Hey, everyone. What if you could learn lessons about creativity from one of the most successful creators of our century?

Me, David Vance. Today's book is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling.

I'm Kellanerskin. I'm a comic, a father, and I held off on reading Harry Potter for years because I thought if everyone else liked it so much, it couldn't be that good.

But then when I finally did, I found out that I was wrong.

I never saw Titanic in the 90s for the same reason.

But then when I finally humbled myself, watched it, turns out I was right about that one.

And I'm David Vance.

I held out for the Titanic Harry Potter crossover in which Hermione throws Ron off that door.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone is a 2,000-page Russian novel in the style of Dostoyeski,

dealing with themes of disenchantment, the rise of communism, and adultery.

It won the Newberry Medal.

And this is the book pile. Another reviewer says,

It's a funny podcast with good information. My one complaint is they blatantly slandered baseball and

called it boring. Just a quick spoiler warning. If you're one of the few who has not read

the Harry Potter series and you care about spoilers,

there are some heavy ones in this episode, including stuff from the seventh book. Also, if you

really cared about reading them, the seventh book came out like 14 years ago.

All right, lesson one. Introduce characters in their purest form. So if your character's like an

opiate, don't give us oxy,

give us fentanyl. Also, if anyone writes in to say that it's actually car fentanyl, you should probably

be arrested. So this is a concept I heard from Ben Axelrad, who teaches this great sitcom writing

class. And J.K. Rowling is so great at it. She's always introducing her characters

...