Last night I went to see the new Harry Potter movie and no, it was not the best movie I’ve ever seen. But I loved it. One of the things I respect about J.K. Rowling is that she doesn’t sugarcoat childhood. Bad things happen. Kids aren’t always safe. Love matters.  

But, that’s not my point. 

As I was watching the 3,000 previews that preceded the movie, most of them having to do with fantasy or science fiction, I was struck by the fact that each one of them looked worse than the next. Each one looked like it had cost about 200 million to make; each one was awe-inspiring and glossy. And cold. (I remarked upon this fact to my son, perhaps too loudly, and he said he hoped to God there was no one in the theater we knew.) 

The thing is that none of the other movies had an interesting character at its center, which brought me back to something I am often saying in class. It’s all about the character. Yes, I love the details about Hogwarts and the wizardry, but the reason I love Harry Potter is because I love that boy, with all his anger and insecurities. I think that writers in general, and science fiction writers in particular, often fall into the trap of thinking that if they get the details right, the story will fall into place. But I think that’s wrong. You need to start with a character.  (Unless you’re Dan Brown.) 

Tomorrow I am going to see Live Free or Die Hard, but I think I will spare my sons (and blog readers) from deconstructing that one. In the next few posts, I will unveil the covers for both the U.S. and UK versions of my book, so stay tuned.