Considering the knowledge this Board has on all things Harry Potter, I am curious how they would have written the entire Series, if they had the ability to write it into however they see fit.

So for the sake of argument, let's say you suddenly find yourself able to visit a world exactly like ours, except Harry Potter and JK Rowling don't exist. You are free to rewrite the Series in your own image. No copyright issues, no Rehash shit. Just you, and the chance to remake Harry Potter

So, what would you add, delete, change, keep? What?

I will keep out, since I fear what you will do to any suggestion I have.

 

I'd get rid of a lot of things, but mostly, I'd burn 19 Years Later.

 

Well, if I wanted to be a billionaire in this hypothetical new world, I'd have written the same exact series, warts and all.

If instead I were to craft a new HP from whole cloth in a form I'd like to read, I'd take note that I'm much more interested in reading about adults than adolescents. I'd make magic harder to master, an endeavor you'd take on over a lifetime (much like learning any worthwhile intellectual pursuit like mathematics or music) and placed the emphasis of the series on adult relationships and challenges and not "everyman comes of age." This is one of the reasons why so many of us are reading other series--Dresden, Iron Druid, Grossman's Magicians, etc. now.

 

I would have had one of main characters die. Probably Hermione, and also Luna, because that would add more weight to the drama. Also another Weasley (I can't believe a family that big had only one fatality during the "war"). I also would have placed more emphasis on background characters, such as Amelia Bones, to make their deaths more effective. It's like, "guys, a really important person has died, but I'll reveal it in a throwaway sentence".

I would not have had the characters obsessing about romance and sports. Who cares about that when you're not sure if you're gonna survive? Why put at risk yourself and somebody you love when you're topping the shitlist of an insane mass murderer with a very personal grudge against you, and has used your loved ones against before (successfully resulting in said loved one's death)?

And the end-of-book explanation by Dumbledore, just so the children could understand what had happened. Good god I hate when that guy blathers on and on about the plot. It's especially annoying when it does does while dead.

 

I'd keep it mostly the same in terms of plot and characterization up until Goblet of Fire, though tweak things throughout the first four to my liking. After that, raise the stakes a bit more (make it feel more like a war is ongoing), let Harry and co. evolve as characters more, and make Voldemort a lot more competent, though I'd probably still follow the basic outline the last three books provided. I'd also change the portrayal of magic a bit (probably take a lot of inspiration from the Dresden Files, that being my favorite magical system) and make the rules more consistent throughout the books.

EDIT: The key to my approach I suppose would be to to retain what was most popular from the books for readers, and add from there.

 

No deathly hallows, far darker and more intelligent Voldemort.

 

I'd delve more into the backstory, and craft an actual magical culture with its own traditions rather than just using christmas and halloween, and have Harry become enamored with it since he had never taken to what the Dursley's celebrated. It would make a more driven Harry who is more aware of the world around him, and enjoys to actually learn and use magic, rather than making everyone seem like a blundering fool compared to Hermione

 

I'm with Pers and Red Aviary, a more mature overlook on the series would make it much better for me.

I love Dumbledore because he reminds me so much of Merlin, so I would try to make him more of a humane character, just like the best Merlins are.

I would try to remake the magic system to one we can undesrtand well, and one much harder and complicated than JK's, some spells and potions are simply ridiculous and much of how magic works is never explained. I also would try to make the characters more involving, less focus on filler classes and games and more on the relationship between characters, supporting and minor, so that when the war began, the reader could feel their deaths and pain. Cut Ginny, at least most of her, I dislike Mary Sues. I really would like to make Harry more Genre Savvy and deadpan, just because.

And avoid love of your life at 14-5, that's just ridiculous.

Lastly, and more importantly, try to give each of the other two main characters adventures alone, show more of them without the others, so that we can relate and understand them better, and not just Harry.

 

Harry Potter is a children's book and I find the themes appropriate for the target audience.

However, if I had written it, I would have put a lot more thought into world building to make it coherent. That includes a rework of the magic system, which would be a mix between a logical system a la Brandon Sanderson and a mysterious force a la Tolkien.

Additionally, I would have planned the whole series out, which would hopefully have avoided the mess the later books became.

 

I would never have resurrected Voldemort. I would have kept the series more episodic, keeping the formula of 1-3, with each book being a mystery/action-adventure with a "Big Bad" per book.

Such a series could have continued well past the Hogwarts years. Eventually, several years post-Hogwarts, Voldemort could be brought back if one wanted to write a wizarding war.

 

I'd keep the magic more consistent between the books, such as showing apparation and the trace in first book. I would also show no epilogue, allowing readers to form their own conclusions.

I'd also try to make Voldemort smarter and more successful, Harry would have to earn his victory.

