by Scott King
The Passing of Time:
The majority of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone takes place over a single school year. Throughout the novel, Rowling gives the readers constant clues that time is passing, the biggest of which is the changing temperature and the passing of holidays. Which such a wide spread of time, Rowling had to specifically pick and choose when events would take place and what events should appear in the novel. Imagine how long the novel would be if she showed the readers every single thing that happened to Harry over a ten month period. The book would be thousands of pages long and it would be utterly boring…
Harry woke up. It was the tenth of March. He stretched, and waddled to the loo where he relieved himself. Noticing his breath smelled worse than a goblin’s backside he brushed his teeth. Waiting for Ron to wake he stared out the window, watching the finches. Ron woke. They both changed and made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry ate two hard boiled eggs with ketchup, while Ron had a breakfast biscuit with a honey glaze sauce. They talked about Quidditch and wizardly things, until Hermione said they were being too loud and told them to study.
As an author, you are an all-powerful being that can literally control time. Sometimes you will want to show fully fleshed out scenes that last pages. Sometimes in a single paragraph, you will need to cover the events of a full day. What you are doing is compressing and decompressing time to show the audience the events that they need to see to understand the story you are trying to tell.
In the opening paragraph of “Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback,” Rowling hits the fast-forward button, letting weeks pass without any details or scenes of what went on during that time. By the next page, Easter zooms by, winter is now over and it’s officially spring. The first full scene in the chapter is the one between Harry, Ron, and Hagrid in the library.
Rowling could have opened the chapter with Hagrid hiding something behind his back and talking to Harry. She deliberately chose not to jump directly to it. She actively chose to show compressed time to create a sense that time itself was passing.
After the scene in the library, the passing of time compresses again until the scene in Hagrid’s hut. Then it compresses again while the kids wait for the dragon egg to hatch. Rowling is no longer even specific about how much time has passed. She simply says, “Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It’s hatching.” Instead of wasting time on the daily bits that don’t matter, Rowling skips ahead to the important stuff.
When writing your novel you’ll have to decide for yourself when you want to compress and decompress time. Is it important for the reader to see the details of a character walking from their car to the front of their house? Sometimes it might be important to establish the setting, tone, or the pacing and that short walk could take two whole paragraphs. Other times it might not matter and you can cover it in a single sentence.
What is the point?
The whole adventure with Norbert is a strange one. The important moments from the chapter are as follows:
•The kids learn that Hagrid has a dragon egg, that he won while drinking.
•The egg hatches and the kids convince Hagrid he can’t keep it.
•Draco learns of the dragon.
•Ron contacts his brother, Charlie, who sets up a midnight rendezvous.
•The dragon bites Ron and Ron ends up in the infirmary.
•Draco learns of the midnight rendezvous.
•Hagrid, Hermione, and Harry successfully get Norbert to Charlie’s friends.
•Harry, Hermione, and Draco get in trouble.
The chapter plays around compressing and decompressing time, and for such a short chapter, a lot happens. Early on in the chapter, Hagrid drops the news that specific professors helped create the spells and traps protecting the Sorcerer’s Stone. This aids Ron, Harry, and Hermione in solving the challenges in the second to last chapter.
The whole incident with Norbert, adds to Hagrid’s character and the storyline he has running through the novel. In “The Boy Who Lived,” McGonagall hushes him and talks to down to him. When he gives Dudley a tail he reveals that he’s technically not allowed to do magic. When he and Harry visit Diagon Alley he seems to have a weakness for alcohol. He is a character with a big heart, but it is very clear that he is a screw-up. The fact that he has an illegal dragon is easily believable and it says a lot that it’s children who have to convince him to give it up.
“Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback” is also set-up for Chapter 15, “The Forbidden Forest.” The next chapter is one of the most important chapters in the novel. For the events in it to play out, Harry had to be in trouble at the start of it.
Earlier in the novel, it seemed like the chapters had a single focus. “The Letters From No One” is about building a mystery. “The Keeper of the Keys” is about paying off the mystery and launching the story in a new direction. “Diagon Alley” is about world-building and exposing both Harry and the reader to a new world. It’s not that those chapters couldn’t have multiple main focuses, it’s that Rowling chose not to let them. Now that the novel is quickly approaching the end, more things need to be set-up at a quicker pace. It works because Rowling has spent the entire novel training the reader.
By taking baby steps and leading the way for the reader, they have become well-versed in the world of Harry Potter. Fewer explanations are needed and she can jump around a bit more in time without the reader getting lost. Think of it like anything you would learn in class as a student. At the start of the year, things go slow and you learn the basics. Once those are down, the teacher makes things more complicated. By the end of the year, your understanding of the subject is far superior and those early lessons seem simple.
Your novel is like a class. No matter the genre you are writing in, you are teaching the reader the ways and things of the world. You are training them in what to expect and not expect. Sometimes you may even twist and play with that expectation. On one hand it might be weird to look at crafting a novel as, “Oh I’m manipulating every aspect of this story to steer the reader down a path,” but that is exactly what you have to do and once you do it, it gives you more leeway later in the novel to take the story to wherever you need it to go.
Author Voice:
Just like how characters have a unique voice, authors have one too. It’s why a novel written by J.K. Rowling doesn’t feel like a novel written by Stephen King. Imagine for a moment what Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would be like if Stephen King wrote it:
•The Dursleys would have been more abusive, most likely drunks, and more middle or lower class.
•Instead of being set in England, the book would take place in a small Maine town.
•The magic that the kids learned would be less cheery and more dangerous.
•Ghosts would have been horrible monsters instead of comic relief.
•A bunch of Harry’s classmates would have been killed as the novel progressed.
•There would be a lot more cussing.
•There would be more gore and violence.
•Thematically it would be a more adult novel.
These are just a few things that are King-like and it’s easy to think of King-like things because of his voice. When examining his full body of work, there are traits that reoccur constantly. They aren’t limited to only the plot. Voice infects dialog, how the descriptions are written, the pacing, the structure, the characters… everything.
Here are two passages. One is from a Rowling-written novel and the other from a King-written novel. Can you tell which author wrote which?
Passage One:
“In those interminable moments while he was groping for the switch with his right hand (his left arm curled around the doorjam in a deathgrip), that cellar smell seemed to intensify until it filled the world. Smells of dirt and wet and long-gone vegetables would merge into one unmistakable ineluctable smell, the smell of the monster, the a
potheosis of all monsters. It was the smell of something for which he had no name: the smell of it, crouched and lurking and ready to spring. A creature which would eat anything but which was especially hungry for boymeat.”
Passage Two:
“It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.”
The first is clearly King. It’s a quote from It. The second is Rowling. In both, the authors are trying to describe something that is scary and gross. King’s sentences are longer, use larger words, and are creepier and grittier. They invoke emotion. Rowling’s descriptions get the job done, so that the reader is able to imagine the creature, but is less specific about the details, making her monster a more wondrous and less creepy thing.
It’s not that King’s description is better written. If you took the passage from It and shoved it into Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it wouldn’t fit. It would stand out and not feel right. This is why that no matter how tempting it is to try and imitate the voice of your favorite author you shouldn’t. Only Rowling can write like Rowling and only King can write like King. Embrace who you are as a storyteller and put that on the page.
If you as a reader hate stories with a twist, don’t put a big twist in your story because you think you have to have one. It’s that simple. When you write your novel, bits and pieces of who you are will bleed into the words. If you create something that goes against all your personal taste it will be clear in the writing. Tell the story only you can tell and tell it in a way that only you would.
Chapter Fourteen Takeaways:
•Authors can compress and decompress time as they need.
•There is nothing wrong with slowing down or speeding up as long as it is an intentional choice and serves the story.
•You can train your reader in how to experience the world you create and the better trained they are the more leeway it will give you later on.
•Like characters, all authors have a voice that impacts all aspects of their story.
•Best way to find your author voice is to read a lot, write a lot, and embrace your personal storytelling preferences without trying to imitate other authors.
Chapter Fifteen
The Forbidden Forest
Chapter Summary:
Filch takes Harry and Hermione to McGonagall’s office. In it is also Neville, who also got in trouble for being out of bed past curfew. McGonagall falsely determines that Harry and Hermione made up a story about a dragon to get Draco in trouble and that Neville was accidentally tricked into believing it too. As punishment, she strips 150 points from Gryffindor, putting the House in last place for the House Cup.
The next day, Harry has gone from hero to pariah. It’s so bad that even the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students turn on Harry, while the Slytherins cheer him on and thank him. Harry considers quitting the Quidditch team, but Oliver tells him that is pointless, saying it’s better to remain on the team so that he can win back some of the points he lost.
A week before exams, Harry overhears Quirrell and Snape talking. It appears that Snape finally forced Quirrell to crack. Before he has a chance to really look into the matter though, McGonagall sends a letter saying that the detention he, Hermione, and Neville earned for being out past curfew will occur at eleven that night.
They report to detention and are joined by Draco. Their punishment is to go into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and help a wounded unicorn. Some creature or thing has been hunting unicorns and this is the second one in a week that has ended up hurt.
The group of Hagrid, Neville, Fang, Hermione, Harry, and Draco come across two centaurs, Ronan and Bane. They act cryptic and seem obsessed with the astrology. After not getting any real answers, Hagrid says in order to cover more ground that they should split into two groups. Hagrid, Hermione, and Harry stick together while Neville, Fang, and Draco head off alone.
