nghisus
Nautical Twilight
[M0:0]It takes two to tango but only one to piano.
Posts: 254
|
Post by nghisus on Feb 16, 2008 20:51:02 GMT -5
www.geocities.com/versetrue/rowling.htmRead that write there and tell me what you think? I think Gaiman is one of hell of an author, I've read all of his books. Gonna get started on the comics eventually. I did not know he had made a similar character in one of his series.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liss on Feb 17, 2008 5:21:06 GMT -5
wellll....I think it's pretty clear to everyone that Rowling's Potterverse isn't necessarily the most new and inventive story  a lot of the monsters are pretty well-known and the story itself (young boy discovers his hero-qualities and goes to fight evil) is far from being new as well. I wouldn't call it a rip-off though. as for the Gaiman books: I've read (some parts of) his "The Books of Magic" series, and while there are indeed some similarities between Tim Hunter and Harry Potter and both stories circle around young wizards, the atmosphere is really very different in my opinion. I read Gaiman's story before I read Rowlings and I must say that while I was reading the Potter books I wasn't automatically reminded of Gaiman's Hunter (at least not more than I was reminded of other stories). |
|
|
|
Post by mermaid on Feb 17, 2008 12:17:04 GMT -5
JK Rowling is a genius. She wrote 7 books and made ridicuous amounts of money without having a single original thought.  I am a huge fan of childrens literature and from the very beginning the plaguerism with Potter was blooming obvious. I couldnt believe people were comparing her with Roald Dahl!!! For me the most glaring slap me in the face comparison was The Worst Witch. The charactors are in some cases like for like just turned from female to male - Miss Hardbroom = Snape, Ethel Hallow = Malfoy, Miss Cackle = Dumbledore, Maud = Ron/Hermione. Also nearly all Rowlings creatures are from mythology. Hardly any are actually made up. Whats more the Potter books are not well written and I dont believe she wrote 5 or 6 herself - hence the delays,the shoddy uneven writing and the need to kill off a charactor at the end of every book just to make it exciting. However she does get kids excited about reading and thats always a good thing I guess. Im just glad the books are done with so we dont have to suffer any more who dies this time hype. |
|
|
|
Post by KristeeBee on Feb 17, 2008 20:47:05 GMT -5
I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and the Potter books, but I do agree that BOTH authors have definitely had some inspiration from other stories that came before and inserted it into their work. But I think that it is difficult to not let your influences creep into your work. My dad thinks that EVERY fantasy novel that comes out is a rip-off of Lord of the Rings, so....
|
|
|
|
Post by sinsuality on Feb 18, 2008 11:32:21 GMT -5
JK Rowling is a genius. She wrote 7 books and made ridicuous amounts of money without having a single original thought. I am a huge fan of childrens literature and from the very beginning the plaguerism with Potter was blooming obvious. I couldnt believe people were comparing her with Roald Dahl!!! For me the most glaring slap me in the face comparison was The Worst Witch. The charactors are in some cases like for like just turned from female to male - Miss Hardbroom = Snape, Ethel Hallow = Malfoy, Miss Cackle = Dumbledore, Maud = Ron/Hermione. Also nearly all Rowlings creatures are from mythology. Hardly any are actually made up. Whats more the Potter books are not well written and I dont believe she wrote 5 or 6 herself - hence the delays,the shoddy uneven writing and the need to kill off a charactor at the end of every book just to make it exciting. However she does get kids excited about reading and thats always a good thing I guess. Im just glad the books are done with so we dont have to suffer any more who dies this time hype. I completely agree with you on the worst witch part. The comparisons are so obvious but are just contained in a different era of literature. Rowlings writing is far from outstanding and none of the ideas are completely original. With Harry Potter it was a case of doing the right thing at the right time. |
|
|
|
Post by mermaid on Feb 18, 2008 12:20:48 GMT -5
[quote author=sinsuality board=DecipherTheMessage thread=1203213062 post=1203352341e.[/quote]
I completely agree with you on the worst witch part. The comparisons are so obvious but are just contained in a different era of literature. Rowlings writing is far from outstanding and none of the ideas are completely original. With Harry Potter it was a case of doing the right thing at the right time.[/quote]
Said far more eloquently than my rant ;D
To be fair Tori and Neil steal shamelessly from each other all the time. But its an agreement between them. and obviously every author takes inspiration from places.
But Rowling just combined all her favourite books in one. Very clever really. But not original and not worth all the acclaim.
