At the height of the Harry Potter novels’ popularity, I asked a number of people why those books in particular enjoyed such a devoted readership. Everyone gave almost the same answer: that author J.K. Rowling “tells a good story.” The response at once clarified everything and nothing; of course a “good story” can draw a large, enthusiastic (and, at that time, impatient) readership, but what does it take to actually tell a good story? People have probably made more money attempting, questionably, to pin down, define, and teach the best practices of storytelling, but at the top of this post, we have a revealing scrap of Rowling’s own process. And I do, almost literally, mean a scrap: this piece of lined paper contains part of the handwritten plot spreadsheet she used to write the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
This particular page (click to view it in a larger format) covers chapters 13 through 24, during which even more happens than you may now remember. It may have amounted to more than Rowling, too, could remember, hence the spreadsheet itself. Endpaper explains some of her story notes as follows:
- “Prophecy”: A subplot about the prophecy Harry finds himself concerned about all through the book
- “Cho/Ginny”: The book’s romantic subplot
- “D.A.”: What’s happening with the resistance army, or “Dumbledore’s Army”
- “O of P”: What’s happening with the “Order of the Phoenix” group
- “Snape/Harry”: What’s happening with Snape and Harry
- “Hagrid and Grawp”: What’s happening with Hagrid and Grawp
“If you think about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, that’s it,” writes /Film’s Germain Lussier. “Those columns pretty much encompass the whole story.” Rowling, of course, hardly counts as the only novelist to write with such techniques, and based on this example, hers don’t get nearly as elaborate as some. (I recall once reading that Vikram Chandra had to bust out Microsoft Project to keep track of the complications of Sacred Games, his 900-page novel about the Mumbai underworld.) But Rowling must certainly rank as the most famous novelist to, quite literally, draw up spreadsheets like this. I suppose it does leave her books even more exposed to accusations of overplotting than before, but something tells me it won’t bother her.
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Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on cities, language, Asia, and men’s style. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
I really think J.K Rowling should consider re-writing the Harry Potter series from Dumbledore’s perspective.
Start the series with Dumbledore’s childhood/ friendship with Grindewald, the death of his sister, as well as background on his relationship with his brother Aberforth. A perfect end to this book would be the epic battle where Dumbledore defeats Grindewald (his once best friend) and in turn rises to power.
I hope I’m not alone in wondering where Dumbledore is on all of his horcrux missions that take him away from Hogwarts at the most inopportune moments; what better way to delve more into the wizarding world than through the eyes of the wisest (and definitely oldest) wizard of Harry’s time? Dumbledore’s age would also mean we could potentially see the likes of Hagrid, James and Lilly, Severus, and many more characters we love but don’t know as well as The primary Potter characters.
Call the series “Dumbledore’s Army” and be done with it
JUST DO IT JK
It looks surprisingly similar to Heller’s Catch 22 spreadsheet.
Anyone who accuses someone of over plotting is a crappy no-name writer.
@Jeremy: Tons of fan authors already do stuff like rewriting books from other perspectives. It’s the fundamental cultural process. Unfortunately, it’s also illegal. But it’s absurd that you can have interesting cultural ideas like that and be censored from making or reading them… http://questioncopyright.org/
If you ever get a chance to tour William Faulkner’s house in Oxford, Mississippi, you will see a similar outline written on all four walls of his office. His desk is in the center.
My editor and I were just discussing this today. Plotting is like project management for a book, and is the real art part of storytelling, separate from the ability to write prose.
Retard
Intriguing; although, to be a tad pedantic, this is not a spreadsheet. It is a simple table.
And while many an author comes at writing via plot, however planned and documented, not all do.
My godmother, Rosemary Sutcliff (1920–92) — emminent, award-winning and best-selling writer of historical fiction and children’s literature — once said to an interviewer: “I start with an idea; never a plot. I’m not very strong on plots, but I start from a theme, which grows from the idea. I do have a certain amount of framework: I’ve got to know how I’m going to get from the beginning to the end, and a few ports of call on the way”.
(http://rosemarysutcliff.com/2015/06/04/this-much-i-know-rosemary-sutcliff-award-winning-historical-novelist-and-writer-for-children-and-adults-i-feel-most-at-home-in-roman-britain‑2)
I prefer literature that starts with idea but there’s no doubt that the Harry Potter series and much of the adult and children’s fiction in it’s genre rely heavily on plot.
Also, Rowling has a 4 ring binder!
The world of HP became so complex, that I would have been shocked if JK hadn’t had some kind of plotting device by OOP.
And can I just go on record as saying, I want a PREQUEL. A trilogy of prequels. I want Lily and Snape and James and their story… I already know how it ends, but it would be glorious to experience how it began. Wormtail’s betrayal. Snape falling so exquisitely in love with Lily. James getting the girl…
So much happened in the time before Harry Potter. I want to go there.
I write messy like her. :) The thoughts are too fast for the hand.
The world of HP became so complex, that I would have been shocked if JK hadn’t had some kind of plotting device by OOP.
http://www.afterhogwarts.com
This idea is gold. If nothing else, could at least become a future high end videogame
J.K should do a novel of HP, but in either Lilly’s or James’s perspective.
How did JK know where she’d do chapter breaks? I.e., how does one know where to break for a new chapter? How does one know how much of an idea goes into a chapter, if you have enough of something planned, and/or how long should a chapter be? I’ve tried naming my chapters, but sometimes they come out only a few pages long. Am I not fleshing them out enough, am I too vague, or should the “next” or “previous” “chapter(s)” be included?
Despite all of her apparent planning, Rowling still managed to create one of the dullest franchise in the history of movie franchises. Seriously each episode following the boy wizard and his pals from Hogwarts Academy as they fight assorted villains has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the series’ only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of special effects, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.
Perhaps the die was cast when Rowling vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody?just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for her books. The Harry Potter series might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-James Bond series in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.
>a‑at least the books were good though
“No!”
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character “stretched his legs.”
I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling’s mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, “If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King.” And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read “Harry Potter” you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
Lol, you must be a blast to have at parties.
This method helps a writer keep track of his thoughts, especially if the plotting is not linear.