Harry Potter

I wasn't going to post anything, but I decided I just had to. I saw Deathly Hallows 2 this afternoon. It was the second time I saw the film. Loved it just as much as I did Thursday (though that first audience was a bit more vocal in their enthusiasm for certain scenes, which really adds to the experience).

So why is Harry Potter so important to this nearly senior citizen grandmother? Because just like my kids, I got sucked into that amazing world that Jo Rowling created. We bought the book Sorcerer's Stone (SS) for a son who wasn't a fast reader, hoping it would make him want to practice. Didn't work. Then.

The book sat on his bookshelf for a year until his next younger brother (who is a fast reader) decided to try it. Didn't take long before he was begging us to pick up Chamber of Secrets (CoS)and Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA). This was about the time Goblet of Fire (GoF) was coming out, and there was tons of talk about the books on TV.

I asked my son who'd read them to let me have his copies, so I could read them. I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about.

My life hasn't been the same since.

My family's love affair with the series began then. Everyone read them (my oldest son is the only one who never got past the first couple of books). My son who's not into reading, is very much into audiobooks. He LOVES the series. We've had some lively discussions about where we thought Jo was headed.

When I finished the 4th book, I told my hubby that I thought he'd love them, too. I went back to SS and started reading them aloud to him.

And that's when my first inkling began of what a treasure trove these books are. The thrill doesn't just come with the school book titles or authors (though they're hilarious) or the moving scenes about this poor abused boy seeking to find friends and acceptance while refusing to become an abuser himself.

It comes when you realize how that crafty Jo Rowling has hidden so many things in plain sight. Examples: Sirius Black is mentioned casually in SS but becomes a major play in PoA. Or that vanishing closet that Draco worked so hard on in HBP was first introduced in CoS. It's in that clever little spell Fred gives Ron to turn that stupid rat Scabbers yellow. We assume the spell doesn't work because it wasn't a real spell or because Ron did something wrong. But it might not have worked because Scabbers wasn't really a rat at all.

Clever, clever girl, that Rowling.

Because of the information that we learned with each new book, we had to go back and read the older books in the series again. The new information changed the way we viewed things.

It wasn't until Half Blood Prince (HBP), though, that I just HAD to have some answers. After reading the book, I wrote down a page full of questions. I talked with other people I knew who liked the books, and we bounced ideas around. But I wasn't satisfied. I thought perhaps there must be something online.

Uh, yeah.

I first went to Mugglenet and signed up, though I never posted. I went to Jo's website and found that she'd awarded The Leaky Cauldron with the best fan website that year, so I went there. Turns out they had a forum called The Leaky Lounge, so I signed up there, too.

And that's where I found the Dumbledore Isn't Dead thread.

I got pulled into the debate (one of the three hottest ones discussed--the other hot topics included Snape's loyalty and whether or not Harry and Hermione would get together, what we called the 'shipping wars' with 'shipping' meaning relationships). The debate about Dumbledore still being alive included some pretty amazing discussions with people who were writers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, college professors, physicists, etc. The depth of the discussions was amazing. Seriously, people were looking at the trajectory of when Snape's spell hit Dumbledore and comparing the description of the spell compared with all the other Avada Kedavra deaths that had been described. Adults. Adults of all ages.

Kids' books? Who is anybody kidding to suggest these are just kids' books?

At the Lounge I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

And then I did.

Go to heaven, that is.

Five years ago last March, I was invited to become a moderator. I was absolutely stunned but thrilled. I've met so many absolutely wonderful people through that experience, both Lounge members and other moderators. I have friends now from all over the world ... including some other aspiring authors (like Donna and Suzie).

As the frenzy began a few months before the release of Deathly Hallows, I got to mod the forum that was Unfogging the Future (named for one of Harry's Divination textbooks) and then once we had a title Unfogging Deathly Hallows and eventually Deathly Hallows Unfogged. People were so busy theorizing about what everything meant that for the two months prior to the release I'd spend my entire lunch hour and usually three hours each evening reading posts and making sure people behaved themselves (and didn't spoil--that was a battle for all of us, believe me).

Because I knew about the epilogue, which Jo had written before she wrote the first book, I worried about someone at a large bookstore event opening their book and going to the back to see who lived and died. You see, Jo told us that the last book was a book about war and that it would be a bloodbath. I had emotionally prepared myself that any and all characters might die.

I volunteered to help out with a release event at a small bookstore at Gardner Village. This resulted in me being interviewed on television the day before the book came out. You could have blown me over with a feather when I got that phone call and the guy said he heard I was a Harry Potter guru. The call came to my work. O_o Turns out the lady at the bookstore had been contacted about doing it and she referred them to me. My hubby graciously gave them my phone number. Because of all the theories I'd read, I was quite versed in the possibilities.

And just so you know, I called it. They asked me if I thought Harry would live or die. I said, "Yes."

That night I attended the release party with my family. Another moderator lived in that community, and she attended with her children and the two of us did trivia quizzes for people. The atmosphere fit, and the people were wonderful. I got my book at midnight and we headed home. I was (mostly) spoiler free.

We got to experience something no others will be able to. We lived through the time when no one knew what the outcome of the series would be.

My life has been enriched. Not just with the books, though they'd have been plenty. But with the people I've gotten to know and care for.

Thanks, Jo.

Grammar

When I was a little girl and in school, I could have sworn that my teachers presented grammar as set-in-stone rules. The way they showed me how to do something was the only way to do it. I graduated from high school and moved on to college, and no one ever said anything different.

