Why is my plot trying to become a YA Harry Potter rip-off?

I’m going good – my plot is moving right along, ideas and characters are snowballing into all sorts of plot snow-bunnies, everything is going great – and than today my plot does all sorts of weird things.

Quick recap – my plot revolves around this megalomaniac super villain who comes in and takes over this small town, planning to make it his “secret headquarters” for his bigger plot of global domination. He figures, no one will think to look for his HQ in a little hick town on the edge of nowhere, everyone will expect him to have some huge fortress in plain sight (because that’s his style). He also figures, no one in “a little hick town in the sticks” is going to be smart enough to defeat him or thwart his plans (yeah – this guy has a big ego problem).

Okay – so the town in the book, is in fact the tiny town in the middle of nowhere that I grew up in – so I know every nook and cranny and can really get into writing up the setting. I also know the locals pretty well and know that they just HATE outsiders barging in and will not stand for this guy’s attempt at taking over and setting up HQs here. They are NOT the backwards idiots he expects them to be.

So far so good. My problem is, I’ve yet to figure out WHO my hero is. I don’t have a main character or any of his side kicks yet. My story as I’ve planned it gets pretty dark and bloody, and is very much a horror story. Too horror to be considered a Young Adult novel. So I’ve been planning on an adult aged hero team (hero plus two friends).

Than this morning rolls around and I’m working on my plot and suddenly out of no where I’ve got these kids (about 16 years old -ish) and ideas about all sorts of ways they can defeat the bad guy, and I’m going – this is great! And than it hits me – it’s starting to sound an awful lot like Potter and crew going after Voldemort. Than I’m like – “Wait a minute! I wasn’t writing YA, what are these teenagers doing battling the villain?”

I need to steer clear of having Harry Potter-type personalities for my heroes. I think that’s the problem right there – it started sounding like it was Harry, Hermione, and Ron doing all these things. It was like they jumped out of the Potter books and into my plot. Not so much the plot itself being Potter-ish, but the characters acting like they were Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I don’t want to sound like I grabbed them, gave them new names, and set them in my plot, but just the way I was writing about their character bios – it seemed like that’s what I had done.

Of course maybe I SHOULD write YA, because tat’s what I read, and doesn’t every one always say to write what you read? What do I read – well, Harry Potter of course, and The Three Investigators, Bunnicula series, Jane Eyre, Edgar Alan Poe, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Lemony Snickets, Alfred Hitchcock’s Young Reader series, Bruce Coville, Betty Ren White, Kieth Laumer, James Blish, lots of random assorted single title books off the YA paperback rack of my local library – I rarely ever read adult fiction. . . uhm, yeah, YA books is all I ever read, maybe I should try writing YA after all?

It’s odd, I read one and write the other. All my books have always been adult books, usually very adult M rated books, not once have I written YA. It never occurred to me before that I am writing the complete opposite of what I’m reading. Weird, actually. Writing YA is so very not my style. I’m thinking now though, maybe I should give it a try seeing how this one is trying to go that road.

So my question is, SHOULD I go with it and let my teenage characters jump right in and battle the villain? or should I continue searching for older heroes for my book? Should I change my focus and make this a YA novel? And how do I come up with ways for my characters to defeat the villain, without making my readers think – “This is soooo Harry Potter”?

Find Out More About My 2009 NaNoWriMo Project

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

———-
Editing and Drafts
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
The Top 5 Tools For NaNoWriMo
What Genre Is My Vampire Story?
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?
How I Reached 50,000 in 30 Days and You Can Too!
———-

. . .

————-

>Why is my plot trying to become a YA Harry Potter rip-off?

>

I’m going good – my plot is moving right along, ideas and characters are snowballing into all sorts of plot snow-bunnies, everything is going great – and than today my plot does all sorts of weird things.

