No one can disagree that JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books have become a phenomenon. I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in summer 2001. Then I read it and the other three that same summer and had to wait for what felt like an eternity for books five, six, and seven. On Friday, the last part of the movies will arrive—and yes, I’m attending the midnight showing—and it’ll be the end of a series that means so much to me. Of course, that meaning will come on Thursday’s post. *grins*
Today, I want to talk the books in word counts:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – 76,944 words
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 85,141 words
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – 107,253 words
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – 190,637 words
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – 257,045 words
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – 168,923 words
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – 198,227 words
That’s a grand total of 1,084,170 words. Over a million words. Wow. I would’ve read a million more. *laughs* And, that’s not even including Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastical Beasts & Where to Find Them, or Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Of course, as writers, we should pay attention to how many words the first book was. That’s pretty normal for a children’s fantasy novel. Maybe bordering on high for a word count range for that age group—although, who are we kidding? Harry Potter is for all ages.
They say it takes 10,000 hours or 1,000,000 words to write anything worth reading. I wonder how many words JK Rowling wrote before Harry Potter. I would say she definitely has mastered her fantastic Harry Potter universe.