Things don’t work out, due to Draco pranking Neville, and soon Harry, Draco, and Fang are paired-up. In a clearing, they come across a dark shape drinking the blood of a freshly killed unicorn. Draco and Fang flee, leaving Harry alone with the thing. Harry’s lightning scar erupts in pain. The creature acts if it is about to attack Harry, but before it can a centaur named Firenze appears, and scares it off.
Firenze tells Harry that unicorn blood prolongs life, even to someone who is on the verge of dying. Harry realizes that the dark shape was Voldemort. Voldemort is drinking the blood to stay alive as a temporary measure and his real goal is to get the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Once back in the dorms, Harry tells Ron and Hermione everything he learned. They piece together that Snape is trying to get the Sorcerer’s Stone so that he can give it to Voldemort.
The Stakes:
Characters want things. Usually, over the course of Act II they will want a Big Thing. If they don’t get what they want, a bad thing will happen. That bad thing is what is called the “stakes.” It’s everything that it is at stake if a character fails.
Throughout Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry has wanted lots of things. At the start, he wanted a new life. As Act I ended and Act II began that shifted. He was exposed to the wizarding world and his wants shifted. The two Big Wants Harry has had over the majority of the novel has been to unravel the mystery of what was in vault 713 and to win the House Cup.
The stakes for the House Cup have been clear; if Gryffindor fails to get it, Slytherin will win it. By this point in the novel, it’s clear how bad that would be. The Slytherins are jerks. They are sore winners and not only would they win it, but they would constantly rub it in the faces of all the Houses. Even Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw winning would be a preferred outcome to Slytherin getting it.
The stakes for the mystery of vault 713 are different. At first, the stakes seemed to be that if they didn’t solve it, that it would bug and annoy them to not know. Then once they learned about Snape and his desire to go after it, it became a competition where the stakes were if they failed, he would win. As stakes go, it’s not that bad, and thematically it is very on par with the stakes for the House Cup. On a scale of one to ten with one being “not a big deal” and ten being “the end of the world,” Snape getting the Sorcerer’s Stone to use it for himself would be maybe a six. However that all changes in “The Forbidden Forest.”
Rowling does something that is often called, “raising the stakes.” She makes things worse and they dial up going from a six to breaking the scale. From all the world-building that the reader and Harry have seen at this point, there is nothing worse than the idea of Voldemort, the evil monster who killed Harry’s parents, getting the stone and using it to come back from the supposed dead.
Raising the stakes is not an easy feat to achieve. A lot of writers new to writing think that raising the stakes is a matter of adding in more explosions or the risk of death. To truly raise the stakes, an author must take something intimate and important to the POV characters and put those things at risk.
The reason Voldemort’s return is such a high stake is because what Harry wants more than anything in life is family. In his first year at Hogwarts, Harry has finally started to form a surrogate family. Voldemort puts all of that at risk. It’s not just that Voldemort and Harry have a history. It’s not that Voldemort will harm people if he comes back. It’s that Voldemort is a danger to Hogwarts and everything Harry has come to care about.
When looking at your own story, and trying to raise the stakes to up the conflict at the climax of your novel, buckle down and take a hard look at what matters most to your POV characters. Take whatever that thing is, and put it at risk.
Structure:
“The Forbidden Forest” marks the end of Act II and the start of Act III and it is finally time to dis
cuss what structure is and how it works. The majority of novels and movies make use of a three-act structure. Under the paradigm, Act I is the start of the story, where things are set-up. Act II is the middle of the story where relationships are built and the conflict rises. Act III is the climax where everything that was set-up is resolved in a dramatic exciting way.
Within the three-act structure, usual beats, moments of the story, occur. They generally break down as follows:
ACT I
Hook:
The opening sequence to the story where the author establishes the genre, sets the tone, and starts setting up reader expectations so that the reader will know what kind of story the author is telling. This sequence should include a hook, some sort of mystery, to make the reader want to know more.
Meet the Protagonists:
A series of scenes where the reader gets to meet the protagonists of a story. It is important that in these scenes the reader learns what the protagonists’ intimate wants are and see why that character currently can’t achieve that want. If the character has a traditional flaw or flaws they are revealed here. If the main themes of your story were not introduced in the Hook they start to be revealed here. Depending on the type of story being told, a novel can have one or more protagonist.
The Status Quo:
After meeting the protagonist, the reader needs to learn the life situation of that character. At the end of Act II the protagonist’s life will blow up and this is the first look at what that life is like.
Catalyst Moment:
The life situation of the protagonist must change and that change happens in the catalyst moment. An outside force, another character, or the protagonist’s flaws must cause something to happen that spurs change.
