boarding school

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

Hi all,
I am a newbie and I have a simple question...
I am writing a novel about a boy who goes off to a boarding school. As soon as I explain to my friends it's a boarding school, the feedback I get is to watch out as the main competitor is Harry Potter and that no matter how hard I try, mine could probably never get published.
In fact, even though it's not a wizardry school, the risk to be affected by HP is very high.

I am half way through the novel, so I am not sure if I should keep writing or plan something different, maybe using same characters....

It's a book for 9 to 12 years old readers.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Laura

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

Oh, sorry if I misplaced my 3d, please feel free to move it around!

jjacobs · Oct 2, 2009

The fact it takes place in a boarding school alone won't make it sound like Harry Potter. Are there other similarities? If not, then I don't view this as a problem.

maestrowork · Oct 2, 2009

So Rowling now screws up everyone who wants to write stories about boarding schools? Not really.. I mean, Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (granted, that's Ishiguro, but still) was set in a boarding school. As long as you're not writing a Harry Potter knockoff, I don't see why there would be a problem.

WendyNYC · Oct 2, 2009

I don't think it's a problem at all. I don't even think of HP when I think of boarding schools. I'm obviously not 9 - 12, but my kids are in that range and they've read several not-Harry-Potter boarding school books.

Rufus Coppertop · Oct 2, 2009

Double Post. :rant:

Rufus Coppertop · Oct 2, 2009

My MC's are 12 years old and they go to a boarding school that teaches ritual magic as one of its core subjects.

There's no way I'm not going to finish the rewrite and there's no way anybody will convince me that Rowling has a monopoly on boarding schools or magic.

None of the action takes place at the school and magic in my world is ritualistic rather than spell based.

It's not a Harry Potter rip off, it's not even inspired by Harry Potter and by the time the agent or publisher's editor meets the MC's, they'll know that.

You go ahead and finish your book. If it has a beginning a middle and an end and the plot makes sense, put bits of it up for critique and take note of the feedback.

To say think that you can't write a boarding school story because of Harry Potter is like saying you can't write a love story because of Wuthering Heights. Go for it!

suki · Oct 2, 2009

laurafre said:
Hi all,
I am a newbie and I have a simple question...
I am writing a novel about a boy who goes off to a boarding school. As soon as I explain to my friends it's a boarding school, the feedback I get is to watch out as the main competitor is Harry Potter and that no matter how hard I try, mine could probably never get published.
In fact, even though it's not a wizardry school, the risk to be affected by HP is very high.

I am half way through the novel, so I am not sure if I should keep writing or plan something different, maybe using same characters....

It's a book for 9 to 12 years old readers.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Laura

There are lots of books with boarding school settings - in MG and YA. If there isn't magic involved, I'm not sure I'd even immediately think of Harry Potter, because there are so many.

Now, it's a common setting, which means there may be other books that are out there that your book will seem to close to, so I suggest reading up in your genre - go to the library, and ask the librarian for help finding recent Middle Grade books with a boarding school setting.

Just because there's a boarding school in it doesn't make it out of bounds. But it is good to read up so you know it's not totally derivative of something else.

good luck.

~suki

Symphony · Oct 2, 2009

Yep. I agree with the above. Nobody has a monopoly on boarding schools. Fire away.

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

Hi all,
Thanks a mil for your answers.
There aren't any other similarities, but now I am thinking of what type of similarities are you talking about?
Ex. My boy befriends almost immediately a boy and a girl at school. Could it be a similarity? He plays sport within the team of his dormitory. Is this a similarity?
As I have never read any other book based in a boarding school, I am afraid those could be taken as similarities. So I guess I should start reading up other books with that setting.

Kitty Pryde · Oct 2, 2009

Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_school#Boarding_schools_in_fiction

Lady Ice · Oct 2, 2009

laurafre said:
Hi all,
Thanks a mil for your answers.
There aren't any other similarities, but now I am thinking of what type of similarities are you talking about?
Ex. My boy befriends almost immediately a boy and a girl at school. Could it be a similarity? He plays sport within the team of his dormitory. Is this a similarity?
As I have never read any other book based in a boarding school, I am afraid those could be taken as similarities. So I guess I should start reading up other books with that setting.

There's loads of great films with boarding schools in them. If you add magic into your equation however it will look like a rip off.

suki · Oct 2, 2009

laurafre said:
Hi all,
Thanks a mil for your answers.
There aren't any other similarities, but now I am thinking of what type of similarities are you talking about?
Ex. My boy befriends almost immediately a boy and a girl at school. Could it be a similarity? He plays sport within the team of his dormitory. Is this a similarity?
As I have never read any other book based in a boarding school, I am afraid those could be taken as similarities. So I guess I should start reading up other books with that setting.

