Whether Diane Can Read Harry Potter or Not

[Staci]

Well......Have You Ever noticed their uses of Wizardry is extreemly different. J.K.Rowling uses a more traditional form of wizardry. you know the type otheres use or at least simmilar. Dont get me wrong i love those books, but Young Wizards is more unique.

[Caitlin]

zinnia: that's basically what i said and i got yelled at...... well...humph...(no offense rowen)

the way the magic is performed and recived in the world are the differences between ALL the fantasy books. tha's what makes them all different (THANK GOD!!!!!)

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[Hogosha]

Personally I don't think Duane-san has gotten the publicity she deserves. Harry Potter, up until Book 4, is more of a fun series about the typical kind of magic involving wands and wizards. Duane-san's story runs so much deeper. The people in it aren't anything special, even with wizardry. HP separates muggles and wizards into an "us" and a "them" . As Nita once warned Dairine, it's when you start thinking like that that you're in trouble. Duane-san's series seems more real to me.

[jen26]

Hogosha, I totally agree. But the fact is that if anyone thinks DD is copying she could be sued just cuz HP is so much more famous for some reason.

"Deceit shall have its reward." - Timeline

[Evangelion999]

Well I think the topic should read "Wheter Rowling can read Young Wizards or not" since Young Wizards was released over two decades before HP was even thought of. Also for the record, there is a Japanese novel about two teenage wizards (faternal twins) that correct problems in the worlds life flow...anyone remember what it was called? All my NewTypes are in the garage and I can't look it up.

[greycardigan]

I like to think of it this way...I'm a musician and I sometimes go months without listening to anything so that I protect the integrity of my creations. Other times, I go back and listen to artists I like for inspiration or to gain a different perspective on things. I think since DD began the YW series before HP, she might enjoy reading the books as a peer, or for a different POV, but I believe the YW Universe is itself a secure and unique creation that looks at wizardry in its own wonderful way, just as in the Potter universe. I think in many ways, DD is superior in that it's easier to immerse yourself in Nita and Kit's world.

I am on errantry and I greet you. Dai!

[shananagan]

I've read each series and I wonder as I read over hp again did jk seed off of duane but then I went to a chat from hp and it said that the persons writing who inspired her is c.s.Luis maybe somehow he inspired DD too. or is this coincidence that the three are closely oddly related or am I rambling about nothing now???

[Peter Murray]

I'd say the series are very different. I don't remember Earthsea very well - must be over twenty years since I read it - but I gave in and bought the first Harry Potter book because I had this story idea about a twelve-year-old who was introduced to a hidden world of magic. It's not like either series, so I happily believe that people can independently come up with ideas.

But Nita and Kit do use magic wands - at least to start with.

The main difference, to me, seems to be that Harry and his friends are taught ready-to-use spells, while Nita, Kit etc have to create their own from scratch, and it takes them a while to get to the point where they can create a spell in advance and use it when they need to.

[Gryphon]

I haven't read everyone's view here, just a few posts here and there. But I am going to say my opinion.

Simply, I beleive the two book series had no such connection. As for The Lone Power to Voldemort... well, where are they similar??? Sure, sure. You could say evil, but I don't really think so. Instead, you think of what each character stands for. The Lone Power is a Power, the height of the world, or nearly so. What you could call equals (or nearly so) would be the other Powers. And Voldemort's equals...? Umm... I don't really think of Dumbledore, definitly not Harry Potter as equals to him. The Lone Power is the CREATOR of death. He created plague, famine, terror, sorrow. Whereas Voldemort, at the most, could be called the BRINGER of death. Slaughtering off people he considers lower than himself/gaining too much power/opposes him. Death was originally the Lone Power's 'great invention.' Now on to Voldemort. He's 'only human!' Just with a little bit [a lot] or the Dark Arts mixed in. In his opinion, death is the worst you could do. He says just that in the 5th book.

Other 'similarities'... Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nita, Kit, and Dairine. First off, I say drop Dairine. She isn't that close to Nita and Kit as far as wizardry. Not a partner at all. Just the occaisonal conflict. So... Harry, Ron, and Hermione vs. Nita and Kit? Well, all I can say is a book needs main characters. Other than that, no similarities.

Wands... uhh... I don't think you could possibly accuse JK Rowling of stealing the wands from Diane Duane's books. Wands are the classical wizards' tool. Wands, staffs, scepters, whatever. Similarity: they're both called wands. Oooh, big deal! In JKR's world, wands are made of some kind of wood, set at different lengths, and contain something magical. They aren't sticks a tree dropped or a car antenna.

What else... The way wizardry works... C'mon, that's obvious! They go to school, learn their magic words and gestures, and out comes a spell! Then there's construct a complex and precise equasion to bend the rules of the words a bit.

