Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter and his Family Tree

Call me "Potteridiot" because I don't get the recent craze over "Pottermore," a.k.a the latest marketing ploy feeding Pottermania.  Wow, I almost created a tongue-twister there.  LOL.  Nonetheless, Potter-fans are deadly serious right now about following a trail of clues in the hope of uncovering the latest news of "something big" about to happen in the wizarding world.  The "trail of clues" was announced a few days ago, and countless people have been literally losing sleep over this.  As for me, I've been losing sleep over finding that picture or document of the dead guy I'm currently researching -- I have Geneamania rather than Pottermania. 

Potter-fans will not like to hear this, I'm sure, but I really tried to read The Sorcerer's Stone (a.k.a. The Philosopher's Stone), but it lost me somewhere in the middle, magic wands and all.  The best I can do is give into the crazy idea that I might find a family tree for Harry Potter.  In fact, a few minutes ago, I googled "genealogy" and "Harry Potter" all the while smugly telling myself how ridiculous I am to even consider the existence of such a thing and, lo and behold, there it was... several google links to pages on Harry Potter's genealogy.  There is even a tree I can download or visualize on-site, and it has 180 people in it and 31 families.  Wow!

So, being that I don't get it, why the sudden interest to blog about Harry Potter, you may ask.  Well, I have a best friend.  We have been best friends since 1984 when we met our Freshman year in college and were dorm mates.  Just like a married couple, a bit of feigned interest into the hobbies of your best friend is required -- just the ones a friend does not "get," of course.  After all, she listens to me drone on about dead people she can't possibly care about, and it would only be fair that I listen to her talk about Muggles and Quidditch and so forth.  That's what friends do. 

We have been through a lot together over the years, and for a time, we even wrote books together.  The technique we used was tandem writing.  I'd write 25 pages and she'd follow up with 25 more and I'd add to hers until we actually had a pretty good story.  We had a lot of fun!  But at some point we decided to go our own ways and write our own stories.  I wrote a few novels in the genre of contemporary women's fiction, and she wrote fantasy, mainstream Da Vinci Code type of stuff, young adult... you name it.  She even took her beloved Harry Potter series and created a wonderful workshop that analyzed J.K. Rowling's writing in order to help any writer improve his/her own work.

Recently, she started selling her workshop in book format and then Pottermania broke loose again -- good timing!  She has had thousands of blog hits on her blog site, and she was also asked to post a blog piece regarding "Pottermore" on the International Business Times site -- an online global business newspaper with 5.4 million global users.  And guess what... People going on her blog site have been riding their brooms over to my site because I am listed as a blog she follows -- thanks S.P. Sipal!  I have had around 400 hits on my blog since yesterday.  I have to chuckle, though, when I think that people expecting more Harry Potter end up reading about ancestors and Norwegian and Italian heritage.  But perhaps I should post a tree of Harry Potter and that will satisfy them?  Maybe they'll get curious about their ancestry, too, and hire me to research their own Muggle family history! Hmmm.

Okay, Potter-fans, here is a screenshot of the tree you can look at on this site -- GenoPro.  This is just Harry Potter's tree -- knock yourselves out.  Other characters from the series have trees, too.  Note, I did not find the tree that intuitive to view.


Click on the picture to enlarge it for better viewing...
Obtained from http://familytrees.genopro.com/harry-potter/default.htm
 This one's for you S.P. Sipal.  You are awesome!

2 comments:

  1. You are terrible! To spread your ignorance of Harry Potter for everyone to see?!? How can I ever talk with you again!!!

    Now, if you really want to put your search for dead people skills to good use, you'll find the family link between Harry and Voldemort! :-)

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