Well, guess what? I moved into the business world and attended a training session that provided me with a "Duh!" moment.

Latin grammar never changes because Latin is a dead language. Dead? Yes. Because there's nowhere in the world where people actively speak it, so it never changes.

That doesn't work with English. English is a vibrant, ever-changing language. It's the official language in several countries, and each one manages to tweak it in their own way. For example, in 2007, the word Woot was the Merriam-Webster Dictionary word of the year. If you follow the link you'll see what it means. But do you know where it came from? We Owned the Other Team. It's a gaming term that's now being used by people who aren't gamers.

Snarky is another word I like. I heard it for the first time when I became a moderator at the Leaky Lounge. Many of the other moderators are British, and that's been mostly a British term, according to Dictionary.com. But I'm hearing it a lot now, both from people I associate with and on American television and in American books.

This is my first post in a weekly series on grammar (future posts should be shorter). From what I read in books, we writers seem to have a bit more discretion than people in the business world. For example, Jo Rowling uses comma splices all the time. What's a comma splice? It's when you use a comma to connect to standalone sentences. In business writing, it's considered poor grammar.

Ted grabbed the ball. He threw it at Bill.

Ted grabbed the ball, he threw it at Bill. (this is a comma splice.)

Grammatically correct options? You can connect the two sentences with the word "and".

Ted grabbed the ball, and he threw it at Bill.

If the sentences are closely related, you could use a semicolon.

Ted grabbed the ball; he threw it at Bill.

But Rowling's editors didn't find it necessary to edit out all her comma splices, so that implies to me that for writing books (not about grammar or for business), we may have some discretion. Who decides? My guess is your editor.

But everyone needs to know there are different styles of grammar. And the rules are different, depending upon the style you're using. When I teach classes on grammar, I suggest that my coworkers choose one style and be consistent. At work, we use the Gregg Reference Manual. This is business oriented, but it's still a good resource about grammar rules. They update every five years to keep up with trends. Click here if you'd like to see a list of other sources.

Notice in the following (hilarious) video the reference to the Chicago Manual of Style. They aren't talking fashion.

So where are your grammar strengths? How about your weaknesses? What resources do you prefer to use?

Blogging Challenge Y (words for Scrabble) -- and Harry Potter (there's a Y in his name)

It's been a long week, and I have a lot of stuff to do this weekend--like get my 15 page critique ready for Bootcamp at the Storymaker conference next week.

I'm glad we're nearly at the end of this blogging challenge. I certainly didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I'm glad I did it. It's been a challenge, and I've met a lot of lovely people.

I found this really fun site with words you can use when you play Scrabble. I want you to notice that the column to the left is for words that begin with Y, and the column to the right is for words that end in Y. I laughed when I immediately responded to all those to be avoided "ly" words.

Dang but this writing hobby is starting to impact my real life ... like another hobby I still cling to.

And speaking of that other hobby, check the new Deathly Hallows 2 Trailer. If you've read the books and know what happens, there are some poignant scenes in there.


All I can say is SQUEEE!

End of An Era

A Facebook link motivated today's post (see below for the video). Can you imagine being an author whose creative endeavor captures the imagination of millions?

What is the Harry Potter phenomenon? Obviously, it began with the books. But Jo Rowling and Harry Potter have done more than make Rowling one of the richest women in the world and Harry Potter a major moneymaker for Warner Bros. The inspiration of the Boy Who Lived and Dumbledore's Army have inspired millions, adults and children alike, to expand their creativity and to strive to make the world a better place.

When I finished Half Blood Prince, I wanted more. I knew the movies had garnered millions of fans, but I had no idea there a was whole other world online. Sites like The Leaky Cauldron and its forum The Leaky Lounge drew people to discuss and dissect the books and share in the wizarding experience. There was the battle to keep the books from being banned. Melissa Anelli, webmistress of and adminstrator for TLC's forum, does a wonderful job capturing the entire fan experience in her book "Harry, A History."

So many muscial groups were started and began touring that a new music genre was created called Wizard Rock, nicknamed Wrock by their adoring fans. You can download their songs on iTunes. The groups include Harry and the Potters, The Moaning Myrtles, The Ministry of Magic, and Draco and the Malfoys to name a few. The list is huge. (Some of my favorite songs are Snape vs Snape and The Bravest Man I Ever Knew {spoiler alert on this one} [serious songs], and Cedric [hilarious]).

There have been (and are still planned) educational symposiums and conferences to discuss all aspects of the HP books (LeakyCon11). There are organizations such as The Harry Potter Alliance that pattern themselves after Dumbledore's Army. HPA describes itself thus:

We are an army of fans, activists, nerdfighters, teenagers, wizards and muggles dedicated to fighting for social justice with the greatest weapon we have-- love.

Last July they were awarded $250,000 by Chase to help continue their efforts around the world.

A theme park as part of Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure in Florida has been created, so people can experience the wizarding world first hand. There are colleges hosting Quidditch teams, and colleges which offer courses on the books.

So what happens when the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 is released on July 15th? Will this delightful story that has captivated the imagination of children and adults for over a decade fade away?

I had the opportunity new readers won't have. I was one of those rabid fans who participated in a midnight release party waiting anxiously for the final book that would tell us how the story ended, if Harry lived. The story is out there. There are no more secrets.

'End of An Era - Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls.


But is it the end?