Looking at all of that, no way did JK Rowling copy from Diane Duane. And considering the fact that Diane Duane started her series a decade and some years before JK Rowling, I feel that somehow she didn't copy.

But then if you're thinking that one influenced the other because look! They both involve wizardry, all I'm going to do is look at you funny. That's just stupid.

[db_pr]

I agree with everything she just said.

[semiramis]

Another interesting comparison: themes.

First off, Harry Potter, because this one's more definate:
JK Rowling herself said on an interview that the only main theme she specifically focused on was discrimination, e.g., anti-muggle discrimination, inter-species discrimination (house elves, werewolves, etc.), mixed-blood discrimination. Not much else to say about this; no matter what the truth about it is in practice, most of us are taught that discrimination is bad from the day we are deemed intellegent enough to understand what "us" and "them" are (unless your parents are very....... politically incorrectly unique... in their outlook).

On the other hand, YW's theme is a bit less definate, because 1) as far as the entire series goes, we're still being "led in the dark" and 2) as far as I know, DD hasn't said anything about it. But, from what I know, I think that its theme is "change" and the thematic subgroups thereof. However, change is, of course, quite a big theme, and gives rise to subthemes, e.g. death, chaos, destiny; and these, in turn, have their own subthemes, like changelessness/innocence, "human" nature, and free will... and so on, in whatever big messy web of connections you please.

And then, following this big messy web, you bring yourself to things like the ability in people to change and the acceptance thereof, which brings you to discrimination against individuals for past imperfections.... but this is a shaky connection at best, and can be reached from any work with an ascending character, which is nothing more or less than a ubiquitous literary convention. So it'd be hard to find much of a connection there.

In the case of a lawsuit, the thematic differences of two literary works is unimportant, but it's good to remember that they do play a huge part in the development of plot and characters down to the metaphysically molecular level (since you just KNOW there's some over-analytical weirdo out there who's going to insist that John Doe picking his nose is symbolic of the never-ending war between intellect and instinct... *coughs and glances away briefly*).

...so yeah. Wow, this is the longest post I've done in a while....

[BelieverInWizardry]

I feel angry when this subjuct comes up. The ONLY thing they have in common is the fact that they are about wizards! YW is also more complex and it's actually believeable. The detail in YW is 999 nintillon 999 octillion 999 septillion 999 hextillion 999 pentillion 999 quadrillion 999 trillion 999 billion 999 million 999 thousand and 99 hundred times better than hp

[Fox]

*in a sing song voice* "Annnnnd So say all of us!!" . That is alot of numbers , I think that what you have just said is right!!. DD and YOUNGWIZARDS FOREVER
Fox

[philosopherkat]

Madam Diane can read what she feels like, though she might want to read HP at some point if only to understand her fans' arcane pop-culture references . . . I don't think there is any plaigarizing on either end, though. As others before me have said (and made very eloquent cases, might I add) there are so few similarities between the two series other than the fact of wizardry, it would be pretty much unrecognizable if one author was copying another. Even if either JK or DD wanted to plaigarize (which I don't think they would), it would change both series a lot in tone and ideology, as well as the plot and smaller details. Plus, what would be the point? DD's a genius, she doesn't need anyone else's ideas, and JK seems to be doing fine for herself in a multimillion dollar sort of way. I, like many on this board, am a fan of both series, but they are SO different. HP I read when my brain needs a vacation. M&Ms for the mind, if you will. There's nothing really heavy in them, but they are a blast to read, like a thriller. I do find that they have been seeming more repetitive as the series goes on, almost like JK's trying to please her audience mainly, make each one longer than the last, and sell more books as well. They appeal to absolutely everyone with the patience to plow through them. The characters get annoying a lot (though I did enjoy Harry's increased angst in book 5). YW, on the other hand, has characters that I personally love all the time - including the Lone Power (Is it wrong that the inventor of Death sounds hot in redhead form?). YW makes you think, they are philosophical, full of moral dilemmas, and deep. DD is appealing more to her cultish following of hardcore fantasy readers (Sound familiar to anyone here?) as opposed to absolutely everyone in the world. Sometimes you have to go back and reread a paragraph or two to understand what's going on and its meaning. I also feel like YW is totally believable. I'm always seeing wizardry as DD interprets it. Both HP and YW are amazing series, but for completely different reasons.

Blast it, now I've given myself a headache. Oh, well. Never mind. I hope I haven't scared anyone with this torrential outburst. I'm new at this.


Dai, all!

[Onua Wingstar]

I love both series to death, but like philosopherkat said, they are completely different. Both series are deep (well, Harry's getting there, anyway), but YW is deep in a way not even HP is. I mean, problems on a multiverse-wide scale as opposed to a national- or even worldwide scale. The Power That invented Death, as opposed to a bald human who is trying to become immortal.

Oh, and no, I think the Lone One sounds hot sometimes, too. He's supposed to!