: Re: Will people always compare a magic school idea to Harry Potter? My story includes a magic school wherein students aged 12 learn magic. The sorting Is based on abilities, Meaning that if a student

@Angela458

There may come a time when people no longer think "Harry Potter" when they see a magical school story. But this probably isn't helpful to you.
Over a hundred years ago, Oliver Wendel Holmes Sr., poet, lecturer, essayist, doctor (and eventually the father of the famous supreme court justice) wrote a book called "Elsie Venner", with the titular character having a dangerous, snakelike personality because her mother had been bitten by a rattlesnake while pregnant with her. This conceit was introduced as a way to discuss original sin, but there's something very evocative about the idea of someone gaining the attributes of an animal from a "magic" bite. This was once a well-known book.
I'll give about fifty-fifty odds that you already thought of Spiderman. Now everyone knows about Spiderman, and basically no one has heard of Elsie Venner.
Do you want Magical School stories to not be compared to Harry Potter anymore? Just write the "Spiderman" of the magical school genre, and if people haven't already forgotten Elsie Venner, er, Harry Potter, they just might. Or rather, more likely, someone else will write "Clavius Melodram Finds His Way", or whatever, and you'll go from your stories being compared to Harry Potter to being compared to Clavius Melodram.

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