Poll: Idea for my next novel

[Gametek]

So, after I read about Pottermore [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111097-JK-Rowling-Teases-a-Major-Potter-Announcement], I started to think to a new idea for a novel. Yes, it's based on the HP's world, and I'm the first to know how much it's wrong. [Fanfic of a close franchise, supporting the establishment of another Lucas Art, etcetera]

But let throw all the rational thought about it out of the windows, and let's summarize my idea! [another bad thing, writer never share idea...]
I'm thinking to set it into another state, not in the Great Britain, but in Italy. The mage underworld italian society is torn apart: the unification of the state have happened only for the muggle, while the mage community is divided in two state the north and the south. Neither of them have a strong govern, and while the north is miserably pour and under-developed, due to the fact that another mage state had previously conquered it in the dark age. [It's actually the opposite on the pour part, but it's more for fictional drama]

The south is a society based on Voldemort ideal of "thoroughbred" [I absolutely don't know how J.K. called the purosangue in English]. The society absolutely despise mage born from a muggle family, and sometime even kill child if their magical gift is to great to pass unnoticed from the muggle. The rest of the world simply ignore Italy, because is central government system is supporting the international law about being unnoticed from the muggle community. Even if the government itself have more a function of cleaning the mess made by the various mage family, that hold really little interest into his law.

The protagonist is [pause] a child born with magical power into a muggle family! *Ka-chin*
On the eleven birthday of his dearest friend, he find himself home alone, because he wasn't invited. Looking at his friend out of the windows playing, he felt so bad that he decide to go at the library. He really could not stand to watch his "friend" playing toghever. Walking on the street, he found a suspicious woman, and [stupidly trying to have a sort of "adventure" that could make him think at something else then his "friends"] he followed her. Bad idea, because she was a mage, and she was going to encounter a bunch of monster. Attacked by them, she was nearly overpowered by the monster, until the protagonist came and, after ignite his latent gift, he wipe clean the road from all the monster, burning the lady wand on the process. The woman, impressed by the boy incredible magical gift, decide to take him away from the country, where he could be sentence to death.

Until here, only plain old incipit. I my spend a pair of chapters on this. Maybe to explain better my protagonist personality. But after that come the best part of my idea: the italian government want the boy back, as a magic "stealer" muggle, they sentenced him to death. The government of the country where he was taken agreed. And he decided to flee. Stealing all the magical book he could, he decided to come back home. [Ehi, he his a eleven years old boy, not Albus Silente]

I want spoiler most of the adventure that I have in mind for him, except for one. At a point, when he have grow enough, I want him to face a choice: save the other gifted muggle child, or turn his back to them? End even if he save them, what to do with them? They cannot be integrate in the magic community, nor come back home as the magic society hunt them. How can he save them from a system that is wrong at his core, and supported by any single member? And well, I really don?t want to spoil anymore

So, how it look?

PS: Going to write that in Italian, as my english suck. Don't worry, I'll manage my grammar.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Hello aspiring author.
You're right, sharing ideas is a bad idea.
Nevertheless, I can comment on what you wrote.
Firstly, basing your fiction on an already established fiction shows that you are a lazy author. I feel terribly uncomfortable saying this, but authors that use already existing stereotypes like magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires are simply damn lazy.
You have mythology, but when most of the information concerning a character comes from modern fiction you can't really use that material, Vampires and Werewolves the last century, and Mages, elves and dwarves the century before that.
I'm not sure if you had any social and historical comments about Italy in your description because I'm not very familiar with it.
Using a small child as a protagonist is problematic, because he would need to relay on others most of the time. That require you to expertly write dispensable secondary characters to aid his 'quest'.
Again, I ask you to try and write your own mythology and rules of engagement.
Why would a magician need his wand?
Where does the power of a magician come from?
And my favorite quote whenever I contemplate about mages, 'Any advanced enough form of science can be considered magic'.
Why a boy? Why 11 years old?
Why are copying another author?
Overall, It didn't look very interesting.

