Harry Potter was a smash hit about a boy discovering he’s a wizard and going to school in a magical world full of wonder and adventure. Twilight didn’t hit quite that high a note, but the story of a teenage girl who learns her classmate is a vampire and falls in love with him did quite well. The Hunger Games popularized the dystopian genre with a bow wielding teenager stepping up to survive death games, have angsty romances, and fight the power.
As far as I can tell, nothing has quite hit that same kind of high since and it may be awhile until the next truly big wave. But if it were up to you, what would the next big thing be about?
The school was the perfect set piece for the escapist fantasy. Every book starts with Harry’s shitty life with his family and the moment he goes to school all that disappears and he becomes a hero. It’s really easy to see yourself in Harry. Just imaging going to a magical place away from all of your troubles, it’s genius.
I do think what JK Rowling did was utterly genius.
I think the mundane parts of the wizarding world are what make it so brilliant.
Wizard exams, wizard money, banks, sports, words, government, jobs etc.
So many things that provide relatable gateways into the world she built.
It’s funny that you say that it’s easy to see yourself in Harry because I distinctly remember thinking “What would I do if I were in this situation” at various points while reading the books and determining that almost every time the answer was “I would probably cry” lmao
Scholomance. The school is literally a character.
That and saving the world. Every teenager wants to escape their shitty reality and their shitty school even if their life isnt “that bad”. Thats just how you feel as a teen. I think its because youre in a phase where magic and wonder is kind of fleeting. Your imagination isnt as strong as when you were a kid. And puberty. Thats kind of a lot of shitty feelings all at once so something that makes you feel that wonder again and gets you to escape, thats what you need. Thats what most teenagers want to feel. You also have a huge sense of wanting to change the world as a teenager. Youre starting to see how bad things can really be and you have all the sense of purpose, energy, and want to make things better. Youre more idealistic and not as beat down by life as you are when youre an adult. Not that adults cant be filled with wonder and idealistic and change the world, its just a different feeling. An adult usually knows you can be part of the solution, even just something tiny. As a teen, you want to be part of or THE person who makes things better.
I really feel like if you think about it that way, put yourself in a place of what you needed and wanted as a teen to escape and feel better, you can write a great YA novel.
Harry is an interesting character, because he does have a bit of a vengeful bone in himself. He takes pleasure in seeing his bullies suffer a little, and though you don’t always see that in many protagonists, it’s relatable.
As for me, my fondest memories of reading the series was actually having to hide it. I was raised in one of those religious homes where HP was strictly off limits, because ‘witchcraft’. While I love my parents and they are nowhere near the Dursleys, sitting under a blanket with a flashlight in the hiding space under the bunkbed so my snitch little brother wouldn’t see, and reading about going off to a magical world; it was just exactly what I needed at that point in my life
Have you since revealed that your read HP to your parents?