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Q&A Is my book too similar to Harry Potter?

"I am writing a story about a boy and a girl who are in love, but can't be together. Is my story too similar to Romeo and Juliet?" See what I mean? Many stories share similarities. If one story is...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:24Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37294
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T09:15:34Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37294
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T09:15:34Z (over 4 years ago)
" **I am writing a story about a boy and a girl who are in love, but can't be together. Is my story too similar to _Romeo and Juliet_?**" See what I mean?

Many stories share similarities. If one story is about a school, it doesn't mean that no story ever again can be about a school. If one story is about magic, it doesn't mean that other stories can't also be about magic. Michael Ende had a story about a school of magic before Rowling did. Janusz Korczak had a book about a boy and a girl with magic powers fighting an evil wizard. Again, way before Rowling.

So your story happens to share some elements with another story. It can't ever be otherwise. What makes your story different is how those elements combine, who the characters are (not whether one of them is an orphan, but what kind of people they are), characters' goals, story beats, underlying ideas...

One chef takes flour and eggs, bakes bread. Another makes pancakes. Is bread the same as pancakes? Did one of them steal from another the idea of using flour and eggs?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-06-28T11:35:48Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 5