 

[Gametek]

Why a boy? Why 11 years old?
Why are copying another author?
Overall, It didn't look very interesting.

Actually, I think about it as an incipit. The eleven year old is obviously a reference to Potter, that discover is magic at the same age. Was thinking about trash him, to show how different he is from potter [Potter=> predestined hero, him=> unlucky boy hiding to survive] On copying another author, well, the idea come out from itself, I don't read a HP book/play game from age, so I can't answer that. I only tough how much interesting would be seeing a mage that have to hide, in order to survive, from is own folk. And after he have gone after all this, he have to decide if stay hide and continue is way of living, or screw it up for some idle morals. I tough it was good.

Firstly, basing your fiction on an already established fiction shows that you are a lazy author. I feel terribly uncomfortable saying this, but authors that use already existing stereotypes like magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires are simply damn lazy.
You have mythology, but when most of the information concerning a character comes from modern fiction you can't really use that material, Vampires and Werewolves the last century, and Mages, elves and dwarves the century before that.

Could you.. simplify what you have wrote here? I don't understand, are you telling me to try to use a different mythology set? I tried to write a fantasy on the roman empire, once. I was really little, and well, it didn't quite work. I was lacking skill, knowaledgence about it, ect.

I'm not sure if you had any social and historical comments about Italy in your description because I'm not very familiar with it.

Yes, I do. I'm still thinking about to take these part of, as any auto proclaimed writer tend to do so, in Italy.

Using a small child as a protagonist is problematic, because he would need to relay on others most of the time. That require you to expertly write dispensable secondary characters to aid his 'quest'.
Again, I ask you to try and write your own mythology and rules of engagement.

I absolutely won't do such a thing. Aiding him? No way bro, who would ever help? It would ruin the whole idea. [a nerdy forever alone boy] I was thinking about making him study really hard magic in order to survive. To the point to starting make himself new way to use it. Casted away from the society of the mage, with only some book and a great talent, he would be forced to rewrite use and costume of the mage in his own way. [it's some kind of lame revistation of Apollo, that stole the flame from the good, ndr.]
I was thinking clashing the "regular" mage community with a close and casted away cell of it all along actually. I regularly play magic, so I use to like to compare different approach at how to use the magic itself.

Ps:

Why would a magician need his wand?

I was thinking this was kind of explained on the HP world? The magician need a wand to "catalyze" is power, and then use it through specific pattern [spell]. Actually never liked wand, I'm thinking to drop it in order to show how much different the protagonist is respect the rest of the world, building is own "catalyst".

 

[CODE-D]

Dont be a copy cat.

 

[Dags90]

The south is a society based on Voldemort ideal of "thoroughbred" [I absolutely don't know how J.K. called the purosangue in English].

It's just a direct translation, pure-blood. Thoroughbred has the obvious unfortunate implications of comparing people to animals.

That's all I really had to add...

 

[Keava]

If you plan to write it for your own pleasure - feel free to. Just don't post on internet and be happy for yourself.

If you seriously think about writing just re-read what you wrote and think about it. Note down the cliches. See why it's bad? And why even copy established franchise? Especially a franchise that has very little value as a literature and is about equal to Twilight saga?

If you lack imagination to create your own world, don't bother with writing.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Actually, I think about it as an incipit. The eleven year old is obviously a reference to Potter, that discover is magic at the same age. Was thinking about trash him, to show how different he is from potter [Potter=> predestined hero, him=> unlucky boy hiding to survive] On copying another author, well, the idea come out from itself, I don't read a HP book/play game from age, so I can't answer that. I only tough how much interesting would be seeing a mage that have to hide, in order to survive, from is own folk. And after he have gone after all this, he have to decide if stay hide and continue is way of living, or screw it up for some idle morals. I tough it was good.

