A new source for clues to an long-considered question

I'm a little disgusted with myself, to be honest.


As anyone who has read this blog will know, I am fascinated by the process by which J.K. Rowling wrote the seven Harry Potter novels, by how her planning for the series developed over time and was (or perhaps was not) influenced by other factors, such as the success of the early books, the making and release of the early films, and input from media and fans.


To date, I have limited my search for clues as to that process solely to the books themselves. And there has been plenty of evidence there.


But, today, for some reason, I stumbled upon a new source of information on this issue that so strongly interests me, a source that has existed and been available to me almost since the day I started this blog. I had simply never thought of accessing it.


The source is early interviews with Rowling herself. Interviews that were written or recorded while she was still in the process of writing the books.


I know, I know, I have also long proclaimed that I am not particularly interested in what Rowling has had to say since the books were released on how to interpret them or what happens to the characters after the time period covered in the books is over.


That's still, for the most part, true.


But I think I have been a bit of a fool not to avail myself of the mountains of information available in these early interviews when it comes to coming to an understanding of the process of planning and writing and the impact other factors had on the yet-to-be-written books.


For example, I found today this fantastic video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7nlfoMcwQ.


It features an interview conducted in a Scottish coffee shop with J.K. Rowling after The Philosopher's Stone had become a success in England but before it had actually appeared on book shelves in other European countries and in North America.


In the interview, J.K. talks with some awe at the size of the advance she has just received from Scholastic Books in the U.S. for that first novel -- I wonder if she knew at that point that Scholastic would require so many ridiculous changes to The Philosopher's Stone (including to the title) to make it more palatable to American readers?


She mentions her hopes that the book will be popular in Finland and she talks about how she is currently in talks with film studios about doing a movie version.


Most importantly to me, she makes several comments about her plans for the Harry Potter series. She says she has already completed the second book (The Chamber of Secrets), that she is working on the third (The Prisoner of Azkaban) and that she envisions the series as comprising seven books, with Harry ultimately achieving the status of being a fully trained wizard.


And she admits that the success of the first book, and the massive interest in it in the United States, caused her to develop writer's block for a month while she was writing the second novel. That's the kind of impact by outside factors that interests me. I also wonder: how much did her vision of Harry Potter, the other characters, the plots and the magical world, change as a result of those outside factors as she continued to write the books?


I have to watch this video a couple of more times to glean from it all that I can. And then I have to scour the internet for more interviews (whether in print or in video format) with Rowling that were conducted while she was still writing the books, when the completion of the series was still in the future.


It's an exciting thought. I can't wait to start on that journey.

Dumbledore's a crack apparator

Dumbledore's Study at the Harry Potter Studio Tour

When Dumbledore apparates to Privet Drive in the first chapter of The Philosopher's Stone, he does so "so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground".

When Mundungus Fletcher apparates away from Privet Drive at the beginning of The Order of the Phoenix (leaving Harry unprotected in the face of the Dementors), his disapparition is marked by a "loud, echoing crack [that] broke the sleepy silence like a gunshot". Later, J.K. writes that "Harry was sure the cracking noise had been made by someone Apparating or Disapparating."

In fact, the loud noise becomes closely associated with the act of Apparition throughout the remainder of the books.

So how can Dumbledore do it silently?

I would guess that, as the long-time Hogwarts Headmaster is a wizard of exceptional skill and talent, he likely solved the problem on his own to allow himself to appear and disappear silently. This would be a definite advantage to him when dealing with an enemy.

What do you think?

Dale, Frye and the American idiom

As part of my recent birthday extravaganza, I received as a gift a complete set of the audio books of the Harry Potter novels. This is something I have coveted for some time so I was completely thrilled to open the box and find them all smiling up at me.

100 compacts discs. More than 117 hours worth of recordings. All seven of J.K. Rowling's novels, unabridged, recorded specially by Jim Dale. Since I already own The Deathly Hallows in this format, I am well acquainted with Mr. Dale and his vocal stylings and I am very much looking forward to listening to the books, in order, at times when I can really focus.

Two things of interest have emerged immediately upon my opening this gift.

First, my partner described to me the adventure she went on in trying to decide which of the two sets of recordings that have been made of these books (the Jim Dale version or the Stephen Frye version) she should purchase for me and then, once the decision had been made, to purchase them.

I learned a great deal from her story. My partner said she had gone online and listened to sections from each version and had decided, based on her comparison, that she preferred the Frye version. So that's the one she attempted to buy.

