Characterization in The Boy Who Lived

In my prior post, Time-Turning Back Seven Books, I set out to analyze the first chapter of Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone to uncover any secrets which can be gleaned regarding the catalyst that started the Harry Potter series on its initial rise.

This series of posts will break apart this first chapter according to:

1) characterization
2) world building
3) mystery
4) stakes/conflict
5) backstory, and
6) voice

So, let's start the ball *rowling* with characterization!

For an overview -- this beginning chapter is constructed in such a way that the reader is first introduced to the slightly-exaggerated and repulsive Muggle family, the Dursleys. Although a couple of magical people or groups are sprinkled in through Mr. Dursley's work day, it is not until he turns the lights out at night that the three main wizarding characters step onto the scene -- McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Hagrid. By setting it up this way, JKR juxtaposes the characteristics of small-minded Muggles against the exciting wizards. And, as discussed in the first post of this series, by describing the Muggles with an intimate note of disdain, JKR prepares the young reader to identify strongly among the way cooler wizards.

Of course, the primary ingredient for JKR's remarkable character development is her strong, vivid imagination.  She could not have conveyed the wizards and Muggles so vividly onto the page if she had not first imagined them in her head so vibrant in personality and so colorful in detail. But, as writers, we all know that it's one thing to see (and hear) people in your head, it's totally another to get them down clearly on paper in black and white so that your reader can magically tune into your vision as if expertly skilled in legilimancy. So, what specific techniques does JKR use to convey these characters?  Here's a few I've discovered:

1. hooks
2. weaving
3. action tags
4. words of others
5. action and responses

1) Hooks:

I have a whole post on hooking your character, so I will only cover it briefly here. Hooks are an interesting detail that helps the reader visualize that character and distinguish him from others when first being introduced.

• Mrs. Dursley -- long neck -- which hints at her snooping on neighbors, which also hints at her concern over keeping up appearances
• Dumbledore -- sparkling eyes behind half-moon spectacles -- hints at his goodness of character and his wisdom
• Hagrid -- giant size and emotional -- hints at his wild side and his good heart

Hooks are somewhat simple because they are most effective in the beginning, before the deeper character development has truly taken off.

2) Weaving:

Notice how references to the characters of the Dursleys are woven throughout here and there -- Mrs. Dursley spying on neighbors, then later, her fear of anyone learning about the Potters.  Mr. Dursley ignoring, in fact almost praising, Dudley's temper tantrum, then later his anger at the funny-dressed people. These examples of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley's character are woven in throughout the first half of this first chapter, with each example giving the reader a bit more understanding of who these people are.

When introducing a character to your reader, it is very tempting to tell the reader ALL from the first page. As writers, we've generally spent a very long time creating and getting to know these figments of our imagination, and we want our reader to love them as much as we do. So, we oftentimes flood our story with all we know as soon as possible. But, this tendency leads to telling rather than showing. As actions speak much louder than words, the reader will get to know your character much better as they see her in action. So, while some initial description is necessary by way of introduction, try to keep it to a minimum, and be as creative as possible with it. By far, the most effective way to let your reader and your characters get acquainted is by weaving in all those wonderful tidbits you've thought up naturally through the course of the story. And the most interesting techniques for weaving in character is through bits of action or dialogue.

3) Action Tags:

I don't know if there's another way of naming these things, but action tags are the brief narrative descriptions between dialogue that inform the reader as to who is talking now. Unlike the standard dialogue tags (he said, she whispered), an action tag shows action, but because of its location right before or after dialogue, also informs the reader that the person acting is also the person speaking.

Action tags are a great way to weave more action into your story as well as to develop character.

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All of this 'You-Kow-Who' nonsense -- for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemond drops, seemed not to notice. (p. 11)

Word counts are decreasing. Now, more than ever, you want to get the most bang out of every word you choose. Optimize your tags by making them pull double (or triple) duty. Action tags that build character do this.

4) Words of Others:

If you post a review of your own novel, not many people are going to pay attention. But if someone else posts, readers will notice.

Likewise, readers will be much more interested in what characters have to say about each other rather than how the author chooses to describe her babies.

For JKR, McGonagall's role in this first chapter is largely to give voice to a lot of character description (as well as backstory) that otherwise could not be written as dialogue without her presence. Thus, McGonagall's interrogation of Dumbledore puts so much of the necessary narrative info into interesting dialogue.

Think of how much more effective it is to have McGonagall voice her reaction to Harry being left in the care of his aunt and uncle. Her disdain for this Muggle family immediately helps the reader to sympathise with Harry better than a narrative lay-down would have done. Plus, she verbalizes a great, active example of Dudley kicking his mother for sweets.

Before Hagrid roars onto the scene, the reader is given a heads-up through McGonagall concerning his character. First, he's late. Then, McGonagall's voices her dismay that Dumbledore trusted him with Harry's care. Dumbledore's assertion that he would trust Hagrid with his life lets the reader know Hagrid is a complex man viewed in a contrary manner by differing POVs. Thus, we are put on high alert for the appearance of the flying motorcycle and the giant, wild man himself, whose "feet in the leather boots were like baby dolphins." Really! I would never have thought to describe feet as dolphins!

Finally, this argument between McGonagall and Dumbledore about Hagrid's trustworthiness and Harry's placement with his aunt sets Dumbledore up as someone who thinks differently, more deeper, than the normal person. JKR did not have to TELL the reader any of this; she showed it through the words of McGonagall.


5) Action and Response:

This concept is very simple. How characters act and how they respond to the situations around them should contribute toward their character development. In other words, a character should always act and respond in character (unless so provoked that it forces them outside their comfort zone).

Mr. Dursley, when spying people on the street wearing robes, gets angry.  Mrs. Dursley sips her tea through pursed lips.  Dumbledore, in the midst of a very serious conversation, offers McGonagall a lemon drop.

In scenes with multiple characters, you can differentiate characters from each other and build their personalities by comparing and contrasting their actions and responses. For example:

McGonagall arrives on Privet Drive in the early morning as a cat. She sits on the Dursley gate all day, spying on them, waiting for Dumbledore's arrival.

Dumbledore arrives in the dark of night, appearing suddenly in a darkened corner. He uses a curious silver instrument to extinguish the lights, and instantly sees through McGonagall's disguise.

Hagrid arrives on top of a flying motorbike, cradling baby Harry in his arms.