I think I'm beginning to understand your concept better.
Apparently he finds his talent by accident, he's now being hunted down and he needs to control his gift in order to defend himself. But again, You must understand, that a 11 year old boy will not be able to survive on his own.
He won't be able to see though the guise of some people that say they want to help him, he can be tricked easily, he is frail, his knowledge is lacking. He IS an egg that needs to be kept until it hatches and unleashes doom upon his tormentors.
You can do whatever you wish, but it still bothers me.

Could you.. simplify what you have wrote here? I don't understand, are you telling me to try to use a different mythology set? I tried to write a fantasy on the roman empire, once. I was really little, and well, it didn't quite work. I was lacking skill, knowaledgence about it, ect.

I can try and simplify it.
When some authors write fiction they draw inspiration from already existing myths - Vampires hate garlic, can't be near sunlight, have a burning hatred for crosses - these all are urban MODERN myths. The only real 'Dracula' was rumored to be a bloodthirsty ruler, hence his thirst for blood (Romanian Price, Vlad Dracula. Look it up, interesting shit.).
Elves. Tolkien created a 'Fantasy for Dummies' kit, by accident, because his works are revered as the peak of damn fictional literature by some, people tend to base their races on his own. Whenever I read the word 'Dwarf', 'Elf' - and see no description of the body, form and how it differs from humans, I close the book and don't open it again. You write your own fiction. Tolkien already wrote his.
To the point ! You can base your magicians however you want them to be. You can make them the same as tribal shamans - people that use powders and alchemy, combined with their communication with spirits of the wild to help their fellow men and inflict harm onto others. You can add a few evolution cycles to it and base it in the Renaissance. You can base it in the industrial revolution, magic being known to the public - but is now struggling to keep afloat because of the steam engine that's replacing magic users. Here- you have a story of progress that pushes people to the fringes of society, with magic. Here's an idea, you can steal it if you wish.

I was thinking this was kind of explained on the HP world? The magician need a wand to "catalyze" is power, and then use it through specific pattern [spell]. Actually never liked wand, I'm thinking to drop it in order to show how much different the protagonist is respect the rest of the world, building is own "catalyst".

But didn't I say that you need to develop your own mythology and rules of play?

 

[TheIronRuler]

If you plan to write it for your own pleasure - feel free to. Just don't post on internet and be happy for yourself.

If you seriously think about writing just re-read what you wrote and think about it. Note down the cliches. See why it's bad? And why even copy established franchise? Especially a franchise that has very little value as a literature and is about equal to Twilight saga?

If you lack imagination to create your own world, don't bother with writing.

"If you lack imagination to create your own world, don't bother with writing." - I completely support this sentence.
A virtual high five.

 

[Jim Grim]

If you lack imagination to create your own world, don't bother with writing.

Um, what? I don't see a problem with people telling stories that take place with in someone else's universe, I'm sure it's rather fun to explore your own interpretations of other people's ideas. Personally I'm not into the whole fan-fiction scene, but I understand the appeal; some people enjoy seeing someone else's take on an etsbalished franchise. Also, although I'm sure it was not your intention, this comment seems to imply that all stories should take place within a fictional world of the authors invention, which is kinda laughable as an idea really.

That being said, I can't be sure whether this idea is a good one, and seeing as I can't read Italian I'll never find out. However, with what little I can see/understand here, I see potential. It could be a fun story, and I say go for it. Hell, if it turns out bad you haven't lost anything other than time.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

If you plan to write it for your own pleasure - feel free to. Just don't post on internet and be happy for yourself.

If you seriously think about writing just re-read what you wrote and think about it. Note down the cliches. See why it's bad? And why even copy established franchise? Especially a franchise that has very little value as a literature and is about equal to Twilight saga?

If you lack imagination to create your own world, don't bother with writing.

Sounds harsh...but yeah, I agree 100% with this. If I were you...I wouldn't pursue it any further.

 

[Dimitriov]

I agree about not copying from other writer's IP's. Fan-fiction is fine as a writing exercise for your own sake; however, I personally feel no one should try to make anyone else read it.

 

[Scabadus]

Pre-Post Edit! Wow this ended up longer than I intended. Oh well, no sense wasting it now.

