‘Phoenix or the Flame’ Publication Day!

Download an Excerpt here!

From the Amazon.com sales page for the book:

Before writing the fifth Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling created a seven-page handwritten outline of her original vision for the plot, offering an unprecedented glimpse into her writing process. In these early notes, there are noticeable differences in the characters, terminology, and plot, culminating with a different ending, in which Sirius’s fate is not brought about by Bellatrix.

Three of the essays in this collection focus on the ramifications of specific changes, such as the outline’s original much darker tone, the lack of Bellatrix Lestrange, or the different designation for the Order of the Phoenix. Another takes a more holistic view, looking at the changes in the book’s characters. Two essays use the outline to highlight the development that must have happened both before and after it was written. The final essay looks at how outline could be interpreted had one never seen the published book.

Together the essays explore the manuscript in detail, offering a new perspective on Rowling’s creative process and deepening our understanding of the published book. This collection also includes detailed guidance to help fans interpret the outline themselves.

Essays by Louise M. Freeman, Alice Arganese, Irvin Khaytman, Asher Scheiner, Beatrice Groves, John Granger and Patricio Tarantino. Edited by A. Ibid.

It has debuted at #1 among New Releases at Amazon’s Scholarly and Academic Writing category — and at the incredible bargain price of $9.99; get your copy at the Publication Day price while it lasts!

Check out the Author’s Symposium released yesterday by TRL for much more on the book and its various chapters:

‘The Phoenix or the Flame’ Author Symposium: Pre-Publication Feature

From The Rowling Library’s YouTube Channel:

“The Phoenix or the Flame: Essays on J.K. Rowling’s original plans for The Order of the Phoenix“, published by TRL Books (2025).

The authors from the essays in this book were each invited to give a presentation about their contributions.

Excerpts, abstracts, and ordering information can be found at https://www.trlbooks.com/pof

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 9:00 – From Dark Dementors to Luna’s Light: Brightening a Nigredo through Positive Psychology by Louise M. Freeman;
  • 18:50 – From Joyce Umbridge to ‘Missy’ Slipkiss: How the Harry Potter Characters Evolved from the Outline to the Printed Book by Alice Arganese;
  • 23:25 – Belated Bellatrix: The before and after of Advancing the Antagonist’s Arrival by Irvin Khaytman;
  • 32:00 – Angry Harry Potter and the Pointless Prophecy: Why the Most Annoying parts of Order of the Phoenix Are Intentional (And How the Outline Shows Us This) by Asher Scheiner; and
  • 40:30 – J.K. Rowling’s Phoenix ‘Ring Within a Ring’: The Structure of Harry’s Trip through the Department of Mysteries and What It Suggests about Her Planning Grids by John Granger

Tomorrow, 24 February, is Publication Day! Order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

The price I’m seeing late on Sunday night is an incredible $9.99; I don’t know if that is a Publication Day special or what, but best to order today, regardless, for a great book at a great price!

This Is A Test of the HogwartsProfessor Broadcasting Network, It Is Only a Test

This a video from the ‘Wizard Reading Formula’ online series of classes I rolled out in 2017. As I work to update those classes — we’ve learned so much in the last eight years, no? — I wanted to see if the Vimeo platform on which those classes are stored can be used here on a WordPress weblog like HogwartsProfessor.

If you can see the video above, you get a free class on ring composition using Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped as the source text. I’m not attaching all the materials I sent the friends in that trial class but you’ll get to see the same process I use for all my book ‘Part’ or chapter set work with Cormoran Strike or book-as-a-whole effort. Nick joined me in charting the first Part of Ink Black Heart on my most recent trip to Wales: [Read more…]

Previews of a Coming Attraction?

[Read more…]

Harry Potter Interactive Illustrated Editions to Continue

Fans of the Harry Potter illustrated editions from the design duo Mina Lima were left disappointed last August, when the artists announced that they had not been commissioned to illustrate the fourth in the series: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Collectors of the first three books will be relieved with yesterday’s announcement from Scholastic that Karl James Mountford will be illustrating the next book for release in October.