Out of the Office

I'll be out of the office until Thursday. See you then!

Harry Potter: Ambiguity

These past few days, I've been buried under pages of copy, redacting my novel for its printing run, so I've struggled finding time for the blog. But now I'm back.

July will be a big month for Harry Potter. The Order of the Phoenix, the fifth movie in the series, will hit the theatres on the 11th; and on the 21st, the much-anticipated seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will storm the shelves. Anxious for these next installments, Potter fans are asking, Will Harry die? Will he and Voldemort merge and bring balance to the Force? What happens to Harry and that one girl he kisses? What will become of Hermoine and Ron? Is their romance star-crossed? Will Emma Watson return for the sixth movie?

J.K. Rowling's American publisher, Scholastic, has additionally released a marketing campaign focusing on seven questions that, reportedly, will be answered in Deathly Hallows. Is Snape good or evil? Will Hogwartz reopen? Where are the Horcruxes? Etc.

Such is the ambiguity surrounding Harry Potter.

Fans are eager to know what happens next, even if they have to pay $7.00 per ticket or $17.99 per book.

If writers tell a good story and leave some questions unanswered, their series could definitely have some go-power. Once readers are sucked into a story, answers are a commodity they're willing to pay for.