Hey everybody,
I'm Shezza88, a writer on FF.Net. My stories include The Future Remapped, Harry Potter Ancardia, Harry Potter and the Stargate, Harry Potter and the Revelations and several more. In case it hasn't became apparent to people, I have a tendency to leave stories incomplete..........
Mainly because I write from the top of my head and I can get started well, but always and I mean, always, lose focus and concentration.

So here's what I'm asking.
I'm looking for a few people, preferbely authors, to help me plan out a totally new and interesting (ORIGINALITY IS ESSENTIAL) story. I want a plan that I can come and look to...basically, I want help making a plot and filling in the details. Then I can do what I do best, write...

If you're willing, please respond to the post.

Sincerely,
Shezza88

 

Well, since I was the one that suggested that in one of my posts here, it's only fair for me to step out now and face the music

I'm not much of a team player, meaning I prefer to do everything on my own. But I do have some plots boiling in my head that will probably never get written. I beleive I wrote some short summaries of them in my introduction on DLP here: http://forums.darklordpotter.net/viewtopic.php?t=980.

So check that thread and if there's anything you like, let me know. If not, I'm still open to help you out with any plot you come up with.

 

Depending on how far out there you want to go, I've been known to have an original idea or two. If you've got a premise or a conclusion you want to reach and need ideas on how to get there, I can come up with a couple good directions to go in, and a whole lot of bad ones too.

I think it would help if you had a pretty good idea about what the last chapter is going to be about, and then you know you can't give up until you get there.

I always enjoy reading your stories, but sometimes it feels like you don't even know where the story is going, and the dropped muse, abandoned aspect only adds to that. Could be way wrong here though.

But sure, I'll help you figure out an outline. Or at least scenes, sequences, events etc...

 

I made this an sticky as I'd like to see you get the help you wish for.

Always feel free to pop in and asks for ideas, most of us have no problem sharing or being honest & blunt if an idea sounds off.

 

Anyway,
I want the next story to be totally HP centric...i.e, no unblievable OC's or crossovers. I wouldn't mind using a cliche idea but doing something a little different...

i.e, Harry isn't regarded as boy-who-lived....sibling is...blah, blah, blah
Instead of doing what most authors do, I want to write something realistic.
I mean, who here knows a parent (or is a parent) that will treach one kid to the point of royalty and abuse and neglect another for whatever reason? I don't...and I don't think that James or Lily would suddenly decide to either.

Also, Remus, Sirius and James have been best friends since they were kids. What are the chances that they would suddenly break off thier friendship, or that James would suddenly start being racist on Remus for being a werewolf? It ain't bloody likely.

Instead of the Boy/Girl- who lived being a total snob, maybe they actually
like Harry. Maybe they're not actually a bad kid, for once maybe the fame didn't get to thier heads and Harry and the siblng are just like a normal sibling couple.

Anyway, that's just an example of what I want to do. Get a cliche idea and actually make it...., hold your gasps, LOGICAL......(Gasp!!!_

The first thing I need to do is to think of what cliche idea I would do. I was considering the example above, but I'll listen to any suggestions and I definetly will require help forming the plot.

Sincerely, and thanks for helping,
Shezza88

 

Off top of my head, Harry/Bellatrix had never been written well & realisticly.

Meaning, I don't think Harry would just fall in love with her after she killed a man he had been idolising (with or without being controled etc.). They should keep hating each other (maybe even trying to kill each other with strange accidents etc.), but only work/train/fight/fuck together out of mutual interest...

That was just out of my arse in 2 minutes thinking, I'm going to sleep now, but I'll keep thinking about it, it's a good idea about twisting a clishe...

 

Err... that's just a little bit open. Personally, I think we could name several ships that haven't been done very well but unless you're writing romance that doesn't make a story. That and I despise romance so ... meh. I think I've probably seen a lot more poorly done Harry/Bellas than even Harry/Fleurs.

And you want to take a cliche'd idea and try and do it properly? Staying as canon!friendly as possible? Post-HBP? or Post-OotP? Earlier? Complete AU? There's so many possibilities.

Personally, I'd love to see you do a post-HBP story properly, since I've yet to see one of those, but they're still a couple months from becoming cliched. Like Harry as a horcrux cliched. Love-potion abusing manipulative!Ginny would be a necessity, though I suspect this board will demand her painful and humiliating death.

Things like Animagus transformation have gone beyond cliched, but they've been done well, or at least better, by some before.

I had one interesting idea I never got around to was to give Harry a Hellhound form (typically extinct ancient powerful magical beast, but this one is a big ass dog and master/controller to wild werewolves... so Harry gets his very own Werewolf army and they all become in control of their transformation), typically semi-manipulative!Dumbles, Independent!Harry, spying!Ron/Hermy etc... In that story a phoenix helped him out, which got named Flicker, helped him train by providing him a great many old books etc... Cliched!Portrait helped him train, but it was Helga Hufflepuff and she flirted incessantly and was just plain nasty at times. Not "hufflepuffish". Harry realized he had to die to kill Riddle, since he was tied to the mortal world with his scar. He pulled it off, killed him and died. Nice long epilogue included Harry being reborn as a phoenix and we discover Phoenixes are born when super strong wizards die. Turns out Flicker was actually Nicholas Flamel (hence the name combining and why he agreed to that one when Harry was trying to come up with one he approved of). We also then discover Fawkes is Helga Hufflepuff, and I wanted to make it one of the first (or first?) Harry/Helga stories in the end. Never got the desire to write it out, but I had like a good half dozen pages of outlines and notes, 30 odd chapters planned etc... Was too much work and I decided just sticking to humor was good enough for me.