It's more a matter of degree, and hard to tell in the abstract. You have probably seen a bunch of movies with similar plot elements, but once in a while all the cliche plot elements just don't work because there are too many similarities to other things you have seen.

Same with books - I can't say that your boy, with his new boarding school, boy and girl friend, and sports team and dorm-loyalty will smack too much of Harry Potter, but I will say that if your readers are telling you it does, it probably does.

I just read Rick Riodan's Maze of Bones, the first in the 39 clues series. It was an entertaining read, but full of cliches and plot elements that smacked of other books - it almost felt like a game, to find the other books' plot elements in his story. Now, many have read it and loved it, and it was entertainingly written, but for me the similarities to other book plots was too much.

So, looking at your story, maybe I would see it as totally different, or maybe I'd also see your girl is a know-it-all and your dormatory-loyalty thing looks just like Hogwarts and it would all just be too much.

Or maybe I would read it and see some similarities but it would still seem like your own story. Hard to tell in a vaccum.

So, I say write and see where it takes you. But also go read a bunch of other MG or younger YA books in boarding schools to make sure your story isn't just too close to one or more others to be seen as different or original.

~suki

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

Lady Ice said:
There's loads of great films with boarding schools in them. If you add magic into your equation however it will look like a rip off.

So, if in my boarding school my pupils learn how to be the best chefs or the best farmers in the world is it ok? Unless I add magic?

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_school#Boarding_schools_in_fiction

Great link. I read Jane Eyre, and I completely forgotten she went to a boarding school!

Libbie · Oct 2, 2009

You should only worry if your MC is going to a boarding school to learn how to be a wizard.

Lauretta · Oct 2, 2009

suki said:
So, looking at your story, maybe I would see it as totally different, or maybe I'd also see your girl is a know-it-all and your dormatory-loyalty thing looks just like Hogwarts and it would all just be too much.

Or maybe I would read it and see some similarities but it would still seem like your own story. Hard to tell in a vaccum.

So, I say write and see where it takes you. But also go read a bunch of other MG or younger YA books in boarding schools to make sure your story isn't just too close to one or more others to be seen as different or original.

~suki

I agree with this, it really makes sense.

Lady Ice · Oct 2, 2009

laurafre said:
So, if in my boarding school my pupils learn how to be the best chefs or the best farmers in the world is it ok?

Yes, although that would be a bizarre story :tongue

maryland · Oct 2, 2009

I stayed (as an adult!) in a boarding school one holiday and it was a surprise. The five-bed dormitry was one gigantic room, with no curtained cubicles or even wardrobes between the beds to give any privacy. A chair and a bedside cabinet and a chest of drawers beside each bed, five wardrobes/cupboards scattered between the windows or along the inner walls. The washbasins were in a separate tiled washroom along the corridor past the toilets. (I did not see any baths; just some shower stalls)There were old leather sofas on the landing, a sort of casual common-room. Although it was/is a classy, expensive boys' boarding school 11-18, it was amazingly shabby in the younger years' accommodation. I also stayed in the sixth-formers' quarters - single rooms with en-suite, entirely different!

Wayne K · Oct 2, 2009

Write it well and stop listening to people who tell you what you can't write. It's your story.

Darzian · Oct 2, 2009

I agree with most of the stuff above but beware: Your story may look like a Harry Potter rip off without you meaning it to.

I did a beta once and the story was a totally obvious HP ripoff. People will always find similarities but I try my best to minimize things. In my own story, I changed the way of teaching in the "Academy" from large classes to single wizard-to-apprentice lessons. The change doesn't affect the story much but it's suddenly vastly different from Harry Potter.

Lauretta · Oct 3, 2009

I think I am going to finish this first, and then will see if it is a HP rip off.
Btw, what is it this "WIP" that I read in most of your signatures? Is it written words vs total to write?

Stijn Hommes · Oct 3, 2009

Don't rely on your friends for feedback. They're wrong. It's unlikely to any novel in the not so distant future will be as big as Harry Potter, so it would be pointless for publishers to reject people because of that. Also, just because it is set in a boarding school, doesn't mean it competes with Harry Potter. HP is a fantasy novel with all its fantasy standards. "Tom Brown's School Days" was set in a boarding school as were several other famous novels. It works - just finish the novel.

Stijn Hommes · Oct 3, 2009

WIP = Work in Progress The sigs list the progress for their works (indeed written vs. total words).

Shakesbear · Oct 3, 2009

I agree with Stijn Hommes.

I think boarding schools have been made popular by HP - St Trinians is an example - a second film is being made.

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