New book, need opinions - Writers Forum

NSUstud · 07-22-2005, 07:25 PM

I am writing a new book based on "Harry Potter". I was wondering what a good background would be for this. A girl with famous parents, or a girl with average parents and above average magic powers. I would also be willing to accept any other backgrounds for this type of a book.

Saponification · 07-22-2005, 08:39 PM

So you're "righting" a book you admit pirates exactly what Rowling did?

NSUstud · 07-22-2005, 09:12 PM

No. The only thing it has in common with Harry Potter is the magic and withces and wizards school. Other than that the characters, plot, and all the other aspects of it are going to be different

journyman161 · 07-22-2005, 10:18 PM

If I get you correctly, you'd like to write something in the Rowling univerese, but not use her characters but you don't have a plot. Note that the 2 options you show above are background, not plot.

the 1st thing to work out would be what story do you want to tell? What do you have to say to your readers that will be unique to you?

NSUstud · 07-22-2005, 10:32 PM

Well I have already started webbing out and making a list of characters, events, towns, etc on both backgrounds, but I was hoping to get some input into which one would be more interesting and draw a larger crowds attention.

journyman161 · 07-22-2005, 10:40 PM

I don't know if you can get an informed answer to that until we know more about the story & plot. Most people don't read something because they think it might have a good character in it. Good Ch's are necessary (usually) but it is the story you tell & the intricacies of the plot that make a good read.

At the moment, the only people who could answer your question is those who have some vested interest in either of the options you're offering.

mammamaia · 07-23-2005, 08:29 AM

studley...
from all that you're asking and saying, it sounds to me like you just want to piggy-back on rowling's success to make money... not to tell a good story of your own...

real writers come up with their OWN ideas... they don't take polls and ask other writers to give them ideas they are too lazy to think up or are not capable of coming up with themselves...

if the main difference you've dreamt up for this opus is a girl hp, then i predict failure, sorry to say... using the same kind of character and setting, and parroting the 'formula' rowling has perfected will not get you published and could well get you sued... possibly not successfully, but that won't matter, since she's lots of money to hire the best solicitors and you'd go broke even if she lost the case...

if you really want to be a writer because you love to write [and not just to become rich and famous], work on thinking up your own ideas... once you do, you can then ask others' opinions on whether they 'work' or not... but to ask us to develop your plot for you is not a good idea, imo...

just my 2 cents, as one who mentors scores of serious writers per month...

love and hugs, maia

NSUstud · 07-23-2005, 08:10 PM

Okay first off i said I got the idea from rowling. Just because she wrote "Harry Potter" which is about witchcraft and wizardry, it doesn't mean she has a copyright on anything that involves the subject. Second off I am doing this for the love of writing, not for the fame and fortune. Also the characters are nothing alike, and the background is nothing alike.

As for asking for other writers opion through a poll is to see which one has more public appeal. I want to write about the one that has more public appeal.

journyman161 · 07-23-2005, 08:14 PM

I iterate, what's the story you want to tell. If you don't have something you wish to say to your readers there is no real point calling it a story, it's really just a writing exercise for you.

Work out the tale you wish to tell & you may find the other issues sort themselves out right there.

Not knowing anything about the story makes it hard to say which of your choices would best fit. Do you know your target audience? That's another thing that's difficult unless you have some idea what you want to say.

Besh · 07-23-2005, 08:28 PM

I think you should think of your own, original idea. Right now it's basically a mirror of Harry Potter, even if you do have your own characters and plots.

Harry Potter - Special boy, parents are dead (but they still play a role in his life.. kinda), wizard, goes to a school for witches and wizards

Your Character - Special girl (maybe - but I think it's what you should use if you actually start writing this.), famous parents (would play a role in her life), witch, goes to a school for witches and wizards

Now to continue like that made some sense..

I don't think the public would want to read another Harry Potter, because that's what this will be taken for. The characters and plots might be different, but the general idea is the same.

NSUstud · 07-23-2005, 10:25 PM

This story is meant to reach the younger generations. Next point is that she isnt special. She is going to be a bookworm who has to study to get through school, but in the end eventually becomes extrodanarily powerful(That will be later in the series).

Ilan Bouchard · 07-23-2005, 10:39 PM

If that's later in the series does that mean the early parts of the series are just about how she studies hard in school?

NSUstud · 07-23-2005, 11:25 PM

she will eventually become very powerful later in the series, but the beginning of the series will be about how she studies hard and then also some of the events that will occur in school, and also the first book will give a background of the town she came from, her parents, herself, and that type of basic information.

mammamaia · 07-24-2005, 08:55 AM

that doesn't sound like enough of a 'story' to sustain a book, sorry to say...

and you can't sell a series... you can only try to sell the first book, which must be able to stand on its own... then, if it's successful, the publisher may be interested in a series...

from what you say, i can't see the first book being of interest to publishers... or to readers... people don't buy books to set them up to buy other books... they buy them to get a good read...

and, if by 'younger generations' you mean 'younger ages' you also need to know what age range you will be targeting, before you begin writing... do you mean toddlers who will be read to?... or young readers who have just learned to read to themselves?... preteens?... teens?...

kintaris · 07-24-2005, 09:02 AM

sorry but i have to agree with the above...it also pains me to think that i could never write a book about a wizarding/witching school because it has been soooo saturated by bloody Potter, but that's the way it is - for a good few years you probably wont be able to publish anything to do with wizards and witches' school lives unless you DRASTICALLY change something in the formula. Its not good enough to change character, setting, or even plot - something fundamental has to change, whether its not being taught in schools but by a single mentor in the town, or whether the 'magic' is not wands and potions but summoning, necromancy, etc...

i really cant see this working unless you have something that is refreshingly different from Rowling (and having a bookworm girl instead of an angsty cock-sure scar-headed prat isn't enough, im afraid)

still, good luck to you, keep hammering away at the problem.

kintaris