I have been sending paid subscribers my Hallmarked Man ring composition videos by private email (we’re up to Part Three) but I think I need to circle back (!) and talk about Rowling, the lady born with a cyclical or rotating name, and the effect of her choosing ring composition as her signature story scaffolding.
I’m going to start with this video and transcript (link after paywall), a talk that doesn’t even go into the basics of ring writing — latch, turn, turtle-back lines — but which focuses on the Harry Potter novels’ circular surface story structure and each one featuring a secret-center. That sets up a discussion of the Perennialist understanding of the center or Cartesian origin which is the both the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of traditional chiastic writing.
It’s a sideways answer to the question of “Why is Rowling the world’s most popular writer?” The answer is she delivers stories that do best what readers want stories to do, namely, to give our imagination-heart the oxygen it craves of experiencing ego-transcendent realities.
I hope in my next post to share the ‘what’ of chiastic structure which will set the stage for posts about how to chart Strike 8 specifically and how to get at the Meaning-in-the-Middle of each Hallmarked Man Part and the novel as a whole. It’s best, though, to start at the beginning or arche, the principle, before ‘rolling’ out the mechanics. Enjoy!
[These hairless-face John talks are from the sixth week of my 2017 online course, Wizard Reading Formula, which I am updating with ‘Lake and Shed’ insights and post Potter publications. Paid subscribers will be receiving previews of the new work and access to the old lectures.]
