Harry Potter Still Amazes Me

Yesterday, I decided to pull out my copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Book 1 of possibly one of the very best stories ever written. After all these years and after reading them all once already, it's amazing how much the story still draws me in. Rowling sets the entire series up so perfectly with her explanation of the Dursley's and the delineation between the Muggle world and the Magic world. Her tone in the first book is almost a bit more childlike than I remember, but it fits so perfectly since Harry is just 11 at the beginning.

In a world where so many things are overrated and disappointment abounds, I think that Harry Potter is one of the few truly worthy of its amazing reputation and the money it has made. JK Rowling deserves every penny of her millions (Billions?). The basic story of a boy wizard who fights an evil sorcerer is not really that unique. It's the WAY she tells the story and the characters she creates that make the difference.

I find myself wanting to beat my head against the wall and scream, "How?! How do you write like that?? Dear God! I can't do it, I can't do it!" And the truth is, I probably can't. No matter how much you study, you can't recreate someone else's voice exactly. And I don't want to be her. I want to be. I just want for me to be the type of writer who can amaze someone and touch someone's heart and make people fall in love with my characters so much that they stay up way past their bedtime reading. Maybe someday I will.