I'll say up front, this post is going to be overly critical. Because really, who ever got better when all they hear is "yup, it's great!"?

First, legality. If you want to just chill and write then cool, do whatever you want. Fanfiction, blatent copies, whatever; it's for your enjoyment and if you're having fun that's what matters. If you actually want to get into writing seriously, you absolutely cannot use somebody else's universe. Take bits from the good ones, take the best elements and mix them up, but don't just point at Harry Potter and say "it's set in there."

Having said that, since you are basing this in Harry Potter's universe, you've made some mistakes. Most notable is a young boy performing powerful, (semi-)controled magic without a wand. Impossible in that universe. The magical schools also have ways of detecting muggle-born magic users (Hermionie was muggle-born) so not only would your boy have had an invite to Italy's school, the same methods would also have been used by the govornment to find him and kill him.

It's worth noting that Great Britain and Italy are not 'states'. They're countries. You loose huge points with European readers when you call their home country a state... you may be able to get away with calling the constituant parts of the UK states, but that still isn't actually right. (Note the same is not true when using direct speech; you have to be careful when doing this but your characters can make mistakes to help define them.)

The age of yor child is odd. It worked with Harry Potter because the series was intended to start off as a children's book and it matured as its audience did. The readers could relate to Harry and his problems. If you're going to write about political refugees, conspiracies and corrupt govornments then not many eleven year olds are going to be able to follow that and not many twenty year olds are goign to want to read about some kid. They won't want to read about him because he won't have the experiance and maturity to process his situation correctly and act for the best; his mind will be too full of thoughts of sugary sweets and his mum (Why is sexism still 'allowed' in fictional parenting?). Add to that the concerns above me about an eleven year old not being able to survive on his own (how's he going to buy plane tickets on the way home? If two magical govornments are looking for him they'll notice a broomstick entering the country) and he just doesn't work.

It's worth noting that the plot is also cliched, whether this is a bad thing or not is subjective. A simple, young boy with no special abilites suddenly discoveres a great power before starting to be hunted by an evil force. Using his unusually strong gift he bests the dark forces and ends up a much loved hero. Off the top of my head; Star Wars, Harry Potter (obviously), Fable, the legend of King Arthur, every MMOG ever, I Am Nuber 4 and the Transformers movie. Yup, it's a tried and tested (and old) story, but it's also in the new Transformers movie. Try thinking about your plot and trying to tweak this cliche (no, my keyboard doesn't have the special e with the down thing) to make it unique. Make the boy's power no greater than anyone else's, make it less of a latent talent and more something he has to train hard for, make it less useful in combat meaning he has to rely on friends and allies, make it anything that means he can't simply raise his hand and incinerate everythign in front of him.

I'll stop there and again, I know it seems like I ripped you a new one here but I glossed over the good bits. I'm assuming that Italien is your native language from your last sentance, so given that the post was well written and fairly gramatically accurate, that is always a good thing to aim for in writing. Nothing shakes a competant reader out of a story like an author using the wrong there/their/they're or misusing an apostrophy. That sort of thing might not be policed on the interenet, but for the majority of people who read novels a poor use of grammer will stick out like a lion in the gazzele pen.

 

[Keava]

Also, although I'm sure it was not your intention, this comment seems to imply that all stories should take place within a fictional world of the authors invention, which is kinda laughable as an idea really.

But they do. Every fiction is art of creation. You create characters and rules. You set the scene, even if the scene is very much like our real world there will be enough differences. Take two random books from two different authors that happen in seemingly same part of the world and you will see differences. Their perception of world will be presented in different world, they will emphasise on different details that they consider important, each of those worlds will be unique even if they are parallel to the existing, real world.

 

[C117]

Well, if you can set it in it's own, distinct universe, it might turn out a bit better. At present though, it has too much of a fan-fiction-feel to it to actually feel original.

