So Serious Saturday #25

Fiction needs a basis in reality. Exercising non-fiction muscles once in a while benefits an active imagination, channeling creative energies as it focuses on a subject. So Serious Saturdays will be an active place for critical essays or writing about reality in the context of real events - even when it is not written on Saturdays.

Type: Observation

The New Pottermore

     Pottermore recently launched sorting quizzes in what I like to call its grand reopening. Each registered user can not only discover their Hogwarts House, but also their personalized wand.

Visiting

     I had never been on the site before. Of course, I'd looked at its front page in the old version, but that was as far as I got. I did not want to enter into another online game at that time, fearing that I would visit it more often than Dobby says "Harry Potter". After some time I decided I would give the game a chance to enter my routine, but - wouldn't you know it? - the site was undergoing a radical reconstruction.

     Pottermore passed from my thoughts until a friend announced her house on Facebook. Ravenclaw. I stared at the swirling air and the noble eagle. A possibility awakened of discovering my true Hogwarts house. I entered the site, made a profile and took the tests.

Entering

    Both tests only took a total of fifteen minutes. I don't know how the site was before, but I felt satisfied with my results and their accompanying meanings, which I summoned by using the links. After reading one feature I clicked on a link and entered another beautiful page about the interesting inner world of wand making.

Inside the Magic

    The aesthetics of the site make each page feel like a stand-alone story, each with a title, a purpose, and a color scheme. Even a page about the color decision of Pottermore exists. 

     The site feels sophisticated yet natural. It seems to be geared toward the fans who have grown up reading the books and are now adults. 

     Its layout lets users roam free while calling them to stay and explore. Procrastination is made easy as the reader forgets where they started and how long they have been reading. 

     Over two days I clicked links within links, bringing me further, deeper into J.K. Rowling's online notes.

     That's what the site as a whole is: Rowling's notes, online, shared with fans who love her stories as much as she does. Many writers keep notes on characters, the settings, about the detailed world they build, but most of these personal reminders are never seen by outsiders.  Rowling has probably made hers public with the upcoming movie and stage play in mind, which promises to deliver more of the magical world.

Afterthoughts

   I can't help but ask if more is better. 

   I foresee myself spending hours on Pottermore while I discover the depth, breadth, and length of the Harry Potter universe. In the interest of the craft of writing I am interested in seeing how the details were connected to create the hugely successful series.

   Still, I am worried about the implications of more, when what was already written was enough.  There comes a point when a good thing becomes too much. I can't help wondering if in revealing more if Rowling has dampened the magic of imagination.