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/lit/ - Literature

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1524736 No.1524736 [Reply] [Original]

I know that there has been countless articles, discussions, and threads about this... but tell me /lit/ right now, off the cuff... how did she do it?

>> No.1524741

I would say she sold her soul, but women have no souls. Perhaps she bribed the Devil with a roll in the sack.

>> No.1524748
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1524748

WITCHCRAFT!!!!!

>> No.1524749

She had immense talent.

>> No.1524753
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1524753

>>1524741

your reply is not worthy of /lit/
/b/ is down below in the basement
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|
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V

kindly gtfo

>> No.1524761

Not hard. All you need is a lot of lube and the cucumber slips right in..

>> No.1524767

shit happens every chapter. Success

>> No.1524768
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1524768

>>1524753

>> No.1524772

woah. GILF alert

>> No.1524773

What did she author

>> No.1524786

>>1524741
lol

>> No.1524787
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1524787

>>1524773
this

>> No.1524795

>>1524736
Would you link one of these articles?

>> No.1524799

There are dozens of reasons. These are a few.

1. A world with enough convoluted rules and cultures to give the fanbase conversation fodder.

2. It's the perfect escapist, wish-fulfillment story. How many children have fantasized about running away from home, leaving their rotten families, and harnessing some long-dormant supernatural power?

3. A simple, sweet, often humorous prose style that's (a) easy for children to read, (b) easy enough for parents to read to children, (c) easy enough for teachers to read to their classes, (d) easy enough for adults to read, and (e) androgynous, in that both sexes can enjoy it in equal measure. It didn't tax anyone's patience and it didn't demand that they visit a dictionary.

4. A varied enough host of characters such that any reader will find his or her fictional double (or desired double). Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were the most obvious examples of this. They are male and female templates onto which a reader can imprint his or her personality.

5. A story that quite literally aged with its audience. If the books came out at increments throughout your childhood, you could follow the protagonists as you aged; Rowling would couple age-related conflicts (teen romance, sports, school, family) with the conflicts readers were facing in their own lives. She "understood" her readers in this way, and they loved her for it.

>> No.1524800

>>1524799
6. Tons of sensory delight. This is a lesser form of wish fulfillment, but it's still important. Rowling's a wiz at making butterbeer and Bertie's Everyflavor Beans stick in our imaginations. When we start craving things in her universe, she's got us hooked.

7. Tons of mystery. She was very good at keeping her universe detailed, but not -too- detailed. This forced us to fill in gaps with our own imaginations, creating an active give-and-take which made us more invested in the books. I cite the Veil, the Dementors, and the nature of death and the soul as examples. This sort of thing spurs conversation as well, and what better advertising is there than that which the fanbase creates through conversation?

8. Rowling engaged her audience directly in interviews and through her site, teasing them, titillating them with details. She's good at storytelling foreplay--what to give, what to hold back.

>> No.1524804

>>1524736
Now answer me this. How in the hell is she a rags to riches story? She came from a middle class family, lived abroad, came back and spent a few months on the dole, yet spent all her times in an expensive ediburgh cafe. Fuck thus yuppie.

>> No.1524806

>>1524799
This pretty much. I read the first book when I was 10 years old, and grew up with that shit.
I miss it ;_;

>> No.1524825

> how did she do it?

1. She wrote, unlike 99% of you fucks.
2. She kept writing, even though the absurd financial success she's known for took a decade to materialize.
3. She got a good series deal. How much easier do you think it is to write a book when you've already sold it?
4. She entered the American market already established and with massive publisher support.
5. She realized what the film and other rights were worth and got favorable deals there. (This is where the money is.)

>> No.1524832

>>1524800
>>1524799
You nailed it.

I read the first 4 books with much joy, I was around 17 when I read the fourth one. Then the fifth one came out, but I couldn't give a shit. I saw the first 2 movies only. Back in the day I even had a Harry Potter shirt and drew fanart of the characters. Now I just facepalm at the fans, what an irony. I respect the series for how it got me when I was young, but it's not something to be taken seriously.