Now, look near the end of the first chapter, after Dumbledore has left Harry on his aunt's doorstep and tucked the letter into his bundle of blankets:

For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling lights that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. p. 16

JKR uses one action to show us three varying responses from her characters, which help the reader understand their differing personalities.


This post is not meant to be a comprehensive listing of all the techniques JKR uses in this first chapter for character development, but it gets us started. What other techniques have you spotted?

** As a side note, look at the initial description of Dumbledore when he arrives on Privet Drive -- notice those "high-heeled, buckled boots." After JKR announced that she'd always thought of Dumbledore as gay, I often wondered if she truly had from the get-go. Why would she not have included it (upfront) in the story, I wondered. But these boots are a strong hint that maybe she really did. :-)

Hooking Your Characters

Who could ever forget the line of house-elf heads adorning the walls of Grimmauld Place?  Cut off and mounted on plaques when they could no longer carry a tea tray, these beheaded elves who served the Black family faithfully provide a visceral introduction to Sirius Black's home and family.  Readers will not easily forget this strong image nor the portrait of the screaming woman who insults everyone she considers beneath her.  Sirius' mother, and the long line of Blacks who came before her, have been effectively hooked as people who treat those who serve them as animals fit only to end life as a wall trophy.  And it's all economically done with a couple of phrases.

JK Rowling works with a huge cast of characters.  Even in the first book, the shortest, the reader encounters at least 50 individuals (including ghost, animals, and pictures) to meet and enjoy.  And yet, despite this large cast, readers find each one interesting and memorable.

How did JKR introduce these delightful characters without having turned Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone into the length of the later books?

One method is by giving each character a hook.  Hooks serve various purposes, but one is to provide a useful tool to help a reader remember your people when first getting acquainted before character development takes over. 

A hook can be a physical description (Hagrid is a giant of a man), a manner of speaking (Quirrel's stutter), a quirk of personality (Snape's obvious hatred of Harry), a role in the story (Dumbledore as the wise, old, mentor), or, as in the mounted elf heads above, a visual result of an entire family's bigotry.



In fact the list of ways to provide a hook is as diverse as the characters themselves.  But what is crucial is that the hook help to develop that individual as well as cement them in the readers' minds to be better remembered when next introduced.

Here's a list of more characters and their hooks:

Character -- (Hook)
Aunt Petunia -- (horsey face, clean freak)
Hermione -- (know-it-all)
McGonagall -- (cat animagi)
Hagrid -- (size, manner of speech)
Nick -- (nearly beheaded)
Bloody Baron -- (silvery blood stains)
Fred & George -- (each other as twins, joked)
Wesley Family -- (red hair)
Luna -- (reading Quibbler upside down, odd behavior)
Tonks -- (changing appearance, clutzy)

Neville is an interesting case because he is essentially given three hooks.  Not only is he awkward and clutzy, the uncool kid of the bunch, but he has a strong memory problem.  And to highlight both aspects, JKR gives the reader the active image of Neville's continuously lost frog.  As is usual, the more important the character, the stronger the hooks.

This list above is only a beginning.  And while JKR does have considerable freedom with her types of hooks due to the nature of her fantasy world, we can all tax our own worlds to the extreme when creating our characters and giving our reader something onto which to latch their memories.

What other characters and hooks can you think of from the series?  What hooks have you used in your own work?

Heralds of a New Story

Following in my series on archetypes as started with Threshold Guardians and the Forbidden Door and continued with Those Tricky Twins and That Peevish Peeves, let's look at a storyline archetype that is usually a sign that change is near.

Heralds, quite literally, are messengers.  In a story, they usually bring news about impending change, challenges to overcome, and calls the heroine to adventure. As with most storyline archetypes, the character of the Herald can be presented positively or negatively, an ally of the heroine, or a tool of the antagonist. Or, the Herald role can be fulfilled by an inner call within the heroine and not take on the role of an outside person at all.

Although multiple Heralds can, and do, occur throughout the Harry Potter series, we’ll look at the first Herald in each book who brings the news of the initial challenge, or call to adventure, for that year.

1. PS/SS--Hagrid serves in the first role of Herald, breaking down the door to bring Harry his letter from Hogwarts. He informs Harry that he is a wizard and is also the one who first tells Harry about Voldemort.
2. CoS--Dobby arrives in Harry's home at the worst possible time, and in a rather odd manner foretells the doom which awaits Harry if he should return to Hogwarts
3. PoA--Aunt Marge in her rude abuse of Harry serves as a Herald by forcing him to consider all he does not know about his parents, his identity--the prime theme of the story, and pushing him out of the house
4. GoF--Mrs. Weasley, through her letter inviting Harry to the Quidditch World Cup, invites Harry to explore the Magical World more fully
5. OotP--The Dementors, then the letters from the MoM; The Dementors force Harry into the action which precipitates the flurry of letters and his call to the hearing; we also learn later that the Dementors were envoys of Umbridge.
6. HBP--Dumbledore, through his advance letter and then in person, Dumbledore arrives to take Harry to Slughorn and start him on his new quest to delve below the surface of important Slytherins, such as Slughorn, Voldemort, and even Snape.
7. DH—I think there are two sets of early heralds in this last book. Both Daily Prophet biographies regarding Dumbledore serve to alert (and alarm) Harry to his need to reconsider his pedestaled opinion of Dumbledore. Then the arrival of the OotP guard, willing to risk their lives for him, call Harry to his need to accept the help of others in his quest to eliminate Voldemort.

Except for Aunt Marge, all these heralds have a recurring role throughout the series.  JKR does not give this role to a mere walk-on character.  Also, she uses a nice variety of heraldic devices -- letters, invitations, newspaper articles, magical manipulation (from Dobby), taunts, even the attempted sucking of souls.

Heralds don't have to always be someone arriving on your hero's doorstep with an invitation.  Be creative.  And if you do have the traditional herald with a message, at least make him fun and different -- like a giant arriving on an island with a magic pink umbrella and sausages in his pocket!

What heralds have you used lately?

Harry's Character Arc

One of my favorite Tweeps and Bloggers, Laura Pauling, posted today on what a character arc is, and gives a wonderful definition.  This got me thinking -- I've not covered story arc yet for Harry.  So, with the understanding that a character arc shows the growth of your character, a pivotal change in viewpoint or behavior from the beginning of the story until the end, I thought it might be fun to plot out Harry's arc for each book and then the overall series.

