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Classic Magical School Drama all F&$#%d Up

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Lanodantheon:
To sum up: I'm working on a story that involves a young man who discovers he is a magic user. Like so many of these stories, he is forced to go to a magic school of sorts. This story is older than dirt and has a dozen variations that are all ignored because of The Other Harry. It also doesn't help that this story actually started as a premise (Which it has since gone wayyyy beyond) for NaNoWriMonth, "What if Dresden went to Hogwarts?" So, because of that, there is no way I'm going to be able to write this without being compared to or referencing The Other Harry.

Rather than try to out do these centuries of stories and try to be original, marvelous and stupendous(Only to be compared to The Other Harry), I'd much rather take all the expectations and tropes of the genre, put them in a Wizard Boy in dark glasses and beat the crap out of them with a good old-fashioned American Baseball Bat, which my MC actually happens to use as a Wizard's Staff.

Or if you wish for a more technical, Pedagogical definition: I'm trying to deconstruct the Genre of the Blingsroman, the Education coming of age story. They are normally written for children and set in a world that has inherent morality handed to the protagonist on a silver platter that although is dark, especially towards the end, it is at the end of the day cutesy and unsatisfying in many regards because it lacks important issues that need to be addressed. Every lost opportunity, pet peeve and psychotic hatred about these Magical School dramas are to be satisfied in this story. Blingsromans are normally about a boy/girl that finds his place in the world and the answers to all life's problems in the confines of a school beyond every other. My story is about a fish out of water, a foreigner in a strange land with only The Hitchhiker's Guides to Europe and the Galaxy to guide him.

After mentally examining all the school dramas I watched/read in books, comics, live-action film and anime, I realized they were all connected when I came to the conclusion that The Goblet of Fire is a Tournament Arc..... So, I have more than just the Harrys and Buffy to draw on.

I wrote a number of pages of notes on how to take the classic tropes, formulae and cliches shared by these stories and how I wanted to stand them on their head. Now those notes are lost to time when my apartment ate one of my notebooks. It could take me...20 minutes to rewrite the notes I lost, but I thought instead the information lost could use a few extra sets of brains.

That being said, I'm not looking for plot lines, I've got those including one big one. My notes were a collection of 3 things:

1. The Classic scenes stood on ear

My proof-of-concept scene for what I was thinking of in this story for the deconstruction was a classic from  HP and The Philosopher's Stone: Harry is eating his House-Elf provided dinner in the dining hall when suddenly a ghost pops out of the table. Everyone in the hall reacts playfully and even Harry reacts playfully when Nicholas shows how he's Nearly-Headless.
In my story if that happened to my MC, several things would be different. Getting food served to you is very British, where is the Cafeteria? Assuming the school is even partially British,(and food is served in some cases) MC's a fish out of water so he will eat with his hands while every Briton at his table uses a Knife and Fork. When the Ghost does appear, he would stop eating and turn white for a moment til someone jostled him back to reality at which point he would exclaim, "AHHHHH! What the F&*$ is that and What F&*$ happened to that guy's Head!?"

Also, in normal School Dramas Nerds and bookworms are at the bottom of the social heap. However, in a magic school people heavy into books would be at odds against with heavy natural talent. I'm not sure how to handle this yet though.

2. Pet Peeves/Psychotic Hatreds:

Every person has things they don't like, even about books they love. I am no different. There are things that rub me the wrong way and consequently lead to classic moments stood on ear. Here are a few examples:

Harrys Dresden and Potter are both portrayed as being "normal" people in over their heads, but neither of them is truly "Normal". Come to think of it, Normal is a bad term. Mundane is better, as in blending into the masses easily. You can argue about how mundane both them are, but the fact of the matter is that because Black Magic impacted both of their lives, both Harrys grew up as orphans. My MC lived in the Stereotypical Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, little white picket fence up until the day his magic came at age 17. The orphaned MC is a strong character trait and very common, but not here. HP also never has to worry about a very common problem: Tuition, Room and Board. My MC only has what he himself owns, no money...

Also, I never liked the idea of the Houses + Sorting Hat. Not only are they color coded for convenience, the Houses are decided on by osmosis. I don't believe in that, I'd refuse to be sorted(Which would make a good plotline). But, I do believe in Greeks(Which I think is better). If the dormitories were instead Fraternities, Sororities and whatever the co-ed version is, you have different issues.