And knowing my own personal biases, Wizarding Poland would be mentioned at least once :awesome

 

I think the choice to resurrect Voldemort was a mistake. He's just too one dimensional as a villain. He killed Harry's parents, but... it just doesn't make him compelling. The fact he's got mudblood in him makes it so you can't even treat him like a serious supremacist of some kind. He's just a whacko with a screw loose - he's not redeemable and his motivations are childlike. Not that I'd want a fully sympathizable villain for a children's series, but even so, Voldemort is the onus of HP's conflicts, when I feel like the series could have been more interesting with a more diverse cast of baddies. You can still have a theme of death while still varying the conflicts that face Harry.

I guess I don't like the horcrux whackamole story, either. It's rife with contrivance (Why didn't he just drop them all in the ocean somewhere?). I don't know what should have been done instead, but something other than what we got.

Naturally, nineteen years later is unnecessary. Just allude to some shit, but don't actually show it. In many ways, Harry Potter is a power fantasy - having Harry as such a mundane figure nineteen years later defeats that. I know where she was going with it, but it just feels like a let done ever the same. She talked about killing Harry so that his image couldn't be sullied by sequels, but in her desire to control his destiny, I think she killed a lot of the appeal that literature has. There's more power in leaving something vague and open-ended then laying it all on the table.

Oh, and time tuners. I like the concept, but only in theory. I don't think there's a way to do it right. It makes the story too gamey, when the consequences of actions can be overwritten with such a device. Nevermind that no single theory of time will ever satisfy a body of readers.

 

Nothing major enough to be worth noting down.

But working on the impression that we have to change something, I would probably endeavor to make it less of a children and young adult story, and more of an adult story, if only because I feel that there's a lot more potential in the Harry Potter setting for things on the adult side of the fence, which we never got to see. It's less a matter of "I don't like childish things" (I'm a huge fan of Septimus Heap), and more a matter of "there is potential here that was never realized." The simplest and most straightforward way of managing this that I can see is to make Hogwarts a university instead of a primary school.

So instead of getting your Hogwarts letter when you're twelve, you get it when you're twenty one.

So Harry has a crappy part time job that he has to commute for miles to get to, is struggling to make ends meet, and is trying desperately to move out of his relative's house because they've never gotten along while earning enough money to put himself through a decent university, when one morning an owl starts tapping on his window while he's making breakfast.

And so things progress from there.

I think that one change solves most of the more common grips and wishes that most people have, and it does so simply and with elegance. Thus, it's the option I would choose. Simple change here, spreading implications further down the line. Why change everything when you can get what you want just from changing one thing?

Because then they would be somewhere that Voldemort could not observe or reach if they needed to be protected. They're outside his power. What if one falls down a fault or something? They could be destroyed by natural forces without Voldemort ever realizing it.

They need to be someplace that is difficult if not impossible for anyone to reach, and yet still accessible by Voldemort if they need to be moved or recovered for some reason.

It's probably more logic than was used, but still, the logic is there nonetheless.

 

Pretty badly.

 

Trying to do this with a fic series currently, its sorta tough to not look at my year 5 plan and not say "hey all 16 years after this could be much simpler if it's just 2 of voldemort then 7 each of other antagonists...

 

I would remove the epilogue and the time turner. I would have the magic system more similar that of the Dresden-verse, remove or flesh out ginny so she's less of a mary sue, and flesh out voldie aswell. i'm not sure about the prophecy, either. Hallows and Horcruxes are okay. but the series was good overall.

 

Not as well ...

I would have made a bigger break after Voldemorts ressurection. Before, nobody dies, for bravery, your friends, the right thing. After, people do die, (secret) war, Harrys role as figurehead.

 

Considering how adaptable HP magic is, I would have put in a lot more sex. Like scientific notation percentage more.

 

I would have lost Harry as the sole protagonist. He was a decent audience surrogate but his inexperience completely removed the possibility of the universe having any true depth.

Perhaps started book two out with Dumbledore's side of the stone story. Than have him hear of Harry arriving to school through a flying car and change the POV to Harry's with brief intrludes of other characters. Than around book four/five I would relegate Harry entirely to supporting cast.

Here I would mess around with the story a little bit. My big peeve with canon always was the prophecy. It's self fulfilling, why the hell did no one try to stop Harry from fallowing in its path? Well, my Dumbledore would. He would not all of the sudden buy into it, instead he would retain the dismissive attitude towards it. One step he would take is to lock away Harry in some unknown location, thus forcing Voldemort expend time and resources trying to find him. Entire book five would be Harry being locked away feeling useless and Dumbledore setting up for war. Harry's story is a subplot at this point Instead the focus is on exploring the magical world through trying to recruit magical creatures/foreign wizards.

Book six would be the War. Focus on the scale of destruction magic is capable of inflicting, the nature of magic itself and the why wizards are similar to us in spite of their powers. Harry re enters the story towards the end. Having grown through a series of conversations with Dumbledore, order members and various tutors. As the war takes it's toll he is entrusted with various non sensitive tasks out of necessity. (Harry isn't a horcrux in my version. That didn't make sense anyways. He still retains the link, that being the major reason for him being locