How do you write a good Harry Potter story?

[Solaris]

This was done in 2003, yes, I know it's outdated but the information is still good.

How do you write a good Harry Potter story?

By Beth Brownell

When someone mentions the names Harry Potter, Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley, you immediately think about the Harry Potter movies or books and you immediately take notice. You are a fan of the books and maybe the movies as well.

Now you wish to write a story about him and his friends or his enemies, but you are not sure how to start it off. These few steps will help you write a good story. You can follow them if you want. But if you want to write a realistic story about Harry Potter and friends, then follow it, if not, that’s your decision. I recieved help with this article from the folks on the forum for the Harry Potter Lexicon.

Many thanks goes out to everyone who helped me with this article.

1. What year is your story set in?

Remember that the books are being worked on in our time but it is SET in 1991 to 1999, not 2003. I am very serious here on this information as I researched when Harry Potter was born and when his folks died in.

2. How old are the main characters of the book?

Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980. You may go to see the truth on this link. Yes, he was born twenty-four years ago.

Hermione Granger was born on September 19, 1979. The link to her page is located here. She was born twenty-four years ago.

Ronald Weasley was born March 1, 1980. The link to his page is located here. He was born twenty-four years ago.

Draco Malfoy was born in June 5, 1980. His page is located here. He was born twenty-four years ago.

Now there are more main characters than just these four students. If you wish to do more research, then go to this page to learn more on the main characters.

If you set the story in 2003; you have Harry and gang still in Hogwarts, you better damn well have a good explanation or plot reason for this, like they take a Make me a youth potion to return to Hogwarts for they would be in their early twenties to be in school again.

3. What characters are going to be used for this story?

The main canon characters should be the main ones who are in the story itself. If you are going to have like flashbacks dealing with Harry’s mum and dad, you better know their hair color and the hair color that they showed in the movie of Harry’s mum was incorrect. Her hair is a deep red, not auburn like they showed.

Be correct with your information as possible. If at all possible, re read the books for more information on the characters or do a web search on the information, do not assume that the movie was correct for it doesn't reveal everything.

4. Keep the canon characters in character!

Nothing ruins a story more often than seeing one of the main characters is out of character from what is the norm. Now it is easy to state I’m the author of this story not you, this is how I picture them being in my story. That little diversion from their normal attitude will make the story become unbelievable.

You don't have to get it spot on, but Lockhart wearing black and writing poetry about death or Lucius Malfoy, dropping his snobbish ways and joining a peace group and going around wearing flairs and handing out flowers is not exactly realistic, to put it subtly.

If a character isn't acting as they usually would in the books, you, as the author of that story must explain why and if they changed sides in the battle against Voldemort, they can still keep their personality. For example: Draco can still be an insufferable git or that Petunia suddenly starts punishing Dudley and praising Harry. That is one thing, she'll never do - she hates magic and she would rather have Harry go walk on a busy bus way and get run over by a car or a bus than treat him with love.

5. What do you mean by Original Male or Female Characters?

Older readers will groan when they read those words.

They immediately think Mary Sue or Marty Stu, the male version of the Mary Sue. Most OFC/OMC don’t have to be one, if you make sure that they have enough faults to counteract the stigma of being an original character or as some people will call them Sues.

If you want to find out if your character is a Sue or not, please take the Mary Sue litmus test for Harry Potter stories.

The authors make a character too perfect or anything. That's none of the reasons I love Snape. He's so obviously in many respects not a good guy on the surface, but he IS a good guy too. It's the contradictions and the apparent internal struggles that make the characters more interesting and more real. Sues are written too perfect and they don't have any flaws.

If you write an Original Female or Male Character and you wish to make sure that it is not a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu, you can run a Mary Sue limus test over your character and if you find out that you do have a Mary Sue, don’t be upset, just redo your character till they do not show any of the Sue traits that made you rewrite your character.

One other thing, please if they are related to a canon character, I highly suggest you state before the story even begins that this story is in an alternate universe, where it would be possible.