Also, I've highlighted key words in each book that pinpoint that story's particular theme.

PS/SS -- Harry goes from being an unloved orphan living in a cupboard under the stairs, whose most deepest desire of the heart is to be with his (deceased) family, to turning his back on any possibility of being with that family if it means doing the wrong thing (i.e. joining w/Voldemort).  His reward is to be celebrated as a hero and win his new family the house cup.

CoS -- Does Harry truly belong in Gryffindor among the brave?  This question nags at Harry throughout this story, especially with the discovery of his link to Voldemort with his ability to speak Parseltongue.  By pulling Gryffindor's sword out of the hat, Harry proves that he is brave and is indeed in his true House.

PoA -- From the mean-sprited probing of Aunt Marge's tirades against his parents, to the unconformtable truths Harry must face about his Dad, Harry's journey in PoA is a search for personal identity. Are all his preconcepts of his family false? How much does he really know? And who is he truly? When Harry is able to perform the Patronus charm because he understands that HE is capable of doing so, and that it was not his father he viewed doing it, then his quest for personal identity and empowerment are culminated.

GoF -- Just when Harry thinks he's found his magical prowess, his sense of self-worth is attacked by those who do not believe in him. He is the underdog in the Triwizard Tournament. He literally falls on the ground at Cedric Diggory's feet (w/ the portkey to the World Cup). He is the champion no one wants.And he doesn't believe himself that he's capable of winning, let alone surviving. But through tragedy, Harry finds the ability to do the right thing, whether it means winning or losing. In the end, he understands that all who stand against Voldemort are on the same side.

OotP -- At the beginning of OotP, Harry feels unloved and unwanted and is filled with anger. It's almost like he's back in that locked cupboard of the beginning of the series.  Throughout the story he seeks to open a closed door, a new door, one that he doesn't know where it will lead.  When the locked doors of the Department of Mysteries finally open for Harry, what he discovers is that the love he has had all along (almost in an Oz type of way) is what protects him, and his friends, the best from Voldemort.

HBP -- The very title of this book hints strongly of the internal conflict which confronts Harry throughout -- his sense of trust, compassion, and understanding.  Through the continuous journeys into Voldemort's past via Dumbledore as well as the passion and then horror Harry has for the Half-Blood Prince by way of the potions book, Harry is forced to get over prejudices and superficial judgements to seek deeply beneath a person's exterior to understand the "other" through empathetic eyes.  Although Harry hates Snape even more passionately at the end of this book, he now has the insight to understand both Voldemort and his mum's old friend in a way that will prepare him for the Horcrux hunt ahead.

DH -- This last story starts out with Harry refusing to allow any of his friends to risk their lives to save him. Harry is still trying to go it alone in all ways. Throughout this book, he confronts what Dumbledore's desire to go it alone has cost both Dumbledore and himself. At the end, Harry not only sacrifices himself for his friends and the entire wizarding world, but also concedes that he needs help (even beyond Ron and Hermione) by giving Neville the task of killing the last Horcrux.

Series as a whole -- The overall series' arc presents a young man's coming of age story with an alchemical motif highlighting his spiritual quest/journey to enlightenment.  Harry is indeed a seeker, and he goes from being the base metal of untapped potential at the beginning, to the Philosopher's Stone of pure gold at the end, with each step, each book along the way, a stage in the creation of this elixir of life.  Harry becomes a true hero in the sense that his spiritual growth does not benefit himself alone, but brings renewed life to his people as well.

I'm sure others may see some of these arcs differently than I've outlined here?  What do you think are some of Harry's growth arcs?  What types of character arcs have you used in your own story?

Picture credit for Mary GrandPre's Mirror of Erised

Mad-Eye and Frankenstein: A Monstrous Introduction!

Mad-Eye Moody is one of JKR's most fascinating characters, even in GoF when he is basically an impostor. The reader first hears about Mad-Eye a chapter before he is brought onstage, through the varied opinions of other characters. Using the positive and negative (and sometimes false) opinions of others is a great way to lay the foundation and reputation of a new character.

   "Mad-Eye Moody?" said George thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on his toast. "Isn't he that nutter -"
   "Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mrs. Weasley sternly.
   "Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" said Fred quietly as Mrs. Weasley left the room. "Birds of a feather. . ."
   "Moody was a great wizard in his time," said Bill.
   "He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?" said Charlie.
   "Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" said Fred. "I mean, I know he's a genius and everything.. ."
   "Who is Mad-Eye?" asked Harry.
   "He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie. "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror - one of the best. . . a Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harry's blank look "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though. . . the families of people he caught, mainly. . . and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."

Notice how JKR uses motherly corrections from Mrs. Weasley to highlight George's comment that Mad-Eye is a nutcase. Through this preliminary work, JKR lays the base for Dumbledore's trust of Mad-Eye and an excuse for Mad-Eye's extreme paranoia that will be shown throughout the book.  Still, she uses Fred and George -- who in their role of tricksters have the remarkable ability to view their world outside the status quo -- to question whether Mad-Eye is truly all right and to plant a thread of suspicion upon him.

   A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers’ table.
   A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.
   The lightning had thrown the man’s face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Harry had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man’s eyes that made him frightening.
   One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man’s head, so that all they could see was whiteness.
   The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words Harry couldn’t hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.
   The stranger sat down, shook his mane of dark gray hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat. His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students.

All in all, a great introduction of an awesome character.  But where to begin to analyze this?  JKR just throws out so many well-crafted details, many of which point to clues to Pseudo Mad-Eye's ultimate purpose in this story.

1) Words like "shrouded," "limped," "speared," "unsmiling," "undertone," and "darting" cloak Mad-Eye as a man of mystery, action, and distrust.

2) This lack of his trust of others is reiterated with actions such as his eye rolling all around, into the back of his head to study everyone and everything around him, sniffing his sausages, his unblinking, always wary eye, and even the dull echo of his clunking gait across the floor, which hints at his tremendous losses, both physical and emotional.

3) Notice the wonderful, vivid descriptions such as "carved out of weathered wood" -- not just any wood.  That weathered helps the reader know, this man has been through a lot.  That "long mane of grizzled, dark hair," also lends to his crusty personality.  Add to that the diagonal gash for a mouth and the nose minus a few chunks and you've got yourself a fabulous description that portrays a man who, using one of my father's expressions, has been "run hard and put up wet!"