 

[Gametek]

snip

My forethought power lend me the ability to think the same thing, and write it down in the first paragraph. Don't know what to say, I used agree on that, but after playing ton and ton of game, reading ton and ton of book, I have to say: isn't more important how something like that is managed, before the franchise itself from where it's born from? Or else, D&D would suck it's core.

snip

Isn't that actually against the fanfic idea? Sharing story write by fan of a franchise to other fan? Or I missed the actual mean for fanfic?

And to IronRuler, that is the one that explained the most is argument, I deserve the rest of the post ;D [I just hate when people disagree without explained why. You actually gain my thumb up, man]

I think I'm beginning to understand your concept better.
Apparently he finds his talent by accident, he's now being hunted down and he needs to control his gift in order to defend himself. But again, You must understand, that a 11 year old boy will not be able to survive on his own.
He won't be able to see though the guise of some people that say they want to help him, he can be tricked easily, he is frail, his knowledge is lacking. He IS an egg that needs to be kept until it hatches and unleashes doom upon his tormentors.
You can do whatever you wish, but it still bothers me.

The whole idea about using a younger protagonist is about that he grow. That he face challenge, and learn moral from it. I always despise when this kind of concept is twisted whit powerless idiot, that can't do anything about their own live, and still never get anything wrong. In a word, Potter! He was helped for six whole book. I don't want to do this, he have to face this problem, fail/succeed and learn that he have to grow, and fast, to become a man that can care about himself.

snip

Oh. I think I may have not explained it good enough... I already tried that, and it does work, if you have a good knowledge of that era/subject. I already filled once, when I was fourteen, because my knowledgence on the Roman empire lacked.
And sorry about renaissance, it is not only hard to elaborate in a fantasy,[because renaissance is the era of knowaledgence and renew, mortal enemy of supestiction and fantasy creature/ability] but it's already done in a pair of book/media [other gens arcana, you could point out at Assasins Creed. Even if it's technically more a sci-fi]

I was thinking this was kind of explained on the HP world? The magician need a wand to "catalyze" is power, and then use it through specific pattern [spell]. Actually never liked wand, I'm thinking to drop it in order to show how much different the protagonist is respect the rest of the world, building is own "catalyst".

But didn't I say that you need to develop your own mythology and rules of play?[/quote]Well, this rule is pretty vague, and reeeeeallllly stretchable. Without speaking of pure alchemy rule [have a book on the matter] magic can be cast in a plethora of way, cast through speaking, cast through object, and enchanting object. Even so, this don't limit how something is used. I can make only an example: Mtg. Every card is a mage spell, but the strategy on how and what kind of magical mechanism to perform in order to achieve our objective are incredibly wide. Yet, every "tribe" focus himself on a mechanism, due to their tradition, mostly.
So, a cast away child, with great mental ability and no instruction after the basic, is bound to reinvent the whole approach to the magic. That I think is actually a good plot instrument, making him face the "regular" magic, whit is "odd" one.
For the monster J.K. himself state that they differ from region to region. Basically, et it on another state let me free of make most of my "fauna". Bind to the canonical werewolf and vampire, but I'm free to make what I want with actually anything else. And for a start, no dragon, elf and that bank thing.

 

[JoJo]

Hello aspiring author.
You're right, sharing ideas is a bad idea.
Nevertheless, I can comment on what you wrote.
Firstly, basing your fiction on an already established fiction shows that you are a lazy author. I feel terribly uncomfortable saying this, but authors that use already existing stereotypes like magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires are simply damn lazy.
You have mythology, but when most of the information concerning a character comes from modern fiction you can't really use that material, Vampires and Werewolves the last century, and Mages, elves and dwarves the century before that.
I'm not sure if you had any social and historical comments about Italy in your description because I'm not very familiar with it.
Using a small child as a protagonist is problematic, because he would need to relay on others most of the time. That require you to expertly write dispensable secondary characters to aid his 'quest'.
Again, I ask you to try and write your own mythology and rules of engagement.
Why would a magician need his wand?
Where does the power of a magician come from?
And my favorite quote whenever I contemplate about mages, 'Any advanced enough form of science can be considered magic'.
Why a boy? Why 11 years old?
Why are copying another author?
Overall, It didn't look very interesting.

