JK Rowling: plagiarist?

[nikebee]

Surprised no-one's posted this yet:

Very good

Stolen and forward to my mate that loves Star Wars and loaves Harry Potter

 

[simisker]

[...] Raf was always a very shrewd & aware pedestrian from that day on, and always watched his step. [...]

*cough* rebirth *cough*

 

[semi-pro waster]

Reaching a fork in the tunnels, the sound now further behind him than it was previously, he tossed the single copper coin in his possession and noted the result by the poor light streaming down from above.

I'm slightly curious, why does Raf toss the coin and what result was he looking for?

1. Overcoming the Monster (and the Thrilling Escape from Death) - Doesn't apply because there wasn't a monster or deadly threat, except perhaps in his imagination

This would seem the most logical choice from the 7, metaphorical monsters can be as much of an issue in stories as the 'real' ones.

However it was just intended as a bit of a throwaway comment, I find the theory interesting but I haven't thought about it enough to state that it is correct, it is always possible that there are stories that will be outwith the categories named but from the little I do know of it they seem to be rather limited.

//edit perhaps simisker is right in his analysis, it certainly seems to fit as well.

 

[Deadly Ferret]

*cough* rebirth *cough*

No. A small change in a person's character doesn't constitute the use of such a powerful descriptor.

For argument's sake though, let's pretend I've removed the sentence you quoted. Now which of the seven would you use?

I'm slightly curious, why does Raf toss the coin and what result was he looking for?

To decide whether to go left or right.

 

[Bill Door]

4. Voyage & Return - He didn't set off on a voyage (a voyage is a journey that one decides to make) he just fell down a hole and found his way back to the streets

Falling down a magical hole sounds a lot like Alice in Wonderland to me, seeing as that was given as an example of a voyage story I don't think that all voyages can be considered as planned.

 

[daz]

Sorry, it was a while since I'd heard of it so the number was slightly wrong, the theory is there are 7 basic plots (not 5) and everything is a form of variation on them. Christopher Booker writes of the theory in his book from 2004 but I'm fairly sure I'd heard of it long before then.

1. Overcoming the Monster (and the Thrilling Escape from Death) e.g. Beowulf, War of the Worlds, Star Wars: A New Hope
2. Rags to Riches e.g. Cinderella, Great Expectations
3. The Quest e.g. The Odyssey, Watership Down
4. Voyage & Return e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Gone With the Wind
5. Comedy e.g. some Shakespeare, Jane Austen
6. Tragedy e.g. Macbeth, Anna Karenina
7. Rebirth e.g. Sleeping Beauty, A Christmas Carol

100 Years of Solitude doesn't fit into any of those.

 

[Deadly Ferret]

Falling down a magical hole sounds a lot like Alice in Wonderland to me, seeing as that was given as an example of a voyage story I don't think that all voyages can be considered as planned.

In order to qualify as a voyage, it must be a long journey (falling down a hole leading to the sewers beneath the street cannot be considered long) to a distant place (thirty feet down doesn't count as distant).

It's nothing like Alice in Wonderland.

 

[platypus]

Deadly Ferret, whilst I'm sure we all have countless questions regarding the sequels; more importantly - when is the film going to be made, and how much did you get for the rights?

 

[Bill Door]

In order to qualify as a voyage, it must be a long journey (falling down a hole leading to the sewers beneath the street cannot be considered long) to a distant place (thirty feet down doesn't count as distant).

In the context of your story the journey was long. It lasted for 3 out of 4 paragraphs, in each of which there is at least one reference to him travelling by foot.

 

[semi-pro waster]

100 Years of Solitude doesn't fit into any of those.

I've never read the book and an Amazon/Wikipedia plot synopsis is hardly likely to do the book justice, however from what information is there it seems to incorporate elements from 2., 4., 5., almost certainly 6. and possibly 7., if you take the rebirth of the characters in the traits passed on from the first generation.

As I've said though I haven't read the book and therefore I'm not in a great position to comment on it, that is just what it looks like on the first glance and could have course be entirely wrong.

 

[simisker]

No. A small change in a person's character doesn't constitute the use of such a powerful descriptor [...]

'Power' doesn't come into it. A quest can be a transcontinental dragonslaying or the purchase of a rissole from the local chippy. The relating of both is still a story. Scrooge was a miserly, miserable bugger who went on to become less so; the journey was fantastic, but the difference between origin and destination is relatively trivial. Maybe not proportional to the grandiose-sounding [and no doubt English-lesson-friendly] 'rebirth', but certainly fitting sufficiently within the archetype without needing to delve into the wordrobe for the shoehorn.

[...] For argument's sake though, let's pretend I've removed the sentence you quoted. Now which of the seven would you use?

The one that Booker/semi-pro labelled "Voyage and return"; given that your protagonist went somewhere and came back again. Let's not start quibbling over semantics... oh, you already have:

In order to qualify as a voyage, it must be a long journey (falling down a hole leading to the sewers beneath the street cannot be considered long) to a distant place (thirty feet down doesn't count as distant)

Tell you what: you look up the definition of 'voyage', I'll look up the definition of 'pedant'

 

[JBod]

I wouldn't say Harry, nor Potter, are particularly unusual names. Nor would I say that using names from somewhere else is plagiarism.

You come up with a fantasy story that has no parts that could be matched to any other fantasy story and I'll show you that it is no longer fantasy

There is always a quest, there is always a baddy, there is usually a youngster that the audience grows old with, there is always a good guy, there is always a magic thingy that they have... If you wish to use the plagiarism line then look no further than the Belgariad. Orphan, wizard/sorcerer that doesn't know it at first, lives with their aunt as a child, has the biggest baddie ever to face that no-one else could possibly face, has to face them on their own in the end, has an old man as a guardian, has a magical weapon...

I posted that on the BBC site many years ago, it got removed tho

However there is a better comparison. Ursula K. Le Guin Earthsea is very similar too. Kid, birth mark, magic school etc...