But if you want to have your character be romanced by a canon character like Harry Potter, Severus Snape or Draco Malfoy, that mere fact alone makes the story a Mary Sue, the same with Hermione or Ginny. But it doesn’t have to be if you make it look like they are having a romance when in fact they are not or at the end of the story, they break off their romance.

6. Will the story be slash or not?

If it is a yes, please make sure that if you are planning it to be with a professor make them of age to have sex!

If not, some people will find it very sickening and you will be flamed for it and you can count on it happening.

Lets just say that you do make the story slash and have them not of age, lets say 13 years of age, you will be flamed.

But if you make them of age, lets say 20 years of age and survived the war, then, it's okay, but some people do not like slash stories and will flame you for it.

7. Will the story be sexual in nature?

If the answer is yes, please have them be in their late teens to early twenties, if you are dealing with Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione or any members of their year.

If you have them making out when they are 14 years old, they are just too young to have sex legally! Yes, I know hormones are running wild at that age and peer pressure to have sex is high.

But seriously, did you know what you were doing and did you practice safe sex back then or did you just bed your partner without worrying about the problems of having an accidental pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease, in fanfiction you are God, but you are also responsible in a way for what your readers end up doing when they try the scene you just written about and they don’t put on a condom. You may say, I don’t have to make sure that that put one on it is only fanfiction! True, but what if you find out later, that your sex scene that you wrote was what a couple did and one of them was injured because of it, you could probably be sued for damages, but they would blame you for the injury.

Be realistic without sounding like porn.

8. Keep the names as straight as possible!

If you are writing a story in English, use the spelling of character names that are consistent with the canon English version of the books. If you are writing a story in another language, use the spelling that is used in that translation. Please don’t use the translation in an English story, or vice versa, or you will confuse your readers. Readers do not like to be confused.

Harry’s mom Lily Potter has been seen spelled Lili or Lilli. Both names are spelled wrong. Her name has always been spelled Lily, never Lili or Lilli. In the English books, her name was always spelled Lily Potter. Now in the books done in different languages it might be spelled Lili or Lilli. Please state which version of the books you are referencing in your Author’s Note so we know it is not the same version we have.

Sirius Black’s name is spelled Sirius not Serious or even Siroris as it sounds.

Dumbledore’s name is always spelled Dumbledore, not Dumbldor or Dumbledorr.

Severus Snape, the Potion Master’s name is always spelled Severus, not Servus or Serverus.

Pettigrew’s name is spelled Pettigrew, not Pettigru or Pettigruw.

Please keep Hermione’s name as Hermione, yes, I know they used ‘Mione, in the books, but is that Hermione’s real name? No, so use her real name of Hermione.

As we now know, Ginny's name is GINEVRA, not Virginia, not Gwendolyn or anything else. Yes, the Weasley’s use nicknames for their children’s names but we have really never heard Molly said Virginia, Gwendolyn or any other name but Ginny.

People must keep canon character’s names spelled correctly or you will lose your readers and will get flamed about it. Count on it!

If you do not believe me about Ginny’s name being that, and then read this, it came right from the author herself. Some may wonder what is the OFFICIAL spelling of their names of all who been mentioned by name in the current books. Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ronald "Ron", Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley, and there was Uncle Bilius, who saw a Grim and died within 24 hours, and a grandfather, who once owned the chess set Ron now uses. Now Percy is never called Percival anywhere in the books.

9. Is Harry related to Dumbledore or to Voldemort?

The answer to that question is absolutely NO! They are not related to Harry Potter whatsoever. So please do not assume that they are related as JK Rowling has stated on her webpage, that they are not related to Harry Potter.

Now I had written a story that had Dumbledore being Harry’s grandfather but when I found out that he could not be Harry’s grandfather, I promptly changed it within my story, Harry Potter and the Abuse, to where he’s a headmaster of a private school to get Harry out of the hospital.