Quick recap – my plot revolves around this megalomaniac super villain who comes in and takes over this small town, planning to make it his “secret headquarters” for his bigger plot of global domination. He figures, no one will think to look for his HQ in a little hick town on the edge of nowhere, everyone will expect him to have some huge fortress in plain sight (because that’s his style). He also figures, no one in “a little hick town in the sticks” is going to be smart enough to defeat him or thwart his plans (yeah – this guy has a big ego problem).

Okay – so the town in the book, is in fact the tiny town in the middle of nowhere that I grew up in – so I know every nook and cranny and can really get into writing up the setting. I also know the locals pretty well and know that they just HATE outsiders barging in and will not stand for this guy’s attempt at taking over and setting up HQs here. They are NOT the backwards idiots he expects them to be.

So far so good. My problem is, I’ve yet to figure out WHO my hero is. I don’t have a main character or any of his side kicks yet. My story as I’ve planned it gets pretty dark and bloody, and is very much a horror story. Too horror to be considered a Young Adult novel. So I’ve been planning on an adult aged hero team (hero plus two friends).

Than this morning rolls around and I’m working on my plot and suddenly out of no where I’ve got these kids (about 16 years old -ish) and ideas about all sorts of ways they can defeat the bad guy, and I’m going – this is great! And than it hits me – it’s starting to sound an awful lot like Potter and crew going after Voldemort. Than I’m like – “Wait a minute! I wasn’t writing YA, what are these teenagers doing battling the villain?”

I need to steer clear of having Harry Potter-type personalities for my heroes. I think that’s the problem right there – it started sounding like it was Harry, Hermione, and Ron doing all these things. It was like they jumped out of the Potter books and into my plot. Not so much the plot itself being Potter-ish, but the characters acting like they were Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I don’t want to sound like I grabbed them, gave them new names, and set them in my plot, but just the way I was writing about their character bios – it seemed like that’s what I had done.

Of course maybe I SHOULD write YA, because tat’s what I read, and doesn’t every one always say to write what you read? What do I read – well, Harry Potter of course, and The Three Investigators, Bunnicula series, Jane Eyre, Edgar Alan Poe, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Lemony Snickets, Alfred Hitchcock’s Young Reader series, Bruce Coville, Betty Ren White, Kieth Laumer, James Blish, lots of random assorted single title books off the YA paperback rack of my local library – I rarely ever read adult fiction. . . uhm, yeah, YA books is all I ever read, maybe I should try writing YA after all?

It’s odd, I read one and write the other. All my books have always been adult books, usually very adult M rated books, not once have I written YA. It never occurred to me before that I am writing the complete opposite of what I’m reading. Weird, actually. Writing YA is so very not my style. I’m thinking now though, maybe I should give it a try seeing how this one is trying to go that road.

So my question is, SHOULD I go with it and let my teenage characters jump right in and battle the villain? or should I continue searching for older heroes for my book? Should I change my focus and make this a YA novel? And how do I come up with ways for my characters to defeat the villain, without making my readers think – “This is soooo Harry Potter”?

Find Out More About My 2009 NaNoWriMo Project

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

———-
Editing and Drafts
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
The Top 5 Tools For NaNoWriMo
What Genre Is My Vampire Story?
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?
How I Reached 50,000 in 30 Days and You Can Too!
———-

. . .

————-

testing tags

having a problem getting posts to show up… testing to see if tags are working yet

Finished Reading Harry Potter 7

Finished HP7 3 days ago. … what a bloodbath! She had said she was killing off 2 characters. YIKES! She started bumping them off right in chapter one and than keep on going in each chapter to follow! How many characters did she kill off? I don’t know, I lost count after chapter 4! My brother says it was 15 all together (main and sub characters that is…. closer to 50 if you count Death Eaters and Muggles too).

Deathly Hallows is by far the fastest moving, most action packed book in the series. Only one complaint: so as not to add any spoilers for those who haven’t read it yet, I’ll not name names… I loved the book execpt for one really big minor detail: she killed off my fave character!!!! WAAAAA!!! Not only killed him, but singled him out to slaughter him, which turned out to be a major turning point for the story and changed everything you thought you knew about the series and totally turned it upside down!

