Narrative Microcosms in Children’s Books and Young Adult Fiction as an Expansion of the Storytelling Horizon

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter heptalogy (1997–2007), which spans over more than four thousand pages, offers a wide array of narratological mechanisms and phenomena and, as such, constitutes a unique narrative object for the study of storytelling. Its interest also lies in its hybridity, as the series hovers between children’s literature and Young Adult literature. In this article, I give voice to the knowledge and know-how of published writers of fiction, sometimes departing from literary theory to enter the realm of creative writing theory in an interdisciplinary manner. My aim is to look at the story from the perspective of the creative mind, operating under the principle that, beyond symbolism, stylistics and literary effects, the mechanics of storytelling in middle-grade and young adult fiction have a lot to offer us, as researchers, and our students endeavouring to further their understanding of language and literature.Through a hands‑on narratological analysis, I argue for the intrinsic storytelling value of Rowling’s series through the scope of narratology, focusing on coherence within imaginary narrative worlds, and I investigate the idea of microcosms, which not only generate the conflict that constitutes part of the reader’s conscious or unconscious horizon of expectations but also shapes the ever-expanding geographical horizon which takes both characters and readers into different spheres of the narrative world the author has weaved.