10. Do I really need a beta reader?

If you truly want to give your readers the best story possible that is free of spelling, grammar, timeline problems, plot, canon or original character errors, then the answer is yes.

I know it sounds like wasting your time finding a beta reader or sending your story to someone and wait about a week or two to be able to post your story to your website or to a fanfiction site. I know it is a stretch to wait for someone to read and work on your story. But if you are like me, you are already working on another story or maybe even three or five stories.

They are also good at helping you get your story restarted if you get stalled. I know my betas helped me get restarted with one of my story when the story got stalled.

11. Do I really have to have the correct spelling in my story?

Yes, unless you want flames or pick up a dictionary to find the correct word if it is not found on your spellchecker. Usually, your beta reader will correct those spelling errors but to help her or him out, please find the proper spelling for that word.

And if someone finds a misspelled word after you had it beta read and you double checked the story, don't get upset, go in and fix it.

12. How do I handle flames?

Any good story is bound to get some flames; what I suggest is ignore the flamers. Do not let them get you angry.

All they want to make you feel rotten. Like most bullies on the playground, they want to feel better than you and so they bully you but just like a schoolyard bully, if you have the correct information in your story and you can back it up with proof, they will usually back down from flaming you.

Everything -- every word -- in your story is there for a reason. You will have to be prepared to defend your story, to back up your view of the characters with examples from the book, and be proud of your work. Keep your head up high and don’t let the flamers get you down, they’re not worth it.

13. Research your information on your story; do not rely on what you read in other stories. Go to the source like the books and read them or go to your favorite search engines and search for the information!

Some new authors’ out there on the net, had only seen the movies and they assume they know what is correct from what they saw in the movie. There is no problem with that as it brought more fans to the fandom, but you will also need to read the books as they are great too and hold much more information.

As a reviewer of their stories, be gentle with them and nudge them to a Harry Potter site that you consider to be the best with the information like the Harry Potter Lexicon. That site out there is the best and it is updated quite a few times or send them to JK Rowling’s website for the information right from the author herself.

There are many sites out there that can give you more information about the characters from the books and will help you.

All you really have to do is research your information before you put them into your story. I have some links that will aid you in your search for the CORRECT information dealing with writing a Harry Potter story.

Harry Potter Lexicon. This has the most information gathered from all the books that has been written by JK Rowling to date.

The Official Harry Potter site. This has many links on it. But most of it does have movie information, not solely devoted to the books.

JK Rowling’s Official website. This is the Official website of JK Rowling. You might want to bookmark it for she will post what is happening in her writing of book six and other surprises.

Harry Potter’s Scholastic page. This is another good link, has a pronunciation guide for how to pronounce characters’ names. This also has a nice quiz on it.

Depending on which search engines you use, you should find many sites dealing with Harry Potter books, fanfiction, photos, movies and rumors about the future books. Most of them are good and some are not that good.

The following search engines are my favorites that I use the most.

Webcrawler search engine.

Google search engine.

Alta Vista search engine.

Also, join some e-mail groups about Harry Potter or any character that you like from the books. There are many e-mail groups out there on yahoo groups. I will not suggest which ones you should join, but you should join at least two beta groups. Harry Potter search results.

14. I have a story plot idea and I want to use it.

Let’s say you have written a romance story for Snape. I have written a romance story for Snape too. But making him fall instantly, like say at first sight, in love with your female character is not a good story; it makes the female character be a Mary Sue or a Canon Sue if it happens to be like say Hermione in her sixth year at Hogwarts. I have three words for you - - ALTER THE IDEA!

I know you probably think oh this is a great story plot and find that two hundred kids and adults have done the same story plot maybe changed who was in the story but the same plot nonetheless.

Look to the books and look for possible plots for stories there.

There are unwritten plots in the books right now.

EX: How does Dudley feel when Harry gets the Hogwarts letters? Is he mad or happy? What is his emotion about it?

