Does she write well? I have never read the Harry Potter books. Harry Potter seems to be, from what I understand, a lot like ‘star wars’. There seems to be a lot of same themes.
I think there are a lot of writers who are making a killing and I was thinking about getting in on the action.
By all means, get in on the action. Sidney Sheldon didn’t write well, Danielle Steel doesn’t either, but they have produced. (I understand that Danielle actually dictates to interns with graduate degrees in English whom she employs. William F. Buckley was said to dictate his spy stories to a recorder in the limousine. Somebody else, I forget who, just lets the interns write the text around his basic ideas. ) What’s the secret, I dunno, or I’d get in on the action m’self.
I tried reading Rowling. Really tried. I lasted a dozen pages. I couldn’t get past those seven cliches per page, cliches that not only annoyed, but by the very definition of a cliche, didn’t convey any meaning. What is she talking about, I kept asking? After the first volume I kept going to the bookstores whenever the next tome was published (no, I didn’t stand in line at midnight in freezing weather with the rest of the Hairy fans, and I didn’t make special trips, either!) grabbing a copy from the stack and counting the cliches on the first three pages. Yep, seven per page every time.
The first book is average to so-so, her skill improves with each book. In my opinion, her peak is Order of the Phoenix, which is practically a very readable how-to book (or I guess in British English, a DYI guide) on coping with and overturning a repressive regime. It should be required reading in every high school.
I have never read the Harry Potter books.
Me neither. I've listened to them multiple times, they are great for long trips.
Harry Potter seems to be, from what I understand, a lot like ‘star wars’. There seems to be a lot of same themes.
Yes, see also The Hero's Journey as described by Joseph Campbell. The stories share a common trajectory:
• A start in ordinary lifeAs such they share the same basic theme with much of literature great and pedestrian ever since the Epic of Gilgamesh...
• A removal from the ordinary
• A challenge to be solved
• A precipitating crisis
• A descent into the abyss
• A battle of good an evil
• A return from the abyss
• A summary of the lessons learned
• A return to the real world a changed person