With the extreme care which JKR has used to introduce this character, the reader should know that this man is important to this story.  Put all these parts together and you've got a most unusual man, a man who's seen the dark side of life, faced physical harm, distrusts must everyone around him, but a man whom Dumbledore trusts and welcomes brightly.

Notice, however, that JKR does give a couple of hints toward this character's ultimate end -- that "fork of lightning" above his head is no accident.  To fork is to divide into two or more branches.  Pseudo Mad-Eye as impersonated by Barty Crouch is definitely a divided man.  Perhaps a stronger hint are the "eyes that made him frightening."  If eyes are the mirrors of the soul, then this man's "small, dark, and beady" and unblinking should strike fear into the heart of the reader!

But perhaps the greatest clue of all is the subtle hint of a literary metaphor at work here.  Do you get the feeling that Mary Shelley might have had an influence in the creation of this Frakensteinesque Auror?  What with the flashes of lightening, the hints of an inept creator, and the scars and mismatched eyes that make it appear as if Mad-Eye was put together from various other people (as indeed Pseudo Mad-Eye was!).  Shelley's monster was abandoned by his father-creator, turning him into a murdering, lost son -- much as Barty Crouch Jr. was.  Indeed, at the end of Shelley's work, when the monster Frankenstein created and abandoned, nameless, tells his tale of woe, one feels more sympathy for him than for his creator -- as I felt myself for Crouch Jr. as well.

Combine the forked lightning and shifty eyes with the hints of a Frankenstein created monster and Geroge and Fred's earlier banter that hints at distrust, and the reader should definitely be looking beneath this stranger's shrouded cloak into his mysteries.  With these subtle clues, reader you have been warned.  "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"  Even for the man who will soon teach Harry this crucial lesson in class.

As writers, we introduce characters to our readers all the time.  Many require straightforward weaving of description with action that bring that character to life.  But a few will challenge us to use our highest skill.  Those characters that must fool our reader for a time period, we must pay particular attention to.  While it is ok to play sly and fool your reader, you don't want to outright deceive them unfairly.  Clues, as subtle as possible, must be present, even from a character's first introduction.  Through the use of a subtle literary metaphor, opinions of others, and shifty eyes, JKR gave a hint to the alert reader that all was not what it seemed with Mad-Eye, while at the same time presenting him as a man whom Dumbledore trusted, a wounded her, and an altogether fascinating creation.

I'm curious to know -- what did you all think of Mad-Eye when you first met him?  Were you alerted?  Were you fooled?  At what point had you figured out he was the prime antagonist?

You may also be interested in my post about the link between Mad-Eye's magical eye and the Eye of Horus.

Picture credits: Mad-Eye pic from movie
drawing of Mad-Eye by Mary GrandPre

Driving a Stake Through the Heart of Your Characters

Stakes.  As the only thing that will kill the living dead, it's the bane of vampires and sometimes zombies.  Apparently, it also stabs fear into the heart of the writer trying to breathe life into their characters.

Strong character hearts require strong emotions, and strong emotions result from high stakes. You want your emotions to hit the highest pitch possible. You must have the reader experience fully the passions of your characters, whether those emotions be love or hate, trust or betrayal, laughter or sorrow. Escalate your reader's experience by raising the bar for what's at risk.

We can't all write a story about a poor, unloved, defenseless orphan who must save the entire wizarding world, indeed the Muggle world as well, from the darkest and most powerful wizard who ever lived. Not all stories can be set in this frame of stake-hood.

However, whether writing a cozy mystery, a witty women's fiction, or an emotionally charged thriller, your stakes need to be as high as is appropriately possible. Brainstorm--what is the worst thing that could happen to your hero or heroine, and then make it your plot. The higher the risk, the more rewarding that character's triumph will be.

One aspect of high stakes I feel is extremely important is that not just the hero or heroine benefit from their resulting success. The good of a community, no matter how large or small, must also be at risk. It's the carrying the elixir back to the tribe of the "hero's journey." Triumph over the antagonist is so much richer when there's a community of people who benefit from it.

With Harry Potter, we have the large end of the spectrum when it comes to a community benefit. Wizards and Muggles alike will enjoy a more peaceful world when Voldemort is no more. However, even a story that is focused tightly on the burgeoning romance between two people can include the return of the elixir. A family can be reunited, a neighborhood can be returned to order, or as in Two Weeks Notice, a community center protected and restored. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

High stakes should also show your characters not only at their best, but also at their worst. Many readers had trouble with Harry in Order of the Phoenix. This was Harry's fifth year of school, and at age fifteen, he was every bit the angry, angsty, antagonistic teenager that no one but his own equally angsty friends wants to be around. I got tired of Harry's tantrums in that book as well.

But it was real. After all, here was a teenager who had a lot of weight on his shoulders, so much that Dumbledore did not make him a prefect because he thought Harry had quite enough to be carrying on with.

Note that when writing a series, as in HP, the stakes must increase with each subsequent book. The hero's task cannot get easier, or there'll be no satisfaction for the reader. Harry goes from maintaining his own against a mere parasite at the end of Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, to saving an innocent man from death or de-souling in PoA, to leading the capture of a pack of Death Eaters in Order of the Phoenix, to facing the ultimate showdown and making the ultimate sacrifice in Deathly Hallows.

Harry has been tested and tried since the very beginning. He has been pushed into developing skills, such as producing a Patronus that other witches and wizards his age would never consider. He must be pushed in this manner because he has an enormous task ahead of him.

No one will believe that a seventeen-year-old wizard could defeat the darkest wizard in 100 years, unless he'd been properly prepared and thoroughly tested. And no one will believe your heroine deserves her triumphant ending unless she's proved to herself, along with the reader, that she can survive and triumph over any obstacle her mean-hearted author has thrown at her.

Your protagonist doesn't have to “save the world.” For writers, stakes are emotional, not physical. What your protagonist does have to do, however, is face his or her worst possible fears, probe their deepest inner wound, pass through the fires of refining conflict, and emerge a better, stronger person on the other side.

Have no mercy! Raise your stakes to bring out the full emotional depth your hero must face and rise above. Torture and torment your characters to make them prove their worth.

