Wintering by Katherine May

Author:Katherine May [May, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473562882
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

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One night, I let Bert sit up late to finish watching the final Harry Potter film. We had started reading the books at the beginning of his troubles, and it quickly became clear that he identified with Harry, bullied and belittled, subject to flashes of temper, but also brave and loyal, a child who toughs out the bad times and relishes the good. Soon, we switched to the films just so that he could race through them faster. He’d got to the end of The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and was so desolate that I had to show him how it all finished; had to prove to him that the tide would turn.

As the film starts, I take out a pencil and a piece of paper, and draw him the same diagram that I used to draw for my undergraduates: a curve on a graph, rather like a wonky smile.

‘This is the shape of a good story,’ I say. ‘This is the beginning, and the end. And in the middle, see, is always the lowest point. It’s called the nadir: the moment when things have got so bad that you just can’t imagine a way out.’

Bert examines it for a while. ‘So that’s where we are,’ he says, and points to the very bottom of the curve. ‘Here.’

I am no longer sure which curve we’re talking about: ours or Harry’s, but I suppose they’re both the same. ‘Yes,’ I say, and then I shift my pencil a little to the right. ‘And the fightback begins here.’

‘So after that it all gets better?’

‘Not quite. There are ups and downs. But from now on, the hero of the story is working towards a solution. Even with each setback, he gains ground.’

Bert takes my pencil and draws over my line. He follows the original curve, but takes a series of deep dives along the way.

‘So this is what it’s really like,’ he says. ‘This is how stories work.’

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Except in real life, it carries on happening. The adventure doesn’t end on the last page.’

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