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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Random Ramblings: The chocolate frog effect


My sister recently went to the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, and all she bought me was a chocolate frog. Actually it was pretty cool (and tasty).

As I’m devouring my frog I can’t help thinking how crazy it is that I’m eating something straight from a book. Something straight from J.K.’s imagination.

And it made me wonder if my stories are great enough to inspire food, or a movie franchise, or a theme park for heavens sake. Not yet :)

But my take away from this “chocolate frog effect” is—Make you story vibrant. Make your world tangible. Make your characters unforgettable. No problem, right?

What is the most vibrant unforgettable story you have ever read?

-Angie







20 comments:

Tara Tyler said...

how cool is that prospect! a whole theme park! that is legendary status.
my goal is on a shelf (before the bookstores all close)

Miranda Hardy said...

It would be cool to see our stories come to life like that.

Sarah McCabe said...

Well, not all stories are suited to amusement parks. But I wouldn't mind seeing my stories on the big screen if I could be assured in the contract that they wouldn't make changes without my approval.

What I would love to see though is not so much an amusement park (no rides and lots of commercial crap) but some kind of park designed to be like Middle-earth. So I could roam about the Shire or explore Minas Tirith to my heart's content.

Kyra Lennon said...

I need to go to the Harry Potter park!

I have read a lot of stories that are vibrant and unforgettable, but HP aside, none of them are suitable to make theme parks lol. One of my favourite unforgettable books is "If You Could See Me Now" by Cecelia Ahern. She is a fabulous storyteller.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I've been to the Harry Potter park and it is amazing! Drank some "butter beer" and ate some "every flavor beans" - the whole place is so well done.

I'm with Tara - I want to see my book on bookstore shelves before the stores have all disappeared.

Deana said...

Yeah, that's easy peasy:)
I don't know that I could pinpoint one book that was more vibrant than the next. I love to read so much that as long as the book keeps me interested enough to keep turning the pages, than it is vibrant enough for me.

ilima said...

Five years ago my husband and I went to Europe for our tenth anniversary, and we spent a day in Volterra. That's right, vampire-city itself. At the time, none of the locals had any clue about this Stephenie Meyer person, but it was fun walking the cobblestone streets and taking pictures of my husband under the clock tower. :)

Leigh Covington said...

That is so cool! How fun! And you're right - it's crazy to think you're eating something that came from a book! The Harry Potter series is definitely one of my all time favorites. So many wonderful things have come from her books. It's awesome.

Elizabeth Seckman said...

"Gone With the Wind" of course...you could do a thesis paper on personality development with Scarlet alone!

Chantele Sedgwick said...

I would have to say The Harry Potter Series as well. Love it. Love the world she created. Love all the little details she threw in there. I still think it's fascinating how she came up with all of it.

Donna K. Weaver said...

I know, right? Can you imagine what it must have been like for Jo when she first saw the set for Sorcerer's Stone? Wow.

My oldest son who's doing the cover for my adventure romance said he could totally see it being made into a movie and said to make sure I held onto those rights (isn't he kind?). But since it involves survival on an island, I know exactly what movie makers could want to make it into.

Kelley Lynn said...

Definitely Harry Potter. That woman can create man.

I've been to the Orlando theme park. I mean, wow. That Harry Potter World is frickin' awesome. Totally want to go back.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

What I'm going to say next may damage your view of J.K. Rowling but I think it needs to be said to you and to anyone else that will read this comment.

J.K. Rowling is a woman.

She is not a Goddess. She doesn't glow in the dark. She doesn't fly in the sky through sheer will alone.

And she doesn't have the magic that her characters do. In her hands, a wand is just a stick.

So to answer your question I first ask you...are you a woman as well?

Yes?

Then you too can inspire all the things that she inspires.

You too can write books just as good or better than her.

You too can accomplish all of these things and influence people.

Sorry if I popped the bubble that you have built around J.K. Rowling. She's human. She's mortal. And she'll die just like the rest of us one day.

Angela Brown said...

No one particular book pops into my mind. So many wonderful stories with bit and pieces that can be transformed into commercial sensationalism.

Ruth Josse said...

I'm scared of making it to amusement park level. That means my life has changed considerably and I kind of like my life as it is. Not that I wouldn't mind a little more cash in the bank. I'd be happy with writing a good story that sits on a shelf in the bookstore.

Michael, thanks for having such faith in women. :)

amber said...

Hey Angela -- I just tagged you :) It's a game like Duck Duck Goose -- so don't feel like you have to play :)

http://amberplante.blogspot.com/2012/02/tag-youre-it.html

Christine Rains said...

Oh yes, so easy! ;) Harry Potter is by far the most vivid world in my head. One day, I'll be able to afford to go to the theme park and eat my own chocolate frog.

Jackie said...

I'd love to take my boys to see HP park!
P.S. Was the choc frog hollow or solid? :D

Meredith said...

A chocolate frog sounds wonderful! What an amazing thing JK Rowling thought up. :)

Unknown said...

That's what I hope my writing will inspire some day. Or at the least, fan art :/

Unforgettable story? I've got two, childrens books which I've never been able to forget and have reread several times.

One - Diane Duane's Young Wizards Series. She has they great way of describing magic using science, and not just physics. There's this passage in a companion novel where she likens a portal between worlds to the structure of a flower. Her prose is hard to forget, and her version of magic is the one I wish the most were true - words. Magic comes from a deep knowledge of the world around you and the ability to describe it correctly. Say your name even a smigen off in a spell, and you could change your own self.

Two - Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising series. I love the setting, England and Wales in the 80s (if I remember right) and it focuses on the legends of King Arther. But some of the main characters are regular children, who have no tie to history, and it was amazing seeing them interact. It's written for children, kinda in the way the Hobbit was, so accessible for everyone.

And speaking of 'chocolate frog' effects, there are language courses in Tolkien's Elvish. Elvish!

I repeat, I'll be happy with just a single fan hand making things, but I wouldn't mind starting a world wide phenomenon. ^_~

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