After all, you won't have to meet him in real life. :-)

Humor in Crisis

One thing I love about JKR's writing is her deft hand with humor.  Even in a serious, high-stakes scene, she's likely to insert some light banter, which helps to bring the action fully alive and reflect the reality of the characters involved.  Take, for example, any scene that Fred or George are in -- as we looked at in an earlier post, Those Tricky Twins and that Peevish Peeves, their role as tricksters is to invert the status quo, to upset the apple cart and make the reader see things from a different perspective.  Their primary tool for handling this is a wicked sense of humor, which crops up at even the most inopportune times.

We see the twins up to their tricks in the delightful scene of "The Seven Potters" in Deathly Hallows, when Harry escapes Privet Drive for the last, and most dangerous, time.  Of the thirteen witches and wizards gathered to escort Harry to safety, led by the uber-serious Mad-Eye Moody, all are somber and focused on the danger they are about to face.  All except Fred and George.

Mad-Eye's plan is for six of Harry's friends (plus Mundungus) to drink Polyjuice and become Harry.  Thus Voldemort and his Death Eaters will not know which Harry to follow as they flee in seven separate directions.  When Harry protests the risk those who will be impersonating him must take, Fred responds:

"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly.  "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."

When Harry refuses to give-up the hairs they will need for the potion:

   "Well, that's that plan scuppered," said George.  "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."
   "Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," said Fred.

Then, once everyone's gulped down their Polyjuice, and Fred and George are transformed into Harry:

"Fred and George turned to each other and said together, "Wow -- we're identical!"
"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking," said Fred, examining his reflection in the kettle.

As Harry watches his six doppelgangers change clothes to match his:

He felt like asking them to show a little more respect for his privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly much more at ease with displaying his body than they would have been with their own.

Even Fleur gets into the act:

"Bah," said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, "Bill, don't look at me -- I'm 'ideous."

And when Bill assures Fleur that she will be riding with him on a Thestral:

 Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.

This light-heartedness works well here because even though the group is about to face tremendous danger, they haven't faced it yet.  No one has yet died.  The banter is a way to relieve tension, show the reality of the characters involved, and amuse the reader.  It all comes together for a wonderfully entertaining scene.

JKR always keeps humor flowing through her novels, no matter how dark.  Thus, the absence of it from the most serious, high-stakes scenes make them all that much darker.

Humor is a difficult spell to cast as it performs differently for everyone involved.  Humor is subjective.  But when it works best, it is because the author has been true to her voice, the characters are speaking out of their reality, and the humor bursts forth from intrinsic action of the novel.  In other words, to someone who hasn't read the story, they probably won't get it, because the humor is very much based on the details of your story.  Read the quoted lines above -- if you've never read Harry Potter, you probably won't understand where the humor is in each of those bits.

So, how have you used humor in your stories, especially in a scene of tension or crisis?

Seven Potters image credit 
Harry as Fleur image credit

The Power of Touch

One technique I think JKR uses excessively well is to employ the power of human touch to SHOW emotion rather than to tell. Throughout her stories, JKR utilizes words conveying touch between her characters to express the heights and depths of what her people are feeling. You can guarantee, in a high-intensity scene, there's going to be a lot more touching going on.

Study these examples, noting the bolded action, to see how in crucial, emotionally charged scenes, the physical act of touch is used to great effect:

“Where are we?” he [Harry] said.
Cedric shook his head. He got up, pulled Harry to his feet, and they looked around.

2 pages later

And then, before Harry's mind had accepted what he was seeing, before he could feel anything but numb disbelief, he felt himself being pulled to his feet.
(p. 636 & 638 GOF)

This example above has a mirrored effect: the paralleled wording contrasts the touch of loyalty between Harry and his former competitor seconds before Harry is betrayed by Wormtail. Harry has gone from being the loyal friend to being betrayed by his father's former friend, and must now fight for his life.

Then a pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over.
“Harry! Harry!”...
Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly. He raised his free hand and seized Dumbledore's wrist, while Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus.
p. 671 GOF

With touching words such as “seized” and “clutched,” the power of Dumbledore's fear and Harry's mounting anxiety are powerfully conveyed. The reader can feel the emotions, rather than being simply told that Dumbledore was afraid and Harry was traumatized.

“RUN!” Harry yelled, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above, he seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forward…”
p. 787, OotP

It touches the reader's heart, the force with which Harry protects Hermione. It also fueled a lot of Harry/Hermione shippers, but we won't go there. ;-)

Harry seized him and helped him back to his seat....
And pulling Dumbledore's uninjured arm around his shoulders, Harry guided his headmaster back around the lake, bearing most of his weight....
“I am not worried, Harry,” said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. “I am with you.”...
“When did it appear?” asked Dumbledore, and his hand clenched painfully upon Harry's shoulder as he struggled to his feet.
p. 577-581, HBP

How satisfying is it for the reader to see, to feel, Harry taking care of his mentor. Here, Harry becomes the strong one, and this is actively conveyed through numerous “touching” verbs.

And just so we don't think that the power of touch resides only with our hero and his friends, this from HBP:

...Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting...
...When Snape had performed his counter-curse for the third time, he half-lifted Malfoy into a standing position...
...“There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that...come...”
 He supported Malfoy across the bathroom, turning at the door to say in a voice of cold fury, “And you, Potter...you wait here for me.”
(HBP, p. 489 Bloomsbury, p. 523 Scholastic).

"Pushing," "knelt," "traced," "wiped," "lifted," and "supported." The power of human touch, of healing...in Snape's hands.

Look for places where you can weave more touch, in all its varied forms, into your story. Especially consider scenes of climax and passion. And don't limit touch to your hero and his friends, after all, not all touches are good.

Touch is elemental, archetypal even. It transcends centuries and cultures, and the sexes. It has the power to convey emotions as far ranging as love from hate and trust from betrayal. It's a powerful tool in your arsenal. Use it well.

Snape picture credit 
Graveyard picture credit

Dumbledore's Theme Song

"Ah, music...A magic far beyond all we do here!" (PS p. 95)

Music and Dumbledore. The two just seem to go together, don't they? We know from his chocolate frog card that he "enjoys chamber music" as well as tenpin bowling. But the music vibes deeper than that. Music, for Dumbledore, touches his very soul.

Dumbledore, like his namesake the bumblebee, seems to always be humming about the castle. And then there's his pet, Fawkes, the phoenix. Fawkes not only represents Dumbledore's Patronus, but his anima, a projection of his soul, which restores Harry, not once, not twice, but three times with the power of music.

