Growing Up: Harry Potter and Kira

Next weekend, my small hometown will be transformed into a virtual Hogwarts as we celebrate our first annual Potter Festival.

While excitement and anticipation are reaching a fever-pitch in the James' house, it also leaves me contemplating the impact of J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter novels on my own writing. Admittedly, I'm not a Potter superfan like the rest of my family, but there are certainly lessons to be learned from this extraordinary series.

One of my takeaways from the Harry Potter universe is the way in which J.K. Rowling grows her novels with her audience. The first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone for all you Anglophiles), clocks in at just under 77,000 words and it serves as a fun adventure about a boy adapting to a new, magical world. However, the final entry in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, tips the scale at over 198,000 words, and it reads like a war story littered with the bodies of beloved characters.

So, for J.K. Rowling, both the depth and the tone of her novels has changed to meet the demands of her audience. This make perfect sense when you consider a decade passed between the release of the first and final book. After all, very few of us would choose to read the same novels at the ages of 10 and 20.

I've tried to adapt a similar strategy with the Rainbow Princess Chronicles. Kira and the Rat Queen, the second book in the series, is currently just over 37,000 words... that's 10,000 more words than Kira the Rainbow Princess.

Likewise, just like J.K. Rowling, I've tried to mature the tone of my novel while still keeping the spirit of the original. This, more than increasing word count, has proved the more difficult challenge. It becomes a fine line between "more" and "too much".

I wanted Kira and the Rat Queen to be scarier... but not scary. I wanted the risk to Kira and her friends to be greater... but never overwhelming. I wanted the tone to be darker... without descending into Roald Dahl territory. Hopefully the efforts will prove successful.

I've planned SEVEN books in the Rainbow Princess Chronicles, one for each color of the rainbow. That's a minimum of seven sears. I want to keep writing stories that Aidan and Fiona will enjoy as much when their 17 and 15 as they did when they were 10 and 8.

Just like Harry Potter, maybe Kira and her readers will grow up together.

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