As someone who currently does writing for game-mastering online roleplays (RPs), I agree with most of what is written here, but I have a couple of disagreements.

1) "Magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires" are not automatically stereotypes, especially if you write your own internally-consistant lore, and can work very effectively if the plot and characters are good. No idea is truly original, just presented in a good and rarely seen light.

2) While in this case the use of an 11 year old boy isn't very original, the use of a child character can work very well in some cases as relying on others can be used to the story's advantage. Secondary characters certainly don't need to be dispensable either if the author is willing to sacrifice some of the primary character's spotlight which would be a good idea, gives the readers more of a chance to find someone they can connect with.

OP: What I would say is that many authors fall into the trap of writing child characters as mini-teens or adults rather than children, if you do write a kid then please try to make them realistic acting. I'd recommend checking out "Most Writers are Adults" on TVTropes. As for your world, unfortunately I think the odds are stacked against it as it is rather similar to HP, however with a bit of change it could work. I would consider adding depth to the storyline though as lets face it we know little Jimmy isn't going to meet a gruesome death by the bad guys so to keep readers interest you need to put mystery in so they want to continue reading to find out the truth behind everything.

 

[Gametek]

Pre-Post Edit! Wow this ended up longer than I intended. Oh well, no sense wasting it now.

I'll say up front, this post is going to be overly critical. Because really, who ever got better when all they hear is "yup, it's great!"?

And you have my thank for that.

First, legality. If you want to just chill and write then cool, do whatever you want. Fanfiction, blatent copies, whatever; it's for your enjoyment and if you're having fun that's what matters. If you actually want to get into writing seriously, you absolutely cannot use somebody else's universe. Take bits from the good ones, take the best elements and mix them up, but don't just point at Harry Potter and say "it's set in there."

Writer can't tell other their idea for a book, or other writer could steal it, if it's good. So, no, this is not going after the a fanfic posted on the Italian part of pottermore, when it come online.

Having said that, since you are basing this in Harry Potter's universe, you've made some mistakes. Most notable is a young boy performing powerful, (semi-)controled magic without a wand. Impossible in that universe. The magical schools also have ways of detecting muggle-born magic users (Hermionie was muggle-born) so not only would your boy have had an invite to Italy's school, the same methods would also have been used by the govornment to find him and kill him.

On the matter, I think they use "tabu". Like that for when the people say Voldemort. As it's kind of explained in the seventh book, Mage can hide from the government after breaking a tabu simply getting away from a zone where it have been break. A young muggle want, because it probably live nearby, and in any case, mage can instantly teleport there.
All young muggle are find through act of non controlled magic. And wand are actually used to make it easier, as using word to spell the incantation. So, a monstrously gifted boy, like dumbledore, could have controlled burst. Tom Riddle did it.

It's worth noting that Great Britain and Italy are not 'states'...

English grammar =/= Italian, Francoise, Spanish?

The age of yor child is odd. It worked with Harry Potter because the series was intended to start off as a children's book and it matured as its audience did. The readers could relate to Harry and his problems. If you're going to write about political refugees, conspiracies and corrupt govornments then not many eleven year olds are going to be able to follow that and not many twenty year olds are goign to want to read about some kid. They won't want to read about him because he won't have the experiance and maturity to process his situation correctly and act for the best; his mind will be too full of thoughts of sugary sweets and his mum (Why is sexism still 'allowed' in fictional parenting?). Add to that the concerns above me about an eleven year old not being able to survive on his own (how's he going to buy plane tickets on the way home? If two magical govornments are looking for him they'll notice a broomstick entering the country) and he just doesn't work.

Same as above, and on top I have a magical child, in a country that auto proclame itself badly managed. He would survive even without his head, believe me.