It is with "eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly" music that Fawkes appears in the Chamber of Secrets and drops the Sorting Hat to Harry, thus giving him the sword of Gryffindor and his means to defeat the Basilisk.

Then, in Goblet of Fire:

...an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. ... It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song. It was the sound of hope to Harry. . . the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life. . . . He felt as though the song were inside him instead of just around him. ... It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear. . . .

Don't break the connection.

In HBP:

When Harry passes along to Dumbledore how he'd answered Scrimgeour's accusation of his being Dumbledore's man through and through with a proud affirmative:

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Behind Harry, Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry’s intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knees. (Bloomsbury, 334-35)

At Dumbledore's death in HBP:

And Harry felt, as he had felt about phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without: It was his own grief turned magically to song that echoed across the grounds and through the castle windows.

How long they all stood there, listening, he did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little to listen to the sound of their mourning...

Why would JKR make these connections between Dumbledore and Fawkes and music? Maybe she's playing on a character theme here, on the essence of Dumbledore.

Most writers are familiar with story themes--the central idea, or meaning, of a story. But you can have themes centered on a character as well. Knowing your character's theme helps you as a writer to convey consistently the essence of that character. And if your essence is Bellatrix, according to Hermione when tasting her Polyjuice, that is quite disgusting.

A character theme is not necessarily a main personality trait, though it can be.  Character themes can also focus on a core belief (such as Draco's privileged disdain for mudbloods), a physical feature if it has a profound impact on that character (such as Mad-Eye's mad eye), or something more esoteric (like in Harry's association with the alchemical Philosopher's Stone and Dumbledore's affinity with music and the resurrecting Fawkes).

For an example of how a character theme can play out in the story, let's look at Ron.  Ron is Harry's loyal friend, and the reader sees this in the many words and images JKR writes for Ron -- his constant support and companionship, his defense of Harry when the rest of the school considered him to be the Heir of Slytherin, his welcoming Harry into his home and family, and his willingness to risk his life to save his best friend's.  Even though Ron's loyalty is put to the test once or twice, it is precisely because loyalty is what Ron is all about that he's tested in this manner.

Other character themes which JKR plays with:

• Hermione -- the Brain (Is that why Ron was attacked by a brain in the DoM? :-) The reader is given numerous references to Hermione's intelligence and love of books.
• Neville -- yes, Neville is forgetful, but I think his deeper theme would be something like "untapped potential."
• Uncle Vernon -- Have you ever noticed how often angry words and a purple face are used to describe Harry's "loving" uncle? I think his theme would be raging intolerance.
• Aunt Petunia -- rigid clean freak--numerous refs to her cleaning, or her spotless home, and think of her reaction to Marge's visit with her dog
• Hagrid -- monster-loving, almost like muggle-loving, but way more dangerous
• Snape -- vitriol--as in repressed anger, resentment, and self-blame eating him out from the inside

And finally, again, Dumbledore -- Dumbledore's theme is not simply music, but Phoenix song, music that restores the soul, that resurrects life. It's Dumbledore's theme song which plays deeply into the heart of the Harry Potter saga and which carries Harry through in his final confrontation with Voldemort.

JKR applied her Polyjuice potion to brew out the essence of her main characters, as well as the secondaries.  She knew intimately what they were all about and wove these tidbits into her story to portray them three dimensionally on two-dimensional paper. If you know the heart of your character, then you can breathe life into their being. JKR used these themes through consistent references describing that character's manner of being, words, and actions.

As a writer, have you thought of the essence of your characters?  If you had to describe the look and taste of their Polyjuice potion, would it be disgusting like Bellatrix's,  "the khaki color of a booger" like Goyle's, or a "clear, bright gold" like Harry's?

What other character themes can you see within the Potterverse?  Or, what is one of your own creation?

** Picture credit for Fawkes.

All the Kreacher's Men

One excellent way to demonstrate character in a story is to show how your hero or secondary treats other people.  Or, in the words of the immortal Sirius Black, "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." (GoF, p. 525)  Through the course of the last three books, JKR gives the reader insight into the character of three men based on how they treat one considered an inferior, a house-elf named Kreacher.

Sirius Black -- In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius hates the sight of Kreacher and treats him terribly. But it is not Kreacher himself whom Sirius hates as much as it is what Kreacher stands for. Kreacher is the last surviving remnant (aside from Sirius) of the pureblood, aristocratic, and extremely bigoted Black family. Sirius seems to hate everything about his family and what they stood for, which resulted in him running away at sixteen to go live with Harry's father, James. Sirius' mother subsequently blasted him from the Black family tree tapestry.

Unfortunately, this very understandable feeling Sirius harbors towards his family's prejudices results in him treating one beneath him with an attitude bordering on his family's bigotry. And in the end, is what causes Kreacher to fatally betray Sirius to his Death Eater cousin Bellatrix.

Lord Voldemort -- In the "Kreacher's Tale" chapter of Deathly Hallows, Kreacher reveals to Harry, Ron, and Hermione how his master, Sirius' brother Regulus, a Death Eater, had requested that Kreacher go with Lord Voldemort on a secret mission. This mission involved Kreacher accompanying Voldemort to hide his Horcrux locket in the cavern. Voldemort wished for a house-elf to accompany him because he considered the elf's magic less important and the elf himself expendable. Voldemort forced Kreacher to drink the basin of poison and then left the elf alone to die at the hands of his zombie-like Inferi.



Regulus Black -- In this tale of three men, it is Regulus Black, Sirius' deceased brother and former Death Eater, who comes out the hero. Upon Kreacher's return to the Black family home (having escaped the Inferi due to his special powers and loyalty to Regulus), the elf tells his favored master all that occurred. Regulus has Kreacher return with him to the cave and show him the way to the Horcrux. But instead of having "the inferior" house-elf drink the potion for him, as Voldemort did, Regulus drinks it himself, condemning himself to death at the hands of the Inferi. Regulus' last request is for Kreacher to return home safely with the locket and destroy it.

Harry -- I said this was a tale of three men, but truly it all comes down to Harry. Up until the point of Kreacher's Tale, Harry first treated the house-elf as a grotesque curiosity, and then, after Sirius' death, as an object for his blame and hatred. But when Harry realizes how Kreature had been abused at Voldemort's hands and by his potion, and why the house-elf was so blindly loyal to the Black family, then Harry's heart softened, and for the first time, he treated Kreacher as someone other than a creature, but human, and deserving of his respect.

