it lets the reader know exactly who Dudley is.
The scene lasts half of the page, but it shows that Dudley is really the one in charge in the house. No wonder he is such a spoiled brat. His parents let him get away with whatever he wants and instead of parenting him, they cave and spend their energies placating him.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley are oblivious to the situation because as the present incident comes to a close, Mr. Dursley laughs about it, as if Dudley’s manipulation was cute or some sort of joke.
Strange Things
“The Boy Who Lived” promised the reader that this is a world where magic and weird things can happen. We got a tease in chapter one, but now as the story shifts more into Harry’s point of view, more weirdness occurs. The main incidents mentioned are Harry dreaming about a flying motorcycle, Harry’s hair growing back to full length overnight after being cut short, a hand-me-down shirt that shrinks to doll size, and Harry flying to the top of the roof of the school to escape bullies. The strange things culminate at the zoo where Harry speaks to a boa constrictor and helps it escape.
Harry has no idea that magic is real, but the reader does and each of these events is a tease, saying “Magic is real. There will be lots of magic. Just wait out a bit longer and things will soon get crazy.”
What’s important about each of the strange events is that they don’t happen as information dumps, but are used to reveal character. The whole reason Harry ends up on the roof of the school is because he was trying to escape Dudley and his gang of bullies. The whole reason the incident about the haircut matters is because Mr. Dursley thinks the haircut looks bad and all that he cares about is how Harry makes the rest of the family look.
Harry’s Wants:
In real life, every person has a want or a need. Those needs shift and change with certain wants becoming more of a priority in any given moment. When sitting in traffic your most important want might be to get home or to work. When watching a movie you may want to finish the movie, but at the same time you may need to go to the bathroom and those two wants will cause you conflict. Do you get up and leave to go pee or do you struggle to hold it just so you don’t miss something in the movie?
Like people, characters have wants. Depending on every scene, every piece of dialog, their wants may change. As the writer, it’s your responsibility to be aware of their wants because their wants will translate into action. Their wants will motivate them to do things and to say things. Sure a whole story may be about a character trying to stop an alien invasion, but along the way, they will want a bunch of different stuff.
One of the reasons Dudley is such a clear character is because his wants are simple and straightforward and he is an active character that tries to make his wants reality. In the scene we discussed earlier he wants more presents and he takes action to secure himself more presents.
Harry’s wants aren’t as obvious until the last two paragraphs in the chapter. Lying in bed, hungry, because he wasn’t allowed to eat dinner after the zoo incident, Harry talks about his dreams. Since he was little he has dreamed about someone coming to take him away. The first sentence in the last paragraph reads, “At school, Harry had no one.”
These two things, with what is shown in the chapter, make it clear what Harry wants. Harry wants to be away from the Dursleys and he wants to be part of a family. Harry’s inner need to find and make a family drive him through not only this novel, but the entire series. It’s one of the strongest themes throughout all of the books.
Later in this book, Harry will want to find the Sorcerer’s Stone and stop Voldemort. Every one of the Harry Potter novels involves him wanting to stop Voldemort, but in the background, there is always his deeper want of family. Harry wants to find a place where he fits in. He wants to have a home.
The intimate wants of a character will often have to do with theme. The bigger external wants will often have to do with the plot. We will talk about this more later when we cover story structure, but for now, keep an eye out for what Harry may want in each chapter and how that evolves as the story progresses.
Chapter Two Takeaways:
•Descriptions are more powerful when they reveal extra information.
•The reader must meet and care about the protagonist.
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p; •The easiest way to make a reader care about the protagonist is to hurt the protagonist.
•Characters must want something.
Chapter Three
The Letters From No One
Chapter Summary:
Summer will soon be ending, and Harry is excited about going to school, because for the first time he and Dudley will be at different schools. One morning, a letter arrives for Harry addressed to “The Cupboard Under the Stairs.” Mr. and Mrs. Dursley look it over and destroy it without letting Harry or Dudley see it. As a direct result of the letter, the Dursleys move Harry from living under the stairs and into Dudley’s second bedroom.
The next day another letter arrives for Harry. This time it is addressed to “The Smallest Bedroom.” Mr. Dursley destroys the letter. A day later three more letters arrive, then twelve more, then twenty-four more, and finally thirty to forty spew out from the living room fireplace.
Mr. Dursley panics. He packs the family up and takes them to a random hotel where a hundred letters arrive. On the verge of a full mental breakdown, Mr. Dursley takes the family to a shack on a remote island. No more letters arrive. Instead, the chapter ends at midnight on Harry’s birthday as a booming knock is heard on the shack’s door.
Creating and Building Mystery:
Chapter one was about backstory and the world the novel takes place in. Chapter two was all about establishing who Harry is and what his life situation is. “The Letters From No One” is where the plot really kicks off and it does so by creating a fast-paced mystery.
As far as mysteries go, this isn’t a huge earth-shattering one. This is not the reveal of who assassinated a president, what happened to Amelia Earhart, or what happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke and, yet, Rowling is masterful in the way she builds up the mystery. The mystery of who sent the letter feels humongous. It becomes a driving point where Harry’s want and the reader’s want align. It’s impossible to read the chapter and not ask, “Who sent the letter and how did they know that Harry lived in the cupboard under the stairs?”