It's worth noting that the plot is also cliched, whether this is a bad thing or not is subjective. A simple, young boy with no special abilites suddenly discoveres a great power before starting to be hunted by an evil force. Using his unusually strong gift he bests the dark forces and ends up a much loved hero. Off the top of my head; Star Wars, Harry Potter (obviously), Fable, the legend of King Arthur, every MMOG ever, I Am Number 4 and the Transformers movie. Yup, it's a tried and tested (and old) story, but it's also in the new Transformers movie. Try thinking about your plot and trying to tweak this cliché (no, my keyboard doesn't have the special e with the down thing) to make it unique. Make the boy's power no greater than anyone else's, make it less of a latent talent and more something he has to train hard for, make it less useful in combat meaning he has to rely on friends and allies, make it anything that means he can't simply raise his hand and incinerate everythign in front of him.

Good point. Actually, I think that destroying a whole state [country, if you wish], that is even your whole country, make you simple a reversed antagonist. Like you put it, it's the plot of a bad write book, that don't face any moral question [are we in the right, if everyone else disagree?] and stupidity [I can blast open a fortress with a fart! Now, why should I ever risk my life, to do that when I can hide far away and live my life normally?]

I'll stop there and again, I know it seems like I ripped you a new one here but I glossed over the good bits. I'm assuming that Italien is your native language from your last sentance, so given that the post was well written and fairly gramatically accurate, that is always a good thing to aim for in writing. Nothing shakes a competant reader out of a story like an author using the wrong there/their/they're or misusing an apostrophy. That sort of thing might not be policed on the interenet, but for the majority of people who read novels a poor use of grammar will stick out like a lion in the gazzele pen.

You can't believe how much my pour english haunt me, from when I was at school till now.

Also, although I'm sure it was not your intention, this comment seems to imply that all stories should take place within a fictional world of the authors invention, which is kinda laughable as an idea really.

But they do. Every fiction is art of creation. You create characters and rules. You set the scene, even if the scene is very much like our real world there will be enough differences. Take two random books from two different authors that happen in seemingly same part of the world and you will see differences. Their perception of world will be presented in different world, they will emphasise on different details that they consider important, each of those worlds will be unique even if they are parallel to the existing, real world.

Actually, you write a story. Not everything is a fantasy. In an historical based story, you can't set nor rule nor custom, only character. And in an already made world you are not forced to use his old hero, present or even mention his old hero. This is near one of yathzee bullshit about how any game suck because don't respect his rule.

 

[TheIronRuler]

-snip-

As someone who currently does writing for game-mastering online roleplays (RPs), I agree with most of what is written here, but I have a couple of disagreements.

1) "Magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires" are not automatically stereotypes, especially if you write your own internally-consistant lore, and can work very effectively if the plot and characters are good. No idea is truly original, just presented in a good and rarely seen light.

2) While in this case the use of an 11 year old boy isn't very original, the use of a child character can work very well in some cases as relying on others can be used to the story's advantage. Secondary characters certainly don't need to be dispensable either if the author is willing to sacrifice some of the primary character's spotlight which would be a good idea, gives the readers more of a chance to find someone they can connect with.

OP: What I would say is that many authors fall into the trap of writing child characters as mini-teens or adults rather than children, if you do write a kid then please try to make them realistic acting. I'd recommend checking out "Most Writers are Adults" on TVTropes. As for your world, unfortunately I think the odds are stacked against it as it is rather similar to HP, however with a bit of change it could work. I would consider adding depth to the storyline though as lets face it we know little Jimmy isn't going to meet a gruesome death by the bad guys so to keep readers interest you need to put mystery in so they want to continue reading to find out the truth behind everything.

