What I did during my exile, or: A clue to why Harry Potter was such a big hit

[capri0mni]

So here I was, all alone, with no access to the 'Nets, while my f'list was reading the latest Harry Potter, and squeeing or ranting, as the case may be.

In an attempt to save myself from going stir crazy, I picked up a fantasy paperback from the top of one of the piles of books now lining my office. It was Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede. A glance at the title page told me it was Book Four in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It was published in 1985, when I was 21. And it just so happens to be published by an imprint of Scholastic.

Here's an excerpt, picked at random:

I started off toward the Enchanted Forest. Mother's advice was always good. Besides, I was afraid she'd melt me or something if I hung around very long.

I didn't bother to follow the road. It isn't particularly useful, anyway-- it disappears as soon as you cross into the forest. Or at least, it usually does. At any rate, I wanted to start with the section of the Enchanted Forest that I knew.

The Enchanted Forest comes in two parts. the Outer Forest, and the Deep Woods. Most people don't realize that. The Outer Forest is relatively safe if you know what you're doing, and I'd gathered herbs there a few times. I'd never gone more than an hour's walk from our cottage, and nothing particularly interesting had ever happened, but I'd always known that something might. The way things were going, I was pretty sure that this time, something would.
(page 7)

And it goes on like that-- in the same winking-at-the-reader tone-- for the entire 255 pages. That first person voice can be amusing in a short story. But it gets exhausting, fast, in a novel. Right now, I'm bogged down on page 54, and am not very eager to go on to page 55.

And this far into the story, as far as I can tell, the only character traits the protagonist has are this tongue-in-cheek voice and an obsessive politeness which seems to extend no further than saying "Please," "Thank you," and "Excuse me."

And in the back of the book, there's an advertisement from the imprint for other fantasy books that promises: Other books you will enjoy, about real kids like you! Pretty dismal, if you ask me, if the editors and publishers actually thought that the protagonist in this novel was what sixteen year old boys are like.

I was, at that stage of life, in the middle of trying to write (and get published, I hoped) my own fantasy novel. And I probably bought Talking to Dragons because I was trying to follow the advice of writers' guides to "know the market, and write like that."

And in the mid '80's to early '90's, fantasy for children was looked on with all the enthusiasm of a three-day dead fish. The trend, for years, had been to publish only those children's books that had some practical use: so-called "realistic fiction" that dealt with pressing social issues, or historical fiction that could be used in the classroom. There were even novels designed to teach math.

I had a hard time trying to follow the second piece of advice: "Send your manuscript out to 50 or 60 agents for your genre, because you'll be lucky if one in twenty reply," because, in the entire guide to publishers and agents for writers, I only found a dozen or so that would even touch children's fiction. And about three-quarters of those were affiliated with specific denomination of Christianity, and expected all writers to espouse their particular theology.

It was into this vast wasteland of imagination that J. K. Rowling brought Harry Potter. The seven books have their flaws, to be sure. But at least she respects her characters enough to make them truly three-dimensional, and respects her readers enough to trust they'll understand that complexity. She understood that a rollicking tale was "use" enough. And (I hope) she taught the cynical publishing world a thing or two.

Here's hoping many others follow in her wake for the next generation.

Comments

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

I think Rowling did a WONDERFUL job getting children's literature a decent jolt. There are now many good writers writing children's lit (even Terry Pratchett has written some - goodies at that) that there's plenty of choice for all sorts of kids. It wasn't that way when I was growing up, but I'm glad it's that way now. (Alas, there's still hacks out there, but kids aren't fools - they know when they're reading crap.)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

There were excellent children's fantasy books prior to the '80's -- from Lloyd Alexander (Shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander), and Susan Cooper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Cooper), fr'ex.

Jane Yolen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Yolen) is a one-woman Fantasy factory, and has been writing all this time, and I've rarely been disappointed in her work. And even though she complains that Rowling stole from her, for a while it seemed like she was one lone voice in a rather bleak wilderness...

[uncacreamy.livejournal.com]

I actually like Patricia C Wrede. The solution to children's fantasy, is of course, for kids to read grownup literature. Though I did read Susan Cooper, Dahl, Lloyd Alexander, etc. I feel Rowling's books have edged out of children's literature somewhat, as the books have gone on. Which is probably the point.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I think so. The books have grown up with their protagonist.

But, for a while, even grown up fantasy was pretty dismal for a while...

[grumpy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

Now, here I have to really disagree. Fantasy in the late 70s and the 80s was tremendously fruitful.. especially in the 80s. ;) I was a fantasy junkie. It's still pretty plentiful.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Add me to the voices who are fond of Wrede's work…

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

okay... Maybe this one book rubbed me the wrong way this one week.

Though I still stand by my feeling that Fantasy for kids was, in general, seen as the embarrassing child of literature for a while.

[pedanther]

Filling in another part of the spectrum of opinion, I like *some* of Wrede's work, but I'm not keen on Talking With Dragons. Her later work is better, as in general is her work for older readers.

(By the way, although it was first published in 1985, it didn't become Book Four in the series until 1993 - Books One through Three are prequels, with different and somewhat more interesting protagonists.)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, it's cheering that she's gotten better over time... Some writers (Like Betsy Byars, for example) start out writing brilliantly inventive and insightful work, only to end up writing knock-off formulas of their former selves (In Betsy Byars' case, starting with books like The Summer of the Swans and ending up with the Blossom Family series, which was even partially written by other writers on staff, iirc).

Not part of a series until 1993, huh? That's odd. I wonder how I got a hold of it then... By that time, I was out of grad school for at least a year, and not in a position to visit bookstores regularly... hmmm...

Maybe I bought it at a fundraiser for the library, or my old high school -- four paperbacks for a dollar, or something like that. ... It's got that "old paperback" smell.