As a character, Kreacher has two important roles. To the plot, he is important for hiding and revealing this clue regarding the locket Horcrux. But I think his deeper purpose in the story is to reveal the inner character of these men, and to show the changing and maturing heart of Harry.

As writers, we have many tools available to show character development.  We can do this through actions, choices, the opinions of other characters, and in this example, in how our hero treats those around him, including his "inferiors."  How have you portrayed the way your hero and secondaries treat others?  Have you included a "touchstone" type of character who reflects the developing arc of your heroine by how she treats this individual?

Contrasts and comparisons.  Foils and shadows.  How powerful it is to show Harry developing beyond his hatred of Kreature to an attitude of trust and respect.  It's almost, but not quite, as powerful as Harry's 180-degree turn toward Severus Snape.

But that's a post for another time.

Be sure to follow the Characterization label below for more examinations of how JKR develops her characters.

Charting Your Character's Obstacle Course

A very specific technique of character development related to plotting is to give your characters an important obstacle to overcome. This obstacle can be either external or internal. The antagonist blocking their way is external. Overcoming their low self-esteem in order to believe in their own powers is internal.

Many times obstacles are both. The example of the maze in the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire is a good example. The maze was a physical impediment to the goal of winning the cup. Harry overcoming his jealousy of Cedric was an internal accomplishment.

As in real life, when characters overcome obstacles, they grow. This is the crux of character development. Character development is not what you, the author, write out as descriptions of your character. Character development occurs when your character, through the plot of your story, makes choices, right or wrong, and changes because of it. When you look at a character from the beginning to the end of a story and see this change, it should be dramatic and noticeable and is called a character arc or growth arc.

We're all familiar with Harry's overall series growth arc. He goes from being an unloved orphan stuffed away in a closet to the celebrated savior of the magical world. Along the way, he must overcome many obstacles to obtain the maturity, skill, and wisdom to defeat the darkest wizard of all time.

Each book presents its own set of obstacles and challenges that Harry must face. Some of these obstacles are external--such as Snape's hatred, Dumbledore's slowness to reveal crucial information, and Voldemort's increasing shenanigans to do Harry off. Other obstacles are internal--Harry's lack of belief in his own powers coupled with his lack of knowledge of the wizarding world and what happened in Godric's Hollow. Internal conflicts also include his inability to trust in the manner of Dumbledore and his disbelief that love is more powerful than hatred.

Most writers understand the importance of carefully plotting their protagonist's growth arc. They'll spend much time and energy charting their hero's GMC, torturing their heroine, and assuring that the turning points are strong and powerful. However, the strength of a truly good novel often rests in how much energy the author puts into developing their secondaries as well.

For example:

Character	Beginning Situation	Obstacle to Overcome	Ending Triumph
Dobby	Enslaved to the Malfoys	Cannot act on his own against Malfoys without punishing self	Due to his loyalty to Harry, wins his freedom when Harry slips Mr. Malfoy the sock.
Ginny	Crush on Harry, though he doesn't notice her	Tongue-tied around Harry	Increased strength and self-confidence through other relationships.  Dates/marries Harry.
Ron	Youngest son with five older brothers	In shadows of brothers, in shadow of Harry	Overcame his fears of living in shadows and returned to his best friends.  Achieved greater fame than any of his brothers by helping to defeat Voldemort.
Neville	Living with grandmother, who belittles him. Unpopular at school.	Poor memory, inept, lack of confidence	Showed the power of his magic in killing the last Horcrux, the one closest to Voldemort, his snake.
Snape	Hates Harry.  Not the most trusted professor.	Poor decisions in past, hurt the one he most loved	Helped to save the life of Lily's son and restore the Wizarding World.

Throw obstacles into the path of your characters. Challenge them to new heights with the problems they must overcome. Don't ever let their way be too easy. Otherwise, who does the reader have to cheer for?

Remember the power of the underdog. Everyone cheers when the underdog wins out against tremendous odds. But when even an underdog is not challenged, or fails, he remains an underdog that no one cares about or remembers.

A Rubeus by Any Other Name...

Would NOT smell as, well, ah...sweet!

In JK Rowling's deft hands, character names are more than just a reflection of the personality of its owner.  While many writers like to pick apart JKR's prose for overuse of adverbs or other small infractions, one technique she is almost universally admired for is her ability to craft unique, meaningful, and enchanting names.  I mean, siriusly, can you imagine Rubeus Hagrid as a Robert Harris?  Or Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore as Albert Davis?

But JKR's talent was not just in giving her characters a whimsical, though accessible, name which made them seem fully a part of their magical world.  It was most importantly her ability to craft a name which carried hints of the mystery surrounding that character.

For example, many fans (myself included) are still convinced that when the Harry Potter Encyclopedia comes out, Dumbledore's animagus form will be revealed as a bumblebee.  After all, Dumbledore is an old English word for bumblebee, and he always seemed to be humming about the place.  And can you imagine that a former Transfiguration professor and a wizard as skilled as Dumbledore never learned to transform himself?

Years ago, when the HP books were new and fans were first beginning to share their enthusiasm over the Internet, the main clues being discussed were the meanings behind names.  Readers quickly caught on that many came from myths; others from places; some were named after flowers or stars; and then there are JKR’s own creations, combinations of words with new meanings (such as Umbridge, a portmanteau from umbrage and bridge, as she provided a connection from the school to the ministry). All types of names were strikingly relevant to the character or object they represented, and most held some sort of clue regarding that character's role in the series.

For example:

1. Argus Filch = Argus Panoptes from Greek mythology. Argus of the 100 Eyes made a great watchman, just like nasty old Filch.
2. Petunia = flower name meaning anger and resentment, sounds like petulant
3. Lily = flower associated with death and resurrection
4. Bellatrix = the third brightest star in Orion, means female hunter
5. Draco = Draco constellation, draco means dragon, a reminder of his serpentine Slytherin family.
6. Grimmauld Place = definitely a grim old place, but it might also be a play on the Brother’s Grimm and a nod to their fairy tales.
7. Minerva McGonagall = named after the Roman goddess of wisdom and war. She resembles a distant, austere goddess (with a warm side she reveals upon occasion), but a very apt second in command, as shown in Deathly Hallows.

