Fantastic Writer's Salon



What can we, as writers, learn from a fanciful children’s movie?

At the height of Potter Mania, 6 hr after Deathly Hallows was published, it sold 5000 books a sec. Deathly Hallows sold more books in the first day than any other author that YEAR.

Fantastic Beasts, Rowling’s first foray into screenplay writing, grossed $814 million worldwide. The film was nominated for 5 BAFTAs (British equivalent of an Academy Award), including Best British Film, winning Best Production Design. In this country the movie took two Academy Awards,winning Best Costume Design, and becoming the first Wizarding World film to win an Academy Award.

Clearly, J. K. Rowling resonates with a large audience of people. I believe that's because she is one of the most complex and layered writers of our time. I mean to convince you today that the more you dig into her work, the deeper the meaning, the more complex and interesting her work becomes.

Join us on Sunday, November 18 to watch the second installment in the Fantastic Beasts saga, Crimes of Grindelwald. We will hold a writer's salon at 2:30 pm at Nancy Brehm's house, 925 Sinagua Heights Dr. in Flagstaff.


I'll give a brief presentation about the peculiarities of Rowling's writing and things to consider while watching the movie. I'll cover how Rowling hooks you with:
  • Genre Bending Worldbuilding
  • Confirming your Postmodern Beliefs
  • Masterful Narrative Slow Release.
Rowling has been called the most important Christian writer since C. S. Lewis. I'll talk about how she delivers meaning:
  • Meaningful Resonance
  • Ring Composition
  • Subversion of stories we share in common
  • Characters and elements that symbolize larger concepts
  • Literary Alchemy
  • Dante's Divine Comedy

At 4 or 4:30 pm we will watch the movie together.

After the movie we'll meet back at Nancy's house for BBQ sandwiches, while we discuss the film.

Please RSVP at authorCAlexSmith@gmail.com if you think you're coming so we can get an approximate head count. You can let us know right up to and including Sunday the 18th.