Someone agrees with me, I feel a warm sensation of happiness.
1- What I meant to say is that some people use the term 'elf', 'dwarf', 'vampire' - etc. as a known an established fact, like other authors did so before then, hence calling them 'lazy'.
Fact - in a fictional story I'm writing, most of the animal names we have in English are used as names for noble households, example may vary from the Ox household to the Falcon and Rat, caught in a never-ending battle in the north that through many alliances and royal marriages leads to an all out war with the other households joining in to gain land because they have a 'casus beli', while the original point of the conflict is lost.
2- I understand you and agree with you completely - but the AUTHOR here thinks OTHERWISE.He wants to make him independent and strong, a 11 year old child.

 

[JoJo]

-snip-

As someone who currently does writing for game-mastering online roleplays (RPs), I agree with most of what is written here, but I have a couple of disagreements.

1) "Magicians, elves, dwarves, werewolves and vampires" are not automatically stereotypes, especially if you write your own internally-consistant lore, and can work very effectively if the plot and characters are good. No idea is truly original, just presented in a good and rarely seen light.

2) While in this case the use of an 11 year old boy isn't very original, the use of a child character can work very well in some cases as relying on others can be used to the story's advantage. Secondary characters certainly don't need to be dispensable either if the author is willing to sacrifice some of the primary character's spotlight which would be a good idea, gives the readers more of a chance to find someone they can connect with.

OP: What I would say is that many authors fall into the trap of writing child characters as mini-teens or adults rather than children, if you do write a kid then please try to make them realistic acting. I'd recommend checking out "Most Writers are Adults" on TVTropes. As for your world, unfortunately I think the odds are stacked against it as it is rather similar to HP, however with a bit of change it could work. I would consider adding depth to the storyline though as lets face it we know little Jimmy isn't going to meet a gruesome death by the bad guys so to keep readers interest you need to put mystery in so they want to continue reading to find out the truth behind everything.

Someone agrees with me, I feel a warm sensation of happiness.
1- What I meant to say is that some people use the term 'elf', 'dwarf', 'vampire' - etc. as a known an established fact, like other authors did so before then, hence calling them 'lazy'.
Fact - in a fictional story I'm writing, most of the animal names we have in English are used as names for noble households, example may vary from the Ox household to the Falcon and Rat, caught in a never-ending battle in the north that through many alliances and royal marriages leads to an all out war with the other households joining in to gain land because they have a 'casus beli', while the original point of the conflict is lost.
2- I understand you and agree with you completely - but the AUTHOR here thinks OTHERWISE.He wants to make him independent and strong, a 11 year old child.

I agree on both points there, and the following is directed at the OP:

A strong child character usually only works if you're writing the novel for children of around that age range so they can secretly wish they were the character, but the rest of the book doesn't sound very kid-friendly so I doubt you're writing for them. To anyone over that age group the book will likely seem childish and however unfair it may seem they will probably assume that it's for kids due to him being the protagnoist.

That's not to say that a leading child character is impossible, his Dark Materials has a 12 year old boy and 11 year old girl as the protagonists but while they are both strong characters in personality they do get their asses saved a lot of times by various adults and they still do stupid stuff you would expect kids to do. However I must stress that the author Phillip Pullman is very skilled and pulling that off is by no means easy, and since much of the triology's theme is on growing up and childhood the character's ages are there for a good reason.

 

[TheIronRuler]

snip

I agree on both points there, and the following is directed at the OP:

A strong child character usually only works if you're writing the novel for children of around that age range so they can secretly wish they were the character, but the rest of the book doesn't sound very kid-friendly so I doubt you're writing for them. To anyone over that age group the book will likely seem childish and however unfair it may seem they will probably assume that it's for kids due to him being the protagnoist.

That's not to say that a leading child character is impossible, his Dark Materials has a 12 year old boy and 11 year old girl as the protagonists but while they are both strong characters in personality they do get their asses saved a lot of times by various adults and they still do stupid stuff you would expect kids to do. However I must stress that the author Phillip Pullman is very skilled and pulling that off is by no means easy, and since much of the triology's theme is on growing up and childhood the character's ages are there for a good reason.

On a side-note, you can't overlook 'Ender's Game', with a five year old kid as the protagonist. The book isn't for children.
Your argument has a good point but it's not the ultimate truth.