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You remember quidditch, right? It’s the wizard game at Hogwarts that is sorta like lacrosse and hockey and soccer and capture the flag … but on brooms.
It’s really cool. That said, it’s only cool for so long when it comes to the story.
J.K. Rowling described quidditch matches in great detail early in the series. As did the movies. The movies used them as bigger set pieces early in the run.
But what can you really do with them after the novelty wears off? It’s like any sports book. You might want to recount all the games, all the races, all the events, but what you’ll find is they get very repetitive. They start sounding the same. There’s only so much these games can show the reader or the viewer.
So you need to use them sparingly. Once that novelty wears off, they must only be used to illustrate character and to move the story forward.
Otherwise, you’re left with what I call the Quidditch Problem.
So ask yourself: Am I putting in a game of quidditch because it moves the story forward or because I just think it’s cool?