What about Petunia when she watched Lily get her letter and go off to Hogwarts? What did she feel? What did she tell Vernon after she married him about her sister?

Things like that make good stories and no one uses them!

15. Implausibility of things happening, that isn’t possible.

I have read stories where they have Ginny Weasley falling in love with Draco.

Most stories are well written, but Draco’s family hates muggles or mudblood and people who like them. Lucius would probably kill Ginny just to get her out of his son’s life, than accept her as his son’s girlfriend.

The Malfoys’ are racists, they have prejudices that would making them reform very hard to do. Many writers have him just fall in love with someone and totally reform - - totally impossible. Can never happen unless JK Rowling says it can happen in one of the two books to come.

Also, one more thing to remember, Lucius Malfoy and the Potters did not go to Hogwarts at the same time. They were not in the same year. Lucius is much older than Sirius and Remus; he is about 41 years old during that book. He might have possibly been at Hogwarts when Lily and James were first or second years, but they were not in the same grade. James' enemy was Severus, not Lucius. Lucius and Severus were not bosom buddies by the look of it, either.

16. Do not be afraid to admit that you are wrong.

As fanfiction authors, we have the right to tremendous leeway for interpretation. So what if you write St. Mungo's as a dark and dreary forgotten ruined castle, and Rowling comes back in Book Five and shows you a St. Mungo's totally different than what you had envisioned? That’s no problem! You can fix it!

Don't be afraid to ascertain that the "Room of Requirement" was actually created by Salazar Slytherin to train a secret society of dark wizards. Don't be afraid to say that the Hufflepuff Common Room looks something like a public park.

Unlike stories that are published and make money, fanfiction shall be judged only by the fans reading it, and the author herself. And unlike published books, our work is not set in stone. You can change it.

If you're afraid to express your unique perspectives, because they may not fall in line with what Rowling might envision, or prove to be wrong later in the series, then your story will unfortunately fall into the 'just another HP fanfic' pile and people will just skip over your story to read another story.

17. What is a disclaimer?

A disclaimer is what you give to your reader what your story that they are about to read what it is about. Most new authors will not put anything up beyond a small statement: I don't own any of the characters, they belong to their owners.

Well, that's okay but what is the story about, who is in it, what rating is it, and other things within the story that may need to be stated before hand.

To give your readers nothing but a small statement about your story is not enough. You need to give them a disclaimer, in a way state what the story is about.

It is a good way to put the information about the story itself there before the reader starts to read the story and not in the story itself where it will distract the reader and turn them off from your story.

I have a disclaimer that I use all the time, this is the format that I have it in.

Title: the title of the story.

Author: Who wrote this story.

Summary: says it all.

Rating: says it all.

Pairing(s): if there is any.

Feedback: desired.

Characters: Characters that are seen in this story from the book or movie. Add any new characters name here.

Notes: This is where you put any author notes about where the story idea came from or if the characters are going to be out of character in this story.

Disclaimer: This is where you state that you do not own or making any money off of this story. Stuff like that.

* Your story goes here. *

* I'll update this story as soon as possible.* or *Thank you for reading this story.*

By the way, in the Feedback part of the disclaimer is posted is the only one, I will leave as is. People will leave reviews or maybe not. It really depends on if they want to review the story.

There are quite many good and bad fanfiction stories out there. Take lessons from them all to find your own style and perspective, and go with it.

You will find that you will enjoy writing the stories and you will find that maybe staying in canon form is better or maybe even drifting off into an alternate universe once in a while is good too.

I tend to bend both ways. I like doing the ‘What if’ scenarios on some of the books. Being able to bend either way is good as you can have write about stories that seem to pop into your head or you get a story idea from a friend.

Just don’t be scared to write a Harry Potter story, whether or not it is a canon story or an alternate universe story.

You will not be disappointed and if you write to your best ability and follow some of the suggestions I put within this article, your readers will not be disappointed either as they will have a story that they will recommend to others to read.

This concludes my article, happy writing!