Help With A Book

[JamesPotter9]

I am a HUGE fan of Harry Potter and long to write a book as amazing as the HP series (I know, a long shot,) and I want my book to have good characters, (a main character,) and friends, all with distinct personalities. I really want to add in some form of magic and fantasy, but I m finding it difficult to do that without ripping of Harry Potter (e.g: Wands, Magic, Voldemort, etc.). I was thinking maybe Staff s and Runestones, but I fell like THAT is ripping of Lord of The Rings!

[anaxcrosswords]

First off, I suppose the old writer's adage "Write about what you know" must hold true - it's certainly helpful. As for originality, I can't say much as I've never taken a course in writing, but I recently saw a comment that makes a lot of sense: A story doesn't have to be new to be good. It just has to be good.
Make sure your characters are strong and memorable and don't worry too much about the world they inhabit. I can only equate it to gaming. If you removed all games which borrow at least some elements of others, there would probably be around half a dozen left. The Last Of Us borrowed heavily from The Road but that didn't stop it winning more awards than you could shake a stick at.

[JamesPotter9]

Thanks, /anaxcrosswords/ !! So, do you think you have any ideas for a magical type story personally? I've looked on Wikipedia for mythical creatures, and I have a few ideas.

[anaxcrosswords]

James, please send me an email. It's my username at yahoo dot co uk. I just typed something up, but it's far too long to post here.

[JamesPotter9]

Okay anaxcrosswords, I sent you an Email!

[jno]

writing what they knew can't have been much help to Tolkein and Rowling! The answer I suppose is not to read just one or two books but lots, so that you fill your head with ideas and come to think up new ones yourself as you go.

[JamesPotter9]

/jno/ okay so what you're idea of a "Magical" story be like, based on the books you've read? (E.g: Creatures, Magic etc.)

[jno]

sorry, I haven't read many magical stories at all; my advice was general, to anyone wanting to write a story that isn't too much like other stories: read widely and keep a notebook at hand for jotting down any ideas that come to you.