How do I write about witches and wizards and have child/teen protagonists without copying Harry Potter?

Question

I am planning on writing a story about witches and wizards and I want to have child and teen protagonists, but not copy Harry Potter too much. One of the ways I thought of doing this is by having school on the SIDE so that I do not repeat the idea of magic school too much. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Like Hitler ruined the little moustache and the name Adolph:

Harry Potter seems to have had an outsized influence on fantasy genera's related to magic and the modern world. In a way, Harry Potter is like Hitler: for some people, the moustache and name Adolph will never be the same. It has captured the imagination and crept into the literature pervasively.

But look at old paintings and pictures, and there's that moustache. If you're German, odds are you have an Adolph in your lineage somewhere. These things came before Hitler, and they'll come back - eventually.

Other stories are successful, but haven't fouled up the genera - think Percy Jackson, for example. They have magic, schools, and the whole nine yards. I find the YA modern fantasy genera to be a bit predictable as a whole. Maybe you want to broaden your horizons and look to different genera all together.

But in the meantime, maybe your magic training has to be done only after a certain age, and your kids have power but no formal training. Maybe it's all done by apprenticeships, with kids going to regular school by day, and learning from parents and grandparents by night (kind of cuts into "running around and getting into trouble" time, but maybe that's their challenge). Maybe they all read tarot cards and palms, use crystals and burn incense - but avoid the whole wand thing.

Read some PP ("pre-Potter") books in the subject field, see how they handled it. Base the magic system on the magic traditionally portrayed in other cultures (and multi-culturalism is big in literature right now). Daoist mysticism or voodoo are a couple of ideas off the top of my head, but don't use those, research your own.

The point is, there are tons of things a little like Harry Potter that AREN'T Harry Potter. Hitler's brother was Alois. Fortunately for me (it's a popular family name among my relatives) it's related but not contaminated with crazy fortune.

Answer 2

Consider all the ways you could violate Harry Potter. I will try to restrain my imagination for specifics here, you should think of your own ideas. So here are a few general topics.

1. What if there is no school? Schools and formal instructions, lesson plans, etc are a fairly modern invention. So what if the children have to learn magic on their own with no mentors, teachers or experts?

2. In Harry Potter, You have to be born with magic. What if we violate that? Anybody can be magic.

Ripping off Frosty the Snowman for a minute: What if a group of kids really did find a magical hat?

3. The price: In Harry Potter, magic doesn't really cost anything. Say a few words and you get a prize. What if you impose some sort of price on magic? Whatever the price, what if it makes people reluctant to use big magic?

4. Harry Potter obviously has a focal character (I whisper his name is harry potter). The plot revolves around Harry the Hero. What if you don't have a focal character? What if your kids are a group, the POV changes often? You can give the group a name without singling out a central character. The stories or chapters each have a different kid protagonist. The plot doesn't have to revolve around one person at all. You don't need some mystery of how Harry survived Voldemort or got his lightning scar; how his parents died, blah blah blah.

I used to watch a TV series called "The Librarians" that was exactly like this, for PG adults. They worked for a magical library. A group of people with very different super skills that solved magical problems in the world; different villains, different locations, different puzzles. Sometimes one skill was central, sometimes another, usually it took a combination of their super skills.

We've seen the same thing in many series, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Being Human. Others I am not recalling off-hand.

Figure out how to violate Harry Potter. You don't have to do it in every respect. Just do it in some key respects that are clearly NOT Harry Potter, and you will tell a different story.

Answer 3

There was magical school fiction before Harry Potter, and there may be magical school fiction after Harry Potter if authors decide to write it. You can look up examples of magical schools outside of the Potterverse, like The Magicians, The Worst Witch, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, etc. Take examples of what works, discard what doesn't. In particular, to prevent readers from making comparisons, make sure that the social structure of the school and the rules of your magic are distinctive enough.