These are all fairly simple examples, accessible to the average reader with just a quick quest to the Google oracle. However, there was one set of names which carried a stronger set of clues to the heart of the mystery surrounding Harry--his alchemical journey.  In alchemy, to turn base metal into gold, there were seven stages divided into three phases--black, white, and then red.  The black phase must “die” for the white to begin, then the white falls away for the red. At last, the red phase produces the gold of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Now look at these three names:

Sirius Black
Albus (white in Latin) Dumbledore
Rubeus (red in Latin) Hagrid

First Sirius died, then Dumbledore, then finally, after a symbolic death from his motorbike, Hagrid was left to carry the body of Harry out of the Dark Forest of his enlightenment for his final confrontation, his golden moment in the rising sun.

Think of ways you can give extra meaning to your character names without creating something that looks like D'Oro'dindul'gum.  JKR's names, while different, were still accessible. Also, be careful in choosing names with meaning that it also fits the character, story, and time period in which the story takes place.

Have you created a character name lately you're especially proud of?

This article is part of the Sleight of Hand series with tags of  Mystery Plotting and Clues.

Photo credit

Snape's Gray Undies

It was one of JK Rowling's most memorable scenes from Order of the Phoenix, one that fans could not wait to see come to life on the big screen, and not just because they were eager to view the four marauders together, alive as teenagers.  No, everyone wanted to see Snape and James go at each other.  And many were dying to laugh at Snape's graying underpants.

    Behind [James], the Impediment Jinx was wearing off.  Snape was beginning to inch toward his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.
   "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lilly.
   "Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, turning back to Snape.  "OY!"
    But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood.  James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants. (p. 647, OotP)

I do not think those gray undies are thrown in casually for a bit of nasty flavor.  Indeed, I think JKR possibly crafted this whole scene around them.

This view through the Pensieve opens Harry’s eyes to the fact that he’d placed his father on a pedestal that was both unhealthy and unrealistic. The world is not filled with good people and Death Eaters, but ultimately most of us are various shades of gray. And that’s where Snape’s exposed undies come in. Snape, like his undies, is one of the grayest.

Snape was deliberately constructed by his creator to be a man of uncertain allegiance, trusted by few, doubted by many, living in a world of shadows, existing on both sides of the Dumbledore/Voldemort divide. A man who intentionally concealed secrets and motivations.  A character of ambiguity.



His never-ending morphing keeps the reader off-guard, on the alert, and constantly wondering. Readers latch onto Snape because the uncertainty of his ambiguity commands it. His mysterious nature demands the reader’s questions and inward exploration. What do I think about loyalty, appearances, the power of trust? Do I believe a person can be nasty and mean and still serve a higher good? Do I agree that a Slytherin and a Gryffindor have anything in common and can work together to defeat true evil? And who am I inside? Where do my loyalties lie? Would I defend Snape, or bully him upside down?

Who you are inside will determine how you interpret Snape. Snape will be understood, in your mind, in direct accordance with your worldview. That's why readers were so polarized. Snape draws the reader’s involvement because that is his very purpose.

As writers, we can challenge ourselves to make sure the real world in all its texture and complexity is reflected within our story.  Once you have constructed your hero and antagonist and defined the themes that differentiate them, have you created a character to embody the vast space of grayness that lies between them?  Have you got a Snape, complete with gray undies, ambiguous in nature, who could be viewed as friend and foe by both sides?  A character, who like most of us, is not totally good or evil, but somewhere in between, who embodies the subtle nuances of your theme.  And can you craft this character with a hint of mystery, to keep both your hero, and your reader guessing, as they did with Snape, until the very end?

One last thing to note regarding JKR's craft in the scene snippet above.  See that other highlighted section, the curse Snape threw at James that caused a gash on his head and made him bleed?  What does that remind you of?  A bit of foreshadowing of Half-Blood Prince to come?  We see here Snape using the curse that caused Harry so much trouble with Draco, and the Prince himself, in the next book to come.

A clue, foreshadowing, character development and theme definition, all in one tidy little memory.  That's JKR for you!

Have you written an ambiguous character into your story?  I'd love to hear about it.

Picture credit.

The Power of Touch

One technique I think JKR uses excessively well is to employ the power of human touch to SHOW emotion rather than to tell. Throughout her stories, JKR utilizes words conveying touch between her characters to express the heights and depths of what her people are feeling. You can guarantee, in a high-intensity scene, there's going to be a lot more touching going on.

Examine these examples, noting the bolded action, to see how in crucial, emotionally charged scenes, the physical act of touch is used to great effect:

Then a pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over.
"Harry! Harry!"...
...Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly. He raised his free hand and seized Dumbledore's wrist, while Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus.
-- p. 671 GOF (Scholastic)

With touching words such as “seized” and “clutched,” the power of Dumbledore's fear and Harry's mounting anxiety are powerfully conveyed. The reader can feel the emotions, rather than being simply told that Dumbledore was afraid and Harry was traumatized.

Harry seized him and helped him back to his seat...
...And pulling Dumbledore's uninjured arm around his shoulders, Harry guided his headmaster back around the lake, bearing most of his weight...
..."I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you."...
..."When did it appear?" asked Dumbledore, and his hand clenched painfully upon Harry's shoulder as he struggled to his feet.
-- pp. 577-581, HBP (Scholastic)

How satisfying is it for the reader to see, to feel, Harry taking care of his mentor. Here Harry becomes the strong one, and this is actively conveyed through numerous “touching” verbs.

And just so we don't think that the power of touch resides only with our hero and his friends, this from HBP:

...Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting...
...When Snape had performed his counter-curse for the third time, he half-lifted Malfoy into a standing position...
..."There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that...come..."
He supported Malfoy across the bathroom, turning at the door to say in a voice of cold fury, "And you, Potter...you wait here for me."
-- p. 489 HBP (Bloomsbury), p. 523 (Scholastic)

"Pushing," "knelt," "traced," "wiped," "lifted," and "supported." The power of human touch, of healing...in Snape's hands.

Look for places where you can weave more touch, in all its varied forms, into your story. Especially consider scenes of climax and passion. And don't limit touch to your hero and his friends. After all, not all touches are good.

Touch is elemental, archetypal even. It transcends centuries, and cultures, and the sexes. It has the power to convey emotions as far ranging as love from hate and trust from betrayal.

Touch is a powerful word-tool in your arsenal. How have you employed this tool in your story?