There’s a trend among all the most beloved series of books and movies out there. One that seems to crop up more often than any other from what I’ve seen. From ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Harry Potter,’ stories like ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Indiana Jones.’ The way people talk about these stories shares one big feature, and that’s that all these stories in some way or another make people feel safe. They feel like home. The die hard fans read or watch these dozens of times over, searching for that feeling that kept them on the edge of their seat the first time they got to experience them. The excitement fades to a sort of cozy homeliness, like spending time with a best friend. It’s something most of us have felt at one time or another, with our individual favorite stories, but what it is about these huge titles that can generate that kind of feeling in so many different people? Is it just that they’re good stories, or is it something more specific? Today I’d like to do some digging and try to pin an answer on this question, even it’s probably one of those unanswerable things that keep authors up at night.

Let’s look at their characters first. All of the examples I listed have loveable characters that feel like your friend by the end of it all. You might even overlook glaring plot holes, like the time turners in ‘Harry Potter’ (more specifically, the lack of time turners later), or the fact that Indiana did nothing to actually alter the events of ‘Raiders of the Lost Arc.’ The characters are so easy to fall in love with that even when things don’t quite add up, it doesn’t really matter. So one box to tick in order to create a safe-place kind of story is probably a character that you get to know over time. One, or more likely many, who evolve and grow into the kind of people you can look up to. Better yet if they do so alongside the reader.

This brings me to the second point: Timeliness. Harry Potter and co. grew up right along with the people who were reading the stories as they came out. Some might even have been the exact same age as the characters at one time or another, going through a similar, albeit less magical coming of age. Rereading the stories takes me back to a time when I was growing up too, and that’s the kind of feeling that’s hard to create on purpose. I get the same feeling of home when I play video games like ‘Skyrim,’ or go to my favorite restaurants that I’ve been going to for years and see all the new renovations. ‘Star Wars’ does the same thing, dredging up old memories from a time long forgotten. Nostalgia then, probably plays a big part in these stories. It must, since there are so few stories that feel like a safe place that just came out. Like I said, it’s hard to make it happen on purpose. Sometimes the chips just have to fall the right way, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.

Atmosphere plays a big role too. For all their differences, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’ both have a setting that feels at once cozy and threatened. The stakes are high because the place that’s in danger, be it Hogwarts or The Shire, is so wonderful. They inevitably meander into dangerous, more evil places, but always there’s a homecoming at the end, a reward after a long struggle. If the characters feel good going back home after a long journey, then it’s only natural that the reader would feel the same way going back to the story after being away. A place to belong, and people to belong with are a powerful combo.

Music also plays a huge role in the atmosphere. This can’t apply to the books of course, unless you have a particularly powerful imagination, but every one of the movie adaptations have the most memorable theme music. Now that I think about it, John Williams gets to claim most of those I listed at the beginning, doesn’t he? I guess I should be asking him what the secret is cause clearly he knows something we don’t.

I’m sure there are a bunch of qualities I’m missing. Maybe even an X factor that made these stories the classics that they have become. What else am I missing that makes these, or other stories, feel like home to you? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley