Keeping My Promise

So, remember a while back when I mentioned that I would be one of a million to get a first look at Pottermore thanks to the Magic Quill challenge?  And remember how I promised to share a little more about it once I did?

Well, on Friday, I got my official welcome letter, and have been playing on Pottermore ever since. 

Guys it is SO FREAKING AWESOME.  The graphics are unparalleled.  Really I've never seen such beautiful graphics before.  Since it's still in beta, there are some bugs, but that'll be fixed by October when the site opens to all.

Since the biggest mystery of all is what it actually entails, here you go. 

Things you can do on Pottermore:

1.  Explore the chapters -  each chapter has 2 or 3 scenes constructed in the most gorgeous artwork ever.  You can zoom in on the images and search to collect things like chocolate frog cards, books, and potion ingredients.  This is also where you'll find the exclusive new content from Rowling.  (As writers, you will most certainly appreciate this new content.  One in particular had this sap in tears.  It's so so so amazing.)

2.  A wand and a sorting -  your first time through you go through a series of questions to determine your wand and then your house.  (RAVENCLAW FTW!)

3.  Earn house points -  there is a house cup (though I'm not quite sure how that works, or when it's awarded) that you earn points for by finding the items hidden through the chapters, and by successfully brewing potions or dueling with other students.

4.  Brewing potions -  yes, you can really for real brew potions.  I'm quite good at it, but it's very hard.  You've got to move fast and get everything just right.  If you don't, your cauldron will explode.  True fact.

5.  Duel -  I haven't gotten to do this yet, dueling has been down since I joined, but I've been practicing my spells.  I'll be ready once it's fixed.

6.  Common Rooms -  each house has its own common room where you can see what fellow house members are talking about.  I don't know about the other houses, but everyone in Ravenclaw is incredibly friendly and helpful!

That's a rundown for now!  I'm sure more will be added as we go -- all the beta testers are working hard at giving feedback and suggestions (and trying to win house points, of course lol).  Overall, Pottermore is addictingly fun.

Are any of you beta testers for Pottermore?  I'd love to hear what you think -- or to add you as my friend on there!

Pottermore

My blood is magical.

Er, at least that's what the site said when I made the cut for Pottermore early registration Sunday morning.  :)  <-- that's an understated smiley.  I feel more like this:

 

 If you're clueless, go to the Pottermore Insider and read.  The site is an online reading experience for the Harry Potter books.  You've heard of it, right?  It opens to the public in October, but they're having a string of contests for a week to allow a million (I think) people in for early beta testing.

Being over the top excited to get in on this early is one thing, but to think about the implications this could hold for all books is another. 

Think of it this way -- it's turning the whole book, the whole reading experience, into an interactive experience.  A game almost.  From where I'm sitting, this looks like a whole new realm to be opened up and explored, most especially for those reluctant readers.

I know there have been things like interactive book apps for kids and such, but Pottermore is taking it to a much higher level.  You don't just read the book, you live it.  Sometimes I think we all wish we could live inside some of our favorite stories, and now we get to go one step closer to that.

What do you guys think?  Excited about Pottermore?  Interested to see where you think it could take the future of books.  This is not meant as a doomsday for books post.  I think anything that draws more people in to reading is great.  :) 

What does Harry Potter mean to you?

I know not everyone here is a Potter Head, but I know some of you are.  My sister and I recently had a very heated discussion over why Harry Potter is important to me, and I had a tough time putting it to words.  So, lucky you gets to read it.  :P

Harry Potter has been a part of my life for about the last 10 years, like many people.  I read the books, I saw the movies, I enjoyed them.  The books inspire me, they transport me away from the worries of life and into a whole new world in a way another book has never done.  I feel as invested in the lives of Harry, Ron, and Hermione as I do anyone's.

But the biggest impact Harry Potter made on me was through J. K. Rowling and her rags to riches story.  I've shared before some of the similar experiences I've had in my life, and nothing inspires to keep going more than to know that she pulled through it all.  Heck, she did way more than pull through.

The thing is, Harry Potter is more to me than a story.  It's what inspired me to gather up my courage and write a book.  It's what inspires me to continue writing books.  When I get down in the dumps, it's Harry I turn to.  (I know I'm a little crazy.  I accept that.) 

At the end of the day though, my sister still shrugged and said, "Meh, I still don't get it.  It's just a movie."

Which is when I bashed her head into a wall.  Not really.  But I may have daydreamed about it.  Because it's way more than "just a movie" to me.  Harry Potter is a symbol of all the struggles I've been through in my life, and of all the hope I have for my future.

What about you?  What does Harry Potter mean to you?

Insanity

As promised, the insanity that is me when I get excited about something - captured on video.  Yes, I speak of my trip to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one.  Along for the ride were my sister and brother-in-law, who are just as crazy as me...which makes for lots of fun when you're sitting in line for over three hours.