It was only then that she learnt that the Dale version is for North American (read, "American") audiences and that the Frye version was made for sale in the United Kingdom but not here. So she decided to wait until we travelled to England for my birthday, determined to acquire it then. Before we left, however, she found out that the Frye version is no longer available, not even in England, for reasons no one has been able to explain to her. She was told that she might be lucky enough to find one in an out-of-the-way bookstore somewhere in Britain but it was unlikely.

So she ordered the Dale version before she left, in case she could not find the Frye version on our trip, then used any opportunity while we were in England to see if she could find Frye's collection. No luck. Not even at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour. The Frye collection of CDs is simply not available, at least not new, and she didn't have the time nor the resources to try to track down a used set.

The result is that the Dale version is still available for sale in North America but the Frye version does not appear to be available anywhere. Strange.

Second, when I started to listen to the first book on CD, I noticed something else I had never known before.

Because it was made for the American audience, the story is called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the title used in the US, and not Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as was used in the UK and Canada.

That much was not a surprise to me. I was well aware that the American version of the first book had a different name (because, according to legend, the US Publishers at Scholastic Books had such a low opinion of the American child that they thought the US kids would not want to read a book about some boring old philosopher and his stone... a sorcerer, however: whiz bang, let me at it!).

What has surprised me, however, is the fact that they didn't stop at changing the title. All through the book, the American publishers replaced British word usages with American ones.

Here are some examples from the first three chapters:

"sellotape" becomes "scotch tape";
"cine-camera" becomes "video camera";
"fringe" (of hair) becomes "bangs"; and
"local comprehensive school" becomes "local public school".

It's quite disconcerting and a little bit ridiculous, in my mind. Especially when you have Jim Dale reading the book to you in a set of thoroughly British accents, using American idioms throughout.

Kind of makes you wonder what would have happened if the bright minds at Scholastic had been the first to publish Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Austen or Woolf in the United States...

Sharing the excitement of the Studio Tour

The Gates of Hogwarts

As I said in my last post, my 50th Birthday visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour was made even more exciting and enjoyable by the fact that a birthday party of young people adopted me and allowed me to share in their excitement.

This is a photo of me at the Hogwarts Gates with several of these happy young people -- published with permission. Note the fabulous robes on two of them and the big smiles on the faces of all of us.

Every once in a while during the tour, I'd run into them again and they'd shout "hello" and wish me "Happy Birthday" and they would point with excitement at the nearest display and asked "Did you see...?"

They told me that they had all been on the tour at least once before. One of the girls said she already owns at least 12 wands (!!!!) so I was very happy when the Studio permitted us all a sneak preview of the Hogwarts Express display. At least the kids got the chance to see something new!

Harry Potter Studio Tour - An indescribable experience

Me with our friend Pollie, outside the Studio

As a wonderful surprise, my partner took me to England for a ten-day visit in honour of my 50th birthday. As an even more wonderful surprise, she booked tickets for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford Junction, north of London, on the actual day of my birthday.

To say that this tour was "magical" would be a terrible pun but very true. To say that it was "amazing" would be the understatement of the year. The Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour was quite probably the best major attraction I have ever visited. It offers an incredible amount to see and do and it is designed and presented in a remarkably visitor-friendly way.

Dementors lurk

If you don't believe me, as my partner Patti and our friend Pollie, who joined us for the tour, neither of whom are Harry Potter fans of any description. They loved the entire experience, even though I turned what is supposed to be a three-hour tour into a six-hour exploration of as many of the displays and presentations as I could take in before I became completely overwhelmed.

And that's one of the beauties of this tour: the first half hour is scripted, with staff leading you through a brief video and your entrance into the Hogwarts Great Hall, but after that you are left to your own devices, to wander the exhibits at your own speed, to spend as much time as you like examining the set for the Burrow, or Dumbledore's Office or Malfoy Manor, or watching the many explanatory videos or trying out the amazing interactive opportunities (spell casting lesson anyone?). You are not "guided" through at a particular speed so you can take your time. And, if you opt to rent a digital tour guide, you can listen to the interviews with directors and crew members, watch the videos, take it all in at your own pace.

My favourite set, the Headmaster's Office

Remember, this is a tour of the studios in which the Harry Potter films were made. You visit the actual sets that were used in the movies; you see the actual costumes and the actual models that were transformed, through the magic of film-making, into the many creatures that come to life on screen. There is so much detail there that a massive Harry Potter fan like me can become completely overwhelmed with just a single display (my favourite was Dumbledore's Office, I think).