Plenty of cliches in that idea, you're welcome to mine all you like.

 

i got an idea for you...i dont know if it's been done or not. But it just came to me. what if harry was raise by his grandfather or grate-grandfather because his parents died. The grandfather doesn't like muggles much but has no...er...hate towards muggleborns.He doesn't care about dark arts. And you can make his as Dumbledore's rivel type of thing. I donno it's just an idea.its up to you whether you want to use it or not.

 

Harry...a Goody-Goody? I couln't even write it if I wanted to!

 

New Yahoo Group

Hey,
I've started a yahoo group for this discussion and topic. If you think you can help me plan and plot a story. then come and visit.
EDIT: I've moved the group to Google...Yahoo has very annoying pop-up Flash ads that really, really piss me off.
Here is the new link: http://groups.google.com.au/group/Shezza88

 

I got a Post-HBP Azkaban!Harry.

Harry kills Ginny in a fit of rage when he finds out about love potion (beast waking up etc.). He's sent to Azkaban, shunned by Weasleys and Hermione (no Dumbledore to save his ass).

In Azkaban you do standard thing about Harry, having nothing better to do, drills inside Voldie's head and copy his knowledge.

The prison is constantly being filled by captured DE's but Voldemort's getting stronger and stronger.

He attacks Azkaban, in an attempt to free his men and kill Potter and stop him from ruffling through his brain. In a desperate attempt, unspeakables errect inpenetrable bubble around the prison that will last 5, 10... years.

Inside the prison Harry breaks free and takes over Azkaban. Using Voldemort's knowledge, he manipulates dark mark of other prisoners, cuts them from Voldemort and make them his slaves.

When 5, 10 years later the bubble bursts, there's the world where Voldewmort is the emperor. Harry and his "men" step into the war...

 

Oh, that's good. I mean, really, really good. I might take that plot bunny up...it's original and interesting.

I might need some backgroud reference to the Love Potion...I read HBP a week after it came out with a library book, and haven't had the chance to go back.

 

There was a discussion here concerning that "love-potion" angle but I wasn't in it, so I don't remember which thread... Someone, please drop a link to love-potion discussion, will you?

 

Had another one, if you want to do AU where Harry is raised by X person.

This one has never been done before: Harry is raised by Barty Crouch Snr.

The Ministry arrives at the scene of murder in Godric Hollow first. Barty takes the baby by himself, coz he can't trust anyone else with it's safety (until things cool down somewhat).

Then his son is discovered to be DE (after torturing Longbottoms). Barty's desperate and ashamed, looses job as the head of magical enforcement and race for the Minister. He accidently learns about the prophecy and decides to redeem himself for screwing up with Junior's education (and give the dark side kick in the nuts) by taking Harry and getting him ready for his destiny.

Since Barty now works in foreign affairs (speaks 100 languages etc), they travell all over the world. Harry learns foreign magicks, customs, languages... etc. out of the box things. He also learns powerful barely legal spells, seeing how Barty don't mind dark magic as long as it's being used against scum (like Mad-Eye only not so crazy). Harry is brought up to be hard orderly bastard, like his "father".

Then there is that whole subplot with Barty Junior under imperious. He's like Harry's evil brother, always jelous of Crouch paying attention on Harry but still growing to like the kid. He can teach Harry some dark magic in exchange for the kid going easy on him and letting him have some fun... He can even try to convert Harry to DE ideology, only to get converted himself. Potential for a lot of psyhological bullshit.

Harry returns to Hogwarts for 4th year, when his father is appointed to organize Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore convinces Crouch to have Harry signed up in Hogwarts for a year, so he wouldn't miss up on his education while his father is busy. That's bullshit but Crouch agrees, coz he don't want to reviel how good Harry is.

... that's where the real day-to-day action starts. Harry is inserted in tournament by fake Moody. Is it junior or some other DE? What happens with Junior? Does Crouch die or not? If he does, Dumbledore uses this to get a control of Harry and stuff him with the Dursleys... etc a lot of possibilities with this one. Could be interesting.

 

hmmm... very interesting IP.. would be interesting to see this written even if Shezza doesnt take it up....

Link to Love Potion Theory

 

a story i would like to see would be a post-HBP, where Harry sets out on hs quest for the horcruxes alone, and as he goes along he finds out just how much he wasn't taught at hogwarts. So he puts his quest on hold and goes and trains with someone, but the someon aught to be really unique and not done before, have it like a brazillian rainforest shaman or something, or an archeologist who has a large knowledge of miscellaneos ancient spells curses wards etc.

So in essence the story would have harry tart out as the canon im dumbles man through and through, then turn into an independant darkbutnotevil harry.

 

Such story already exists and it's called "A new chance at life".

But anyway, that's not a bad idea. It's just that any story is much more fun when there is Dumbledore around (preferabbly sneaky old bastard). Especially Dark and Independant Harry stories. Without Dumbledore, there's not really point in the whole "Independant" aspect... I mean, he's 17 already and going out on his own.

It's also hard to get over that whole "friends 4ever" crap with Ron & Hermione. He would have to drag them along at least for some time...

And third problem is that there's not much time to train after HBP. You can't spare even few years for the training, since there's not Dumbledore any more to keep Riddle at check.

Well, anyway, "New chance" had dealt with some of these problems by simply ignoring them, but still, the fact remains that HBP is death to any kind of smart and powerful Harry character.