We went to the 10:45pm showing on Friday night and the crowds were still insane. The line went all the way down the theater hallway, wrapped back around and went out into the atrium area.  In the end they had to make our line about four rows deep.  Nuts.

So, want proof of my randomness and propensity to giggle at everything?  Here it is...

And then I thought I'd try to interview Super BIL...

Gotta love the awesome people you meet at these kind of shows...

And of course, with any making of a movie you're going to have some bloopers...

There were a lot more videos made, but you get the idea.

Doesn't that make you want to go to a movie with me?  lol  My sister calls me her personal entertainment system.  :)  I hope you all enjoyed a dose of my insanity.  We had a crazy good time, and the movie was awesome.

And Emma Watson?  OMG  She rocked this movie, let me tell ya.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays.  Much more insanity ensued on black Friday for the fearsome duo of my sister and me.  Unfortunately (or perhaps more fortunately) no videos were taken.  :)

Have a great Monday!

It's in the details

So, I'm re-reading Deathly Hallows in preparation for the movie this Friday.  I do this every time -- cram the book in one last time so it's fresh in my memory.  That way when they screw things up in the movie, I can still explain to my sister what's going on. (She hasn't read the books. She's one of those Twilight lovers -- and I try to explain how much more amazing HP is, but she doesn't listen.)

Anyway, back on topic.

Reading again, right.  Okay, so as we said in the comments yesterday -- reading this series, any of the books really, leaves me in awe of the amount of planning JKR did.  The way she wove those books together was masterful.

What I'm trying to grasp from this reading is how to effectively plan a series.  Did she sit down and plot out all seven books at the onset?  My gut says no.  She could have, but I don't know.

Either way, how do you handle such a massive undertaking?  Did she sit down to write the second book and go, "Hold on!  Let me go back to book one and see what I can pull in here to make the story richer."

How many of you have written, or are writing, series books?  Two, three, more?  What do you do to make sure details are carried from one book to the next?  Do you intentionally leave clues in the first book to feed the second, or do ideas stem from what you wrote and blossom in the later editions?

My current WIP is heading the way of two or three books, and though they've been in the back of my mind stewing on plot and characterization, I haven't sat down and really planned anything.  I've got a few  notes scribbled here and there, but that's all.

Tell me, lovelies, what do you do?  Or what would you do if you found your WIP couldn't be told in just one book?

Do you know what day it is?

We interrupt this blog post for an announcement that will shock the nation, send old men into hiding, and make young children cry (with glee). 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one releases this Friday.  I repeat, this Friday!

Who has their tickets?  Me, me, I do!!  Unfortunately, I don't get to go to the midnight showing *shakes fist at sky* as I have a Super Spawn that must be attended to.  But I will be going Friday night...to the IMAX showing.  HOORAY!!!!!

So, for today's post I want to know:  Which Harry Potter book has influenced you the most, either as a writer or a reader, and how?

For me, it was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  It was, admittedly, the first book I read in the series.  I had seen the movies, and loved them, but never picked the books up.  When I picked this one up, my life was changed forever.  Seriously.  No melodrama intended.  I fell in love all over again with the art of words.  It drew me back to where I had been a few years before, back before a major life catastrophe.  It was like finding a long lost friend.

So much happens in OOTP, and Harry is forced to deal with more than ever before.  There's the betrayal he feels from Dumbledor, Ron and Hermione, there's always drama at Hogwarts, Voldemort is back, and then the unthinkable happens: JKR kills one of her lovelies.

I cried and cried and cried.  I cry every time I read it, and every time I watch the movie.  (It's my favorite movie out of all of them so far, so I watch it a lot.)

I'm not exaggerating at all when I say Harry Potter helped me find myself.  Because he did.  I've read the books over and over and over again through the years, and I'll never stop.  He reminded me of my love for reading, my love for words, and eventually he led me back to writing.

JK Rowling on Oprah

So did you guys watch the interview of JK Rowling on Oprah last week? I watched it online once I got home from work.

Seriously, I cried.

I never realized how many parallels there were between my life and Rowling's. She was a single mother, escaped from a bad marriage with a tiny baby. There wasn't always enough money.

Then there was an idea -- a spark that set a flood loose in her mind. And so came Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Six months into writing, Jo lost her mother. In the interview she says that her mother's death is reflected on every page of the Harry Potter series.

I found the interview so incredibly inspiring.

I'm a single mother who escaped an awful marriage with a two-month-old baby. I moved in with my mother because I couldn't afford to support us on my own.

Then there was an idea. A light bulb came on. I started writing Emerald's Keeper long-hand in a $0.10 spiral notebook.

My younger brother died a month after I started writing. And on every page of Emerald the way his death affected me is reflected.

It's so hard sometimes to be positive in the face of so many challenges. But thanks to Jo's interview I feel a new sense of invigoration. Determination.

She reminded me that through hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.

So I'll keep my chin high and one day, someday, everything will look a lot brighter.