All in all, I would give a Harry Potter book to my kid.

>> No.1524831

>>1524804
Have you ever heard her Stanford speech? Basically she got involved in a lot of humanitarian efforts, but she was poor as fuck because they don't pay anything. She stayed at the cafe because it made her feel like she was escaping.

>> No.1524838

>>1524800
>>1524799
Copying this down into a file to keep whenever someone asks this. Very good answer.

Rowling had an amazing education and she had nothing to lose, and she had persistence. That's a lot more than most people who think they want to write a novel have.

>> No.1524843

>>1524838
Just go ahead and delete it. It isn't asked that often and it's a simple enough answer that you can easily just use your brain to generate it on-the-fly.

>> No.1524856

>>1524838
She had kids to lose to malnutrition and neglect.

>> No.1524866

>I know that there has been countless articles, discussions, and threads about this... but tell me /lit/ right now, off the cuff... how did she do it?

She read all of the other works in the genre, and did it in her own way. It's nothing new or original, she was at the right place at the right time. This is true of many artists who were more popular than they were talented.

>> No.1524868

>All in all, I would give a Harry Potter book to my kid.

Fuck that. My kid is reading Hemingway and Kafka - straight out of the womb. I'll be there holding them for him whilst he's coming out.

>> No.1524877

>>1524868
That's why you wont be having any.

>> No.1524888

>>1524877
One day I'll come back on here with the most well-read two-year-old ever to have lived. And then, Anon, then you'll be sorry.

>> No.1524894

>>1524888

Your child's going to grow up to be a football player. Kids never do what you want them to.

>> No.1524895

>>1524888

And fifteen years later there will be yet another pretentious virgin poster gracing /lit/ with his presence.

>> No.1524899

i <3 her

>> No.1524901

>>1524868
>Fuck that. My kid is reading Hemingway and Kafka - straight out of the womb. I'll be there holding them for him whilst he's coming out.
>whilst he's coming out.
Good thinking, get him used to doing that early, that way it won't be as hard to do when he's a teenager

>> No.1524902

>>1524894
Haha. Maybe if I immerse him in football, it'll work the other way.

>> No.1524927

>>1524868
Except to relate and actually to appreciate those writers, it is necessary to have a bit of life experience. I can't imagine a child not finding The Sun Also Rises boring. How would they ever relate to Robert Cohn? How would they understand Josheph K and his relation to society? They wouldn't.

>> No.1524950

>>1524868
Funny you say that, my father is a literature teacher. He talked about god tier authors all his life with me, but it was only after I reached my twenties that I started to get REALLY interested in reading them.

I enjoyed Harry Potter, Treasure Island and Lord of the Rings, Asimov, Bram Stoker and so on.

>> No.1524968

Jesus, Bram Stoker was boring. Dunno how you stomached it as a lass

>> No.1524971

already kinda covered but
great story with great writing

>> No.1525217

More reasons?

>> No.1525312

>>1524799
>>1524800

Pretty much exactly this. Whenever I go back and re-read the Harry Potter books, it's like I'm a kid again. I know what's going to happen at the end, but the journey is still exhilarating and I love every moment of it. Also, there's so much foreshadowing in previous books that you always find something new on re-reads.

In short, it's a fantastic story for people of all ages, and it helps that the authoress is someone who you can like. She loves the series, loves the characters, and you can feel it when you read the series. She's also not one of those snobby celebrities who as soon as they have some spending money, they go crazy. I don't recall ever hearing a negative thing about her through the years. No scandals, no embarrassing pictures (Except those bathing suit ones, but she's a sexy woman). Sure, the same can't be said about the books, but that doesn't mean anything.

I love JK Rowling and I'm willing to support everything she does. I don't care what she writes next, I'll be one of the first people buying it every time.