Are Magic Wands too closely associated with HP now?

[RightersBlock]

Do you think magic wands have become too strongly associated with the Harry Potter series. I was wanting to do a series (either a book or a comic) with fairies that used magic wands (fairy wands) but I was thinking that people would just think of Harry Potter. I'm also trying to think of alternatives to wands even though I like wands the most (visually).

 

[Ursa major]

As one of the older Brits here, I associate wands with Sooty and Sweep.

 

[Juliana]

Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles series uses Egyptian wands shaped like boomerangs. Weird but cool. I don't see that wands are out of the picture just because of HP. Just make sure you give them enough of a twist of your own.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

even though I like wands the most (visually).

Willow (Film). Wand looks just like a stick.
No, it's all depending on the rest of the story.
The ones in HP films look like parts pinched from an organ or a scroll!
Some people STILL believe in them. See uses of Rowan/Mountain ash and there is a specific twisted dwarf hazel that has branches like the wand used in Willow.
Just don't have J.K. Rowling's Wand Lore.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Certainly not to me. (I've not read or seen HP.)

When I think of wands, I think of athames, Wiccan and New Age wands, Quartz Crystal points and so on.

Think of it this way; when you think of elves do you think of aloof swishing long haired humanoids with superiority complexes, or midgets who come and make shoes for kindly, but broke, cobblers?

pH

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree with those who say that it all depends on how you use wands in your story. If they don't look or act exactly like the wands in Harry Potter, and characters don't buy them in a store, then I see no reason why they would be too closely associated with HP. There have been plenty of wands in fantasy before and since. And Rowling's books are so crowded with magic, she used things from so many different sources—from mythology, magical traditions, and other books (accidentally or intentionally)—the field would be impoverished if all the things she had borrowed were now considered out of bounds.

Phyrebrat, I actually own one of those New Age wands with quartz crystal points. It's quite beautiful (and of course predates Harry Potter by many years).

 

[Phyrebrat]

I should take a photo of my quartz crystal points and laser wands for you, Teresa. I agree, those New Age wands are (can be) so beautiful. They have some lovely ones in Glastonbury village.

pH

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

They have some lovely ones in Glastonbury village.

I imagine they would! I don't even know where I could buy such a thing now.

 

[RightersBlock]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah my wands can't be bought in the shop, they are just twigs broken off of magical trees, but they do respond to verbal spells (spells will either be spoken in plain English or in some fancy language). They can only be used by good people, and will have no affect if a bad person tries to use it. That's the general idea.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Then they don't sound like anything that readers will associate with Harry Potter.

As writers we all worry about these things. We wonder if our ideas are original enough, whether some small chance resemblance to something somebody else has written will be seen as copying. I remember feeling sick to my stomach when I found out that a minor character in a book I was reading had the same name as the main character in mine. The characters were so different and their situations were so different, there was no way that anyone would think I was trying to emulate that other writer by giving my character that name, and I knew that with the logical part of my mind, but the illogic part was telling me something very different.

I wasn't going to change her name though, so eventually I had to accept that I was being illogical.

So we all worry about these things, but most of the time needlessly.

 

[jastius]

what about a glave? same idea only bigger and has a bunch of pretty junk on it and has a mystic glow.. smoke excetera.. you dont wave it so much as lift it.. harry potter wands weren't headed. if you put heads on them it looks totally different..

 

[Denise Tanaka]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah my wands can't be bought in the shop, they are just twigs broken off of magical trees, but they do respond to verbal spells (spells will either be spoken in plain English or in some fancy language). They can only be used by good people, and will have no affect if a bad person tries to use it. That's the general idea.

I agree with Teresa, your wand lore is quite different from the Harry Potter universe. Wands have been around for a long, long time. Go forth with courage!

 

[Jason Burrell]

As long as you make it your own, your readers will go along with you. Just discuss the wands in a very matter-of-fact way, and let the details of how they work dribble out slowly. This allows you to build your own vision of their mechanics while simultaeously wresting any preformed ideas from your readers' minds gently.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I associate wands with fairy godmothers and pantos. TBH the last thing I would think would be HP.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Witches Abroad
Stuck on Pumpkins.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I associate wands with fairy godmothers and pantos. TBH the last thing I would think would be HP.

That's a good point. When I think of magic wands the first image that came to my mind was Gilda in the film Wizard of Oz (Which is essentially what a panto fairy godmother looks like...). But then I'm just not a harrypotterfanatic. I couldn't work out why sometimes they used wands and sometimes they didn't, to cast spells, or at least it looked that that to me. Where wands for 'starter' witches and wizards before they became more powerful?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

wands for 'starter' witches and wizards before they became more powerful?

One problem with HP as fantasy is there isn't any coherency or internal logic (I hesitate to write system of magic as that sounds too rpg/gamer/science). J.K. Rowlings seems to add and change elements of the fantasy as she writes simply to solve plot-holes or add excitement. It's quite good school story / kids growing up / Adventure - Mystery with over arching plot. It's poor fantasy with essentially every trope she ever met thrown at it.

So ignore EVERY fantasy aspect of HP. It wouldn't stop with wands.

 

[Wanderlog]

Do you think magic wands have become too strongly associated with the Harry Potter series.

Can you see any difference between a magic wand at a TV remote control? You wave them in the air, and they both do something you equally don't understand.

Seriously, I can see no associations between Harry Potter series and magic wands.

One problem with HP as fantasy is there isn't any coherency or internal logic

It started as a tale for kids and ended like a novel for adults. A good example of what wrong initial suggestions can do to a good series. The same happened to 'Hobbit' by Tolkien. Fortunately, 'Lord of the Rings' was written much later.

However, I should say that there is no logic in ANY system of magic. The only difference is how deep you have to dig to discover an internal inconsistence.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Can you see any difference between a magic wand at a TV remote control?

Yes, as I've designed remote controls that work. I can't get my wand to do anything except make potatoes. Also Wands don't use batteries. I think maybe some are black to absorb solar energy?

 

[Wanderlog]

Yes, as I've designed remote controls that work.

No, no, no. I didn't address any professional black magicians like you. I addressed the topic starter who is obviously a layman like me.

I think maybe some are black to absorb solar energy?

No, they absorb mana. You know, that invisible stuff any self-respecting wizard can store inside his body. A wand has only a small mana buffer for performing a single task, then it should be recharged.