Currently reading : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) By J. K. Rowling Release date: 21 July, 2007

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Finished Reading Harry Potter 7

Finished HP7 3 days ago. … what a bloodbath! She had said she was killing off 2 characters. YIKES! She started bumping them off right in chapter one and than keep on going in each chapter to follow! How many characters did she kill off? I don’t know, I lost count after chapter 4! My brother says it was 15 all together (main and sub characters that is…. closer to 50 if you count Death Eaters and Muggles too).

Deathly Hallows is by far the fastest moving, most action packed book in the series. Only one complaint: so as not to add any spoilers for those who haven’t read it yet, I’ll not name names… I loved the book execpt for one really big minor detail: she killed off my fave character!!!! WAAAAA!!! Not only killed him, but singled him out to slaughter him, which turned out to be a major turning point for the story and changed everything you thought you knew about the series and totally turned it upside down!

Currently reading : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) By J. K. Rowling Release date: 21 July, 2007

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Finished Reading Harry Potter 7

Finished HP7 3 days ago. … what a bloodbath! She had said she was killing off 2 characters. YIKES! She started bumping them off right in chapter one and than keep on going in each chapter to follow! How many characters did she kill off? I don’t know, I lost count after chapter 4! My brother says it was 15 all together (main and sub characters that is…. closer to 50 if you count Death Eaters and Muggles too).

Deathly Hallows is by far the fastest moving, most action packed book in the series. Only one complaint: so as not to add any spoilers for those who haven’t read it yet, I’ll not name names… I loved the book execpt for one really big minor detail: she killed off my fave character!!!! WAAAAA!!! Not only killed him, but singled him out to slaughter him, which turned out to be a major turning point for the story and changed everything you thought you knew about the series and totally turned it upside down!

Currently reading : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) By J. K. Rowling Release date: 21 July, 2007

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Finished Harry Potter 7

Finished HP7 2 days ago. … what a bloodbath! She had said she was killing off 2 characters. YIKES! She started bumping them off right in chapter one and than keep on going in each chapter to follow! How many characters did she kill off? I don’t know, I lost count after chapter 4! My brother says it was 15 all together (main and sub characters that is…. closer to 50 if you count Death Eaters and Muggles too).

Deathly Hallows is by far the fastest moving, most action packed book in the series. Only one complaint: so as not to add any spoilers for those who haven’t read it yet, I’ll not name names… I loved the book execpt for one really big minor detail: she killed off my fave character!!!! WAAAAA!!! Not only killed him, but singled him out to slaughter him, which turned out to be a major turning point for the story and changed everything you thought you knew about the series and totally turned it upside down!

MySpace Friends Trains: Harry Potter and Prof Snape

Okay, so I keep hearing about how great “friend trains” are. Well, I’m testing them out to see if they really are all the hoopla I keep hearing.

Here are the ones I just made so far. Join any, all, or none if you want to.

==================================================== Join this list if you are a Harry Potter fan – Round No.1 *^ 825044912

Create Your 0wn Train Here!

Train: For Fans of Harry Potter! Round No.1
The 0wner & Captain: EelKat
Female, 31 Years 0ld

Add To Friends


====================================================

For all those who love Snape! – Round No.1 —————–

2031685152

Create Your 0wn Train Here!

Train: Snape Lovers A-Nonny-Mouse Round No.1
The 0wner & Captain: EelKat
Female, 31 Years 0ld

Add To Friends

 

==================================================== ==================================================== ==================================================== ==================================================== ====================================================

10th Anniversary of Harry Potter

According to Answers.com:

Spotlight: Platform 9 ¾, the Sorting Hat and quidditch were introduced to the world 10 years ago this week, with the first publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The Manichaean bildungsroman, which was later translated into American English, launched a billion-dollar empire. The final book will be published on July 21 and promises to answer questions such as “Will ‘The Boy Who Lived’ die?,” “Is Snape good?” and “What is a Deathly Hallow?” The fifth movie will be released 2 weeks earlier. The amusement park doesn’t open until at least 2009.