You don't have to be a fan to enjoy it, though. Patti and Pollie loved the entire thing, learning as much about film making as about Harry Potter himself.

Because it was my birthday, I received a special badge and, as a result, was wished a "Happy Birthday" by the friendly staff throughout the tour. This also mean that I was befriended by a wonderful group of girls who were there for a birthday party. Two of them were sporting Hogwarts robes for the tour and one admitted to me later that she already owns 12 wands (!!!!). We kept encountering these young women all over the studio and their enthusiasm and excitement served to add to the thrill of my visit.

I don't plan to post all 400 photos (and 60-minutes of video) that I took on the tour in this one blog entry but I will finish with a final, very special shot. Our visit to the Studio Tour had been booked over a year ago so it was quite ironic (and slightly disappointing) when we found out, the day before we attended, that the Hogwarts Express display was about to open... four days after our visit.

Our sneak peek at the Hogwarts Express display!

Imagine how excited we were when we found out that the Studio had decided to hold a "soft opening" of the display on the very day of our visit, for just a half hour or so, to test it out with real visitors. So we got to see it, before just about any other member of the public had the chance. Awesome!!!

Turning over a new Page

In case you have missed it, we've added a new "Page" to Potter Thoughts: you can find it under the heading "Fan Fiction" to the right of the main text box.

About four years ago, you see, I began working on my own Rowling-world novel which I titled, The Way Forward. This creative effort of fan fiction focuses on some of the secondary characters from the Harry Potter novels, in particular George Weasley, Minerva McGonagall and Aberforth Dumbledore as each tries to deal with the emotional aftermath of the war against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

It's not a particularly upbeat novel but I very much enjoyed writing it. I never did finish it but, when I found it again the other week, I thought: why don't I share this on my Harry Potter blog?

I'd love it if you would read my work and give me feedback, good or bad. Just remember: I read the seven Harry Potter novels but I do NOT pay particular attention to the thoughts and comments of J.K. Rowling that she has made public since the last novel came out.

In other words, I don't really know what she has said about where each of her characters is intended to end up. So, it is entirely possible that I have some of them say and do things that don't jive with what Rowling has said since she finished writing the books.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little effort. I'll be adding more and more every week.

Harry Potter and my day-to-day life

I know, I know, I know. It's been a very long time since I wrote a new entry for this blog. I apologize. I have been so caught up in other projects that I haven't had the chance to read, or write, about Harry and his friends in quite some time.

That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about J.K.'s magical world. No, that world never drifts far from my mind. It just means I haven't been actively reading the books, watching the films or writing this blog of late.

And Harry Potter keeps popping up in my day-to-day life. It's in some ways amazing how these books and films that are now several years in the past continue to have life, continue to influence the world in which we live.

Three examples:

1. Did you see the articles on the various new websites about how scientists are working on developing an Invisibility Cloak, similar to that "seen in Harry Potter"? Awesome. I have gotten used to seeing articles of this kind that talk about scientific developments that bring to life technology that was first seen in Star Trek but this is the first article that referred to Harry Potter. What's next, the development of flying brooms? a flue network? a deluminator?

2. I watched the Jim Carrey film Yes Man on Netflix the other day and was pleased to see Harry Potter play a significant role. Now, this is not a great movie. It starts well and seems to be promising some interesting stuff but, unfortunately, it starts to fall apart about half way through and degenerates into silliness by the end. Be that as it may, it was a lot of fun to see Jim Carrey (dressed as Harry) and Zooey Deschanel (dressed as Hermione) attend a Harry Potter party, complete with an awesome Dobby in attendance.

3. I was chatting with my boss the other day about my holiday plans. My partner, you see, is preparing a big trip for us to celebrate my upcoming birthday and she has kept our destination a secret from me. This makes the whole thing very fun, exciting and mysterious. It also leads to a lot of questions, both from me and from other people in my life. My boss asked where I thought I might end up going. I said I can think of a variety of possibilities, all of them fantastic: England, France, Italy, Prague, the Netherlands, California, Victoria BC, even Florida so that we can go to Harry Potter World. When I mentioned the last option, my boss, the last person in the world I would have thought to have read Harry Potter not to mention to have gone to Harry Potter World, smiled, nodded and said: "We waited in line for three hours to get a wand!"

Awesome.

I wonder where I'm going to go.