A Harry Potter freak, that is. You can blame my daughter. I bought the first two books when she was, oh, around 10 and read them together, and then she got impatient and plowed through all the rest ahead of me, one by one as they were published (we bought the first two a little late, before we realized how full of awesomeness they were.)

Writing that grabs you by the throat…and tries to kill you

I’ve always been a big Stephen King fan, because his writing always pulled into the book, slapping me right down where the action was. That is a freaky thing to be able to do. But with Mr. King, I didn’t always WANT to be where the action was, going into the vampire’s house in “Salem’s Lot,” wandering a haunted hotel in “The Shining” or going on an epic trek in “The Stand.” It was thrilling but terrifying. J.K. Rowling, on the other hand, created a world I long to be in. What kid doesn’t want to be rescued from cruel parents (yes, making me go to bed at 9 is cruel) and proclaimed a heroic wizard? Who doesn’t want to be magical?

A scary word—plagiarism

And then I read something even scarier.

Having bought every Harry Potter book, having gone to every Harry Potter movie premiere and having dragged out the reading of the last book like savouring an exquisite Lindt chocolate, you bet I’ve got J.K. on a pedestal. I’m completely jealous of her writing skills the way Murray F. Abraham’s character Salieri was of Tom Hulce’s character Mozart’s genius. Of course, I’m stopping short of stalking her and bringing about her downfall. That movie is a great example of a character’s tragic flaw…

But I digress

I am not a judgemental person, and since I’m not aware of anything more than the headline above, I’m going to say J.K. is innocent until proven guilty. I will say, though…marauders map? Diagon Alley? Northern Ridgebacks?? So much wonderful, imaginative and interwoven detail, I can’t see how it could have been plagiarized. At least not in totality.

I can write a story about an apocalyptic world where good people fight against evil people. That doesn’t make me Stephen King.

I will be interested in seeing facts from this suit come out. What do you think? And who’s going to the “Deathly Hallows Pt. 1” premiere??

Nala