Quote: ‘Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!’ — Albus Dumbledore in Philosopher’s Stone

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

10th Anniversary of Harry Potter

According to Answers.com:

Spotlight: Platform 9 ¾, the Sorting Hat and quidditch were introduced to the world 10 years ago this week, with the first publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The Manichaean bildungsroman, which was later translated into American English, launched a billion-dollar empire. The final book will be published on July 21 and promises to answer questions such as “Will ‘The Boy Who Lived’ die?,” “Is Snape good?” and “What is a Deathly Hallow?” The fifth movie will be released 2 weeks earlier. The amusement park doesn’t open until at least 2009.

Quote: ‘Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!’ — Albus Dumbledore in Philosopher’s Stone

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

10th Anniversary of Harry Potter

According to Answers.com:

Spotlight: Platform 9 ¾, the Sorting Hat and quidditch were introduced to the world 10 years ago this week, with the first publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The Manichaean bildungsroman, which was later translated into American English, launched a billion-dollar empire. The final book will be published on July 21 and promises to answer questions such as “Will ‘The Boy Who Lived’ die?,” “Is Snape good?” and “What is a Deathly Hallow?” The fifth movie will be released 2 weeks earlier. The amusement park doesn’t open until at least 2009.

Quote: ‘Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!’ — Albus Dumbledore in Philosopher’s Stone

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Finished Reading Harry Potter 6

I was right, it only took me three days to read it, but like my writing I didn’t do it every day, so those three days got spaced out over a week!

I must say that The Half-Blood Prince was not who I ever would have expected it to be!

~~EK

See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Finished Reading Harry Potter 6

I was right, it only took me three days to read it, but like my writing I didn’t do it every day, so those three days got spaced out over a week!

I must say that The Half-Blood Prince was not who I ever would have expected it to be!

~~EK

See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Started HP6 Last Night

Finally getting around to reading this one. I had started it back when it came out but, I got to them meeting Slughorn, than never finished it. Just went back last night, and started over again. I’m up to chapter nine, page 188. Rate I’m going I should be done in 3 days.

See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Started HP6 Last Night

Finally getting around to reading this one. I had started it back when it came out but, I got to them meeting Slughorn, than never finished it. Just went back last night, and started over again. I’m up to chapter nine, page 188. Rate I’m going I should be done in 3 days.

See more progress on: read Harry potter 6

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

testing tags

having a problem getting posts to show up… testing to see if tags are working yet

EK’s Top 10 (make that 13) World’s Cutest Guys

I’ll have to raid my imageshack account for this one! LOL! I was just sitting here thinking what should I post next, couldn’t think of anything, so zipped on over to Proboards to chat with my pals over there, and came across a thread that I had started about movies, that was getting a lot of great feedback. I was reading and answering, when it hit me: I have so got to write up a top 10 list of my fave guys! Well, here it is, and in typical EK fashion it ran to *shock* 13! (Who’d of ever guessed! LOL!) So here they are, my Top  10 13 World’s Most Cutest Guys! Cute Guys, several in eyeliner… drools!

1. C*C*DeVille as himself.
2. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
3. David Bowie as Jarath
4. Alan Rickman as Col. Brandon
5. Alan Rickman as Prof. Snape
6. Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka
7. Johnny Depp as (forgot name) guy from Secret Window
8. Alice Cooper as himself
9. Vincent Price as anyone/himself
10. Brett Micheals as himself
11. David Carradine as Bill
12. Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka or Dr. Frankinstien
13. Martin Short as Jack Frost

I have them all safely tucked away in my imageshack account… heading out to find them, well edit this post in a few. BRB!

okay: edit time:

I’m back, here are the pics; these are all clickable thumbnails… some of these pics are pretty big, others are about the same size as the thumbnail. If you want to gett a better look at any of these guys, just click the pic and it’ll open in a new window (I think… if I didit right they well, anyways!).