I would be interested to read any other stories she comes up with but I doubt she will write any more.
|
|
|
|
Post by Saar°berry on Feb 21, 2008 5:09:32 GMT -5
I absolutely HATED and despised Rowling right from the start, as it was plain obvious what she was doing. I refuse to read or buy any of her crap. I always feel like I'm the only one in this bloody universe who hates 'Harry Potter'. ;D
|
|
nauticalnun
Nautical Twilight
The grapefruit is winning
[M0:27]Scarlet's Walk Through the Violets
Posts: 331
|
Post by nauticalnun on Feb 21, 2008 15:54:32 GMT -5
I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and the Potter books, but I do agree that BOTH authors have definitely had some inspiration from other stories that came before and inserted it into their work. But I think that it is difficult to not let your influences creep into your work. My dad thinks that EVERY fantasy novel that comes out is a rip-off of Lord of the Rings, so.... Agreed. Personally , I love Rowling, but I cannot get into Gaiman at all (every time I try to start...instant boredom). Maybe one of his works will click for me someday. |
|
nghisus
Nautical Twilight
[M0:0]It takes two to tango but only one to piano.
Posts: 254
|
Post by nghisus on Feb 24, 2008 1:19:13 GMT -5
As much as one might despise Rowling at least she got everybody to read something. I know, she got insanely rich and it wasn't like she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart. But people read, and it even pissed off some conservative Christian groups so it can't be a total loss right?
|
|
|
|
Post by ploopy on Feb 24, 2008 4:31:50 GMT -5
I love Rowling. I want to meet her and give her a huge huge hug for writing Harry Potter.
Everyone steals from everyone. EVERYONE. Even Tori has stolen lyrics/ideas COUNTLESS times. The trick is to get away with it, and make it your own, and JK sure did.
Bless her! I hope she's so incredibly happy.
|
|
|
|
Post by littlecricket on Feb 24, 2008 16:14:35 GMT -5
Bah. I actually tried jumping on the HP bandwagon and read the first four books. Didn't think they were particularly well-written, and what the heck was so special about Harry anyway? He was "the boy who lived" (ooh, no one's ever lived before, that's quite an accomplishment) and he had a sweet inheritance. Basically a rich kid in disguise who was mistreated (inexplicably) and got back at his adoptive family only through his newfound and totally imaginary powers. I gave it an honest try, but I just didn't see what all the hype was, so after the fourth book I put it down and didn't give it a second thought. I realized I made the right decision when one of my friends (who doesn't read much or get out much) told me that one of her favorite lines in one of the books (or maybe it was one of the movies) was "not my daughter, you bitch!" (spoken by mama Weasley in reference to some evil character going after her daughter Ginny). She was soooo excited about that line. lol Like no one would ever think of saying that; it's so profoundly moving. ~Lisa |
|
|
|
Post by littlecricket on Feb 24, 2008 17:05:04 GMT -5
But then again, lots of those people only ever seem interested in the next Potter book and nothing else, which means it's debatable if they've done as much to get people reading as the media like to portray. Exactly. Many of the same people reading HP are also reading The Secret and anything else Oprah recommends...but not much of anything else. There are a lot of book lovers who also read Harry Potter, but they'd be reading something regardless. ~Lisa |
|
|
|
Post by Saar°berry on Feb 24, 2008 19:11:30 GMT -5
 I guess Franklin could help you with the brain explosion...  ;D |
|
nghisus
Nautical Twilight
[M0:0]It takes two to tango but only one to piano.
Posts: 254
|
Post by nghisus on Feb 25, 2008 13:40:36 GMT -5
Haha, yeah, what a great message Harry Potter sends right?
If your life sucks hang in there! You have a huge inheritance and eventually magic will solve all of your problems!
I'm not really sure what the mass appeal has been other than the fact that the one Asian character is going get boinked by some pale British kid. Why don't they write it the other way around for once?
|
|
|
|
Post by ploopy on Jun 11, 2008 7:52:35 GMT -5
If your life sucks hang in there! You have a huge inheritance and eventually magic will solve all of your problems! ? Way to dumb it down. It's a children's book, and beyond everything you might think is wrong with it, it conveys a message of hope and loyalty and friendship. I get upset when people bash Rowling just because she happened to write an incredibly succesfull series of stories. What defines a good writer, anyway? I've read so many replies in here saying JK's skills are pretty much abysmal, and that just blows my mind. Her style is so open and accessible and it's a CHILDREN'S BOOK for god's sake. Nothing wrong with her writing. I love LOTR, but fucking hell do I prefer JK's writing style to JRR. And Lisa - as for "Not my daughter, bitch" - I loved it too. And I get out all the time, and I read multiple books a month. If you have a bond with Molly Weasly (which you do if you read/love all the books), you cheer when she says this. Taken out of context, most lines of most books are absolutely ridiculous. /gets off soapbox. |
|
