Hi, I'm an aspiring young author and I'm working on writing a book series inspired by Harry Potter: i.e. I'm not using JK's world, but I am creating a wizarding world of my own. I need help figuring out what I can and can't use from her world since all the good ideas are already taken. For instance, can I use moving portraits? Can I use Apparition but give it a different name? And how can do criteria for house sorting in my school, because I can't think of a better criteria than character. I also need to know if I can mention the Battle of Hogwarts, e.g. briefly in a discussion between my characters such as "because of what happened at Hogwarts recently, we have decided to introduce..."
I also have difficulty with place description. I wouldn't say I'm particularly up in my vocab.
Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes,
Lana Lazar
Hi Lana,
I think you have more individual ideas than you give yourself credit for!
I'm not a legal expert in copyright, but if you're mentioning The Battle of Hogwarts in your own story then this would seem to indicate that your story takes place within the same world/universe as Harry Potter. I think there might be some copyright issues with this, so I'd recommend setting your own wizarding story in your very own world. After all, JK Rowling took inspiration from other authors and you can do the same here. If you want to use moving portraits, how will you use them differently? Think about how you can make these your own.
It's clear that the Harry Potter books are a big influence to you, but they're not the only books that feature magic, wizards and witches. Additionally, the first book was published over twenty years ago now so I'd recommend thinking about what contemporary magical books you might see your own book sitting alongside in a bookshop. Read as many different magical books as you can, make a note of what you like and what you don't like, what you might like to include in your own story and what you don't.
There aren't many ideas that haven't been done already, but remember that there is only one of you who can write like you.
All best,
Clare
W&A