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A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter
What makes the Harry Potter Books so successful? How did J.K. Rowling use world building and character development to thoroughly engage her reader? And how can you write a novel employing her same techniques, whether you write contemporary or fantasy?A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter delves beneath the pages of JK Rowling's blockbuster novels to examine the tools she used in creating stories that enchanted audiences across generations and around the globe. Using the text of the novels as your guide, S.P. Sipal takes you deep into the writing techniques behind the success, including how Rowling created a world that came fully alive for the reader. New chapters include analysis of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them .Whether you are writing contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, or literary fiction , whatever your genre or target age group, this guide will help you strengthen your writing by guiding you as an apprentice alongside JK Rowling's work. Through fifteen specific lessons, you'll learn to harness her techniques to improve your own craft and style and make them more compelling and unique.Topics include :Whether you are just starting out as a writer or have several books published, this guide is a gem that will help you take your writing to another level--and let you enjoy the process as you go. And it's a resource you can go back to over and over again to refill the creative well as you tackle each new project.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 9, 2011
73 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
S.P. Sipal
15 books122 followersBorn and raised in North Carolina, Susan Sipal had to travel halfway across the world and return home to embrace her father and grandfather's penchant for telling a tall tale. After having lived with her husband in his homeland of Turkey for many years, she suddenly saw the world with new eyes and had to write about it.
Perhaps it was the emptiness of the Library of Celsus at Ephesus that cried out to be refilled, or the myths surrounding the ancient Temple of Artemis, but she's been writing stories filled with myth and mystery ever since.
You can find Susan online at HarryPotterforWriters.com, SPSipal.com, and on Twitter @HP4Writers.
Perhaps it was the emptiness of the Library of Celsus at Ephesus that cried out to be refilled, or the myths surrounding the ancient Temple of Artemis, but she's been writing stories filled with myth and mystery ever since.
You can find Susan online at HarryPotterforWriters.com, SPSipal.com, and on Twitter @HP4Writers.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 28, 2012
This has been the book about writing that has made me think the most in a long time.
Susan analyzes Harry Potter series and JK Rowling's techniques and tries to offer help in applying them into different stories. But what helped me the most was, just after reading a chapter or a part of the chapter, I run to the original books, the whole Harry Potter series and tried to search for other examples, or I read things that triggered other ideas and I just kept analyzing and maybe even over analyzing.
Also, some of the chapters made me realize how I could handle a part of my story I didn't know how to deal with yet. So yes, it's worth a read, (and two!).
Susan analyzes Harry Potter series and JK Rowling's techniques and tries to offer help in applying them into different stories. But what helped me the most was, just after reading a chapter or a part of the chapter, I run to the original books, the whole Harry Potter series and tried to search for other examples, or I read things that triggered other ideas and I just kept analyzing and maybe even over analyzing.
Also, some of the chapters made me realize how I could handle a part of my story I didn't know how to deal with yet. So yes, it's worth a read, (and two!).
August 11, 2014
I like the analysis about the Hero's journey (with detailed book-by-book grid), the ambiguity of Snape, the way we enter the story each time from the Muggle world, the way clues are laid out to misdirect, the immense backstory. Very educational and entertaining.
November 16, 2014
I read this last year as Nanowrimo prep and really enjoyed it. We love the Potter books at our house but I'm not what you'd call a Potterhead or anything. I've never read fan fiction or even gotten into fan art. I have writerly ambitions but absolutely no desire to be the next JK Rowling. So this was an interesting choice to read, no?
Well, I really like reading how-to-write books. I may never write anything readable but I sure like studying and researching how. I call this professional procrastination. Anyway, in some of those books -- especially older ones or ones written by men, I have a hard time getting into the examples they site from books I haven't read. I've read the Potter series myself, then read it to my kids, then listened to the audiobooks with my kids, then reread all the books again leading up to the last two movies, then read the entire series again recently while sick. So I'm pretty familiar with the story -- way more familiar than I am with say John Grisham's 2002 novel which was analyzed in another how-to-write book I was reading. Soooo reading a writer's analysis on the Potter series was actually super helpful; way more helpful really, than anything else I've read on the topic. And it was really fun to boot.
Not being one of the super fans who pored over all of Rowling's clues, it was kind of fun to read this guide and see and learn some stuff I didn't get reading them myself. I feel kind of sad actually, that I missed out on the original JK Rowling site with all those Easter Eggs.
I recommend this if you've read and enjoyed the Potter books, feel sort of writerly yourself, and want to learn a few things about how Rowling may have approached her craft.
Well, I really like reading how-to-write books. I may never write anything readable but I sure like studying and researching how. I call this professional procrastination. Anyway, in some of those books -- especially older ones or ones written by men, I have a hard time getting into the examples they site from books I haven't read. I've read the Potter series myself, then read it to my kids, then listened to the audiobooks with my kids, then reread all the books again leading up to the last two movies, then read the entire series again recently while sick. So I'm pretty familiar with the story -- way more familiar than I am with say John Grisham's 2002 novel which was analyzed in another how-to-write book I was reading. Soooo reading a writer's analysis on the Potter series was actually super helpful; way more helpful really, than anything else I've read on the topic. And it was really fun to boot.
Not being one of the super fans who pored over all of Rowling's clues, it was kind of fun to read this guide and see and learn some stuff I didn't get reading them myself. I feel kind of sad actually, that I missed out on the original JK Rowling site with all those Easter Eggs.
I recommend this if you've read and enjoyed the Potter books, feel sort of writerly yourself, and want to learn a few things about how Rowling may have approached her craft.
November 11, 2015
I attended a Harry Potter panel at an HP convention that compelled me to buy this book — it’s a compilation of the lessons and workshops the author has done at various conventions and writer’s panels. I love it. I love Harry Potter, I love reading meta and theories and breakdowns about Harry Potter — there’s nothing that stimulates my creativity more than a whopping dose of Harry, and a critical look at the tactics JKR used to plot her stories and develop her characters is just — perfect to me. Heaven on paper.
March 3, 2015
I've read this twice now and dipped in and out several times. It not only reinvigorates my great love for and awe of the HP series and its depth, but more critically, it never fails to nudge me in my own writing with Sipal's examination of the craft at work in these books, and how they so many aspects can be applied to our own writing, regardless of age category or genre. This is a superb writing craft book and also a wonderfully enjoyable read!
February 23, 2014
That's an excellent book for someone who is a Harry Potter and a J.K. Rowling fan and also a writer. It made me think in ways I didn't consider before. It made my mind explode with new ideas and all sorts of possibilities and it is full of techniques that I can't wait to try once I begin revising my fantasy novel.
March 22, 2015
I'm working on my own series and this book gave me a great deal to think about as I try to put everything together. Also, I liked gaining a better understanding of why the Harry Potter books work so well for so many people.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews