It's my last semester of my undergraduate degree and the year that I will turn a quarter of a century, and needless to say, I have (until this moment) not set any resolutions that have to do with writing. Because 'write better' is kind of a constant goal, it is hard to want to set a solid resolution, of number of pages or poems, or published pieces or what have you. Setting resolutions from a place of quantifiability seems like setting myself up for failure. I do, however, think that resolutions on a theoretical level are important. (More a question of who I want to be, than the number of times that I want to go the gym this year.) The first thing that comes to mind is 'be kinder to people', which is not all that interesting in terms of writing goals for the new year, but still important.
In terms of writing, writing better should include reading. Reading is one of the most important things that a writer can do (besides writing and publishing, of course!). Reading should deepen the scope of a writers language and help to develop voice and themes. So, to this list I will add 'read more'.
--And so far I have been, whiling away the class and study free hours re-reading the seventh Harry Potter book. Which gets us to the meat of the matter. What is it about Harry Potter that entranced my generation? What is it about the series and its characters that has made me and so many of my friends go back to it over and over again? I have read each book in the series probably about a dozen times and I still want to go back every winter and re-read one of them.
Certainly, there is the nostalgia of the thing. I received the first three books one year for Christmas, and, while I always liked reading and being read to, it was the first time I really felt sucked into a world on my own. Even now, I wish that I had magic but, who doesn't in one way or another? It blows me away that one series of books could so inspire a generation of readers, that the bowels of the internet are filled to bursting with fan-fiction (which is another blog-post for another time), a theme park has been created and vacations can be planned to Polish castles where guests can experience Hogwarts.
Then I think of the hype over Tolkien's, Lord of the Rings, that I certainly also felt entirely enthralled with as a kid (and still do), and the comic book heroes that are so important and prevalent in writing and media.
It strikes me that all of these stories have a kind of ethos in common: the reluctant hero. Through the whole Harry Potter series, all Harry wants is to be a normal person with a normal family and friends. He certainly never asked to be special or famous, and we readers, get the sense that he would trade all of it to have his parents back magic or not. Bilbo too, in the Hobbit never wanted to go on any adventures or do anything out of the ordinary, and yet he ends up on an adventure where he wishes often that he was safe at home in his nice warm hobbit hole. The more I think about it the list seems endless.
There is something about this reluctance that resonates with us. Sometimes, the thing that seems the scariest for me is getting what I want, having an opportunity for success, because that means that I actually have to do something about it. It means that I actually have to get up out of my comfort zone and try something new, take a chance on something that could fail, really put myself out there.
The fact that we love characters that are forced to push boundaries, says something about what it means to be human. Maybe what it means to be human is in that getting out into the wide world with strange companions and making the best of it, no matter how dark or complicated things are. In so many ways I think that, these stories and their reluctant hero's resonate because the thing they have in common is hope.
