Learning About Writing from Harry Potter

Last night, I saw the last Harry Potter movie -- what an awesome experience! [Don't worry, I'm not going to reveal anything about it in this blog post.] The Harry Potter series has been such a huge part of my childrens' lives, both through the books and the movies. Even at ages 15 and 12, they still play "Potions class" in the backyard with mysterious kitchen ingredients and potions kits made from spice bottles from the dollar store, and we have an impressive collection of Harry Potter themed Lego. I think we're all a little sad, now that we've seen the last movie. 

I'm always impressed by J.K. Rowling's plotting. There are so many different elements to the plot that are woven through the entire series, and they are mostly all wrapped up by the time the ending rolls around. However, I've never read the Harry Potter books with an eye to learning something about writing, because I get too involved in enjoying the story. (Plus, these books are my daughters' treasured possessions and if I have one too long on my night table, it gets reclaimed.)

But there are lots of places to go if you do want to learn about writing from the Harry Potter series. Here are a few to get you started:

Harry Potter for Writers is an entire blog dedicated to learning from the Harry Potter books.

Writer's on the Brink also has a whole series of posts, Learning to Write by Reading Harry Potter

Editor Cheryl Klein gives us  A Few Things Writers Can Learn from Harry Potter

Maybe now that I've read the series a couple of times, I can read it again with more of an eye towards learning. Have you learned anything from reading any of the Harry Potter books?

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