3. Where no one else can go:

My story isn't meant for children, but whomever will read it. Because of that, I don't want to deal with sanitizing school. I want a story that deals with stuff that other Blingsroman never would. You know, minor issues like Drugs, Alcohol, Teen Sex, Pregnancy, Stalking, Cheating rings, Gangs and School Shootings. All of that stuff is ripe for magical twists.

As point of reference, the first suggestion to me on this topic by a friend was "Date Rape Charm!". Think about that and that magic would make contraception stupidly easy for a minute....

But all three of these categories are incomplete because there are countless things I've missed since everyone's school experience is different. I'd like to hear other people's take on this.

Roaram:
Well, I really agree you will never get away from the other harry, ever. might as well make a high school story and hope you get away from sixteen candles....

but I like the idea. I think a story set in school is something most of us can touch base with. even the rough patches. I know you said you got the plot, but I just gotta beg you please no world ending crap. check out the movie "brick", a very well done detective nour flick set in a high school. I'm just saying I would never pick up a book about a semi-harry fighting lord volder-not. I would read a story about someone stopping the head of theta house from magic-roofying the local mundy girls......

which brings me to the everyday situations from high school. play with the book worm angle. every group of people always breaks itself into subgroups, class systems, cool kids and not.
and plenty of these kids don't want to be just their class. I mean, I knew plenty of girls who wanted plastic surgery, or had other problems having to do with self image. are glamour spells a disorder? there was a steroid ring busted up at my school. is there a spell for that? does everyone know that so and so has a glock wand in their locker?

and what does bullying look like when an adolescent knowitall can wipe the floor with a football team?

and how does morality get mussed when your a teenager with magic powers? I mean, how easy is theft when you can make yourself invisible? do mundy people matter? and what can a teacher do against a drive by hexing? casuse the local pd isn't gonna be much use.

basically my suggestion is just look at school life, and ask what would happen if magic got invvolved.

and your characters are all gonna have to ask themselves when do they run for help, and when do they handle it themselves, just like the rest of us. 

(by the way, most of my teachers were bored tired and underpaid, and didn't much care about kids unless they were gonna get nailed, how different is your world?)
 

Lanodantheon:
Rest assured, no "End of The World as We Know it" malarkey from me. The downfall of that plot is that after you do it, there is no where for the conflict or stakes to go from there. And in a series, once you do it it becomes rinse, repeat.


--- Quote from: Roaram
link=topic=11661.msg500416#msg500416 date=1239664725 ---Well, I really agree you will never get away from the other harry, ever. might as well make a high school story and hope you get away from sixteen candles....

basically my suggestion is just look at school life, and ask what would happen if magic got involved.
 

--- End quote ---

Even being a Film major, I've never seen 16 Candles and don't intend to. Your suggestion are pretty much what I'm talking about.


--- Quote from: Roaram on April 13, 2009, 11:18:45 PM ---
(by the way, most of my teachers were bored tired and underpaid, and didn't much care about kids unless they were gonna get nailed, how different is your world?)
 

--- End quote ---

It isn't different at all. The problems are exactly the same.


The arc-plot I have been toying with is that mid-way into the term, my MC discovers that 2 of his fellow students have been murdered. The Authorities have deduced that a student had to have done this and that the murderer is still at the school. The students are from rival Magical Nations, so news of their deaths are kept secret from the student body so they don't spark an international incident and/or cause the murderer to rabbit. The MC gets involved when he notices the body doubles the authorities use and the location of the bodies (not necessarily in that order). He is not tasked with solving the entire case himself nor does he(That is overdone and besides the MC isn't that good), The authorities can't question students without raising suspicion so they recruit the MC to find out more about what happened in exchange for what the MC really needs, Tuition.

Apocrypha:

--- Quote from: Roaram on April 13, 2009, 11:18:45 PM ---(by the way, most of my teachers were bored tired and underpaid, and didn't much care about kids unless they were gonna get nailed, how different is your world?)
--- End quote ---

An old saying my father used to use was "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach".  So wizarding teachers aren't possibly the top of their field and had their own dreams squashed and more than likely jealous and willing the sabotage the work of a student that shows any extreme promise.

Lanodantheon:

--- Quote from: Twiggen on April 14, 2009, 07:47:04 AM ---An old saying my father used to use was "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach".  So wizarding teachers aren't possibly the top of their field and had their own dreams squashed and more than likely jealous and willing the sabotage the work of a student that shows any extreme promise.

--- End quote ---

I know that quote too. I think it's Malarkey.

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