So without farther delay, here they are:

C*C*DeVille as himself.

boy oh boy! This guy looks good at any age! here he is during the last 3 decades:
…in 1986:

…in 1996:

…in 2006:

and a few extra ones, just cause I think he looks good with blue hair

…and pink

…and red

…and white

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow

David Bowie as Jarath

Jarath King of the Goblins… need I say more?

Alan Rickman as Col. Brandon

Alan Rickman as Prof. Snape

Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka

this is the desktop I’ve got up right now:

Johnny Depp as (forgot name) guy from Secret Window

Alice Cooper as himself

 

Vincent Price as anyone/himself

These pics vary from 1943 to 1999… 50 years of ageless cuteness! This is my desktop btw…

Brett Micheals as himself

David Carradine as Bill

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka or Dr. Frankinstien

as Willy Wonks:

Martin Short as Jack Frost

and there you have them! Aren’t they cute!?

Did any of your top ten make it on to my list? Leave a comment and let me know… feel free to post your top ten!

Click Here to Advertise on My Blog

If you could be a character in any movie….

If you could be a character in any movie….who would you be and which movie would you choose? Why?
I’d want to be Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp version)… I already wear the coat and hat, and was a taste tester for the real Wonka company back in the late 1970′s (I was eating Nerds looong before they were released to the public! and I’m eating them right now too! ) I love his “house”, his boat, and I’d much rather travel by Glass Wonkervator than by car…

Any female in the Harry potter series that would place me in a position to seduce Professor Snape. Ain’t he villainously cute?

and I’ll also add to that, any gal they Jack Sparrow would want too.

…also Christine Dae in Phantom of the Opera, and I’d pick Eric, not the other guy

…or the bride of Jarath in Labyrinth (I know, I’m rewriting all the movies here! LOL! )

…oh yeah… and I’d be The Bride in Kill Bill, only I wouldn’t have left Bill to marry the guy at the music store, so Bill never would have gone on his rampage, and Bill and The Bride and B.B. would have lived happily ever after

~~EK

October The 2nd Part VI | Joshua Lives

My brother is building his personal home page… still under construction at this point, but be sure to keep checking back to see what’s new:

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

October The 2nd Part VI | Joshua Lives

My brother is building his personal home page… still under construction at this point, but be sure to keep checking back to see what’s new:

October The 2nd Part VI | Joshua Lives

My brother is building his personal home page… still under construction at this point, but be sure to keep checking back to see what’s new:

This Post copyright Wendy C. Allen 2007. EelKat

Life, the Universe, and Everything…Don’t Panic

This board new, just started, so still getting things moved around. Any suggestions?

Life, the Universe, and Everything…Don’t Panic

A Writer’s Desk…new skin

A Writer’s Desk…new skin  

Okay, there were several complaints about the old skin, so I got rid of the Black & White skin and I’ve got the new forest skin, mostly finished now, still tweeking the colors around abit, but it’s pretty much finished. Any thoughts on the colors I’m useing now?

Yes, as I said, the house pic was temporay, cause my image host (imageshack) was down all week for matanance checks., and I couldn’t uplaod the pics for this forum, than, but that’s overwith, so I got the correct pics up now. The house pic is gone, (well, actually it’s only moved to the sub-board on houses, where it was supposed to be in the first place) and replaced with a banner instead, still not sure that I’ve got it right, but at least it’s better than the house pic was. Any ideas on a better banner?

Also, looking for suggestions on what to do with the icons.

This place is VERY new (just started it April 5, 2006) so I haven’t yet got all the catagories/topics up and running, but you can see where they are headed from what’s up already. Once I’ve got the layout of the skin/colors/icons finished, I’ll go back and finish the catagory/topics stuff.

Here is the link to it, check it out and let me know what you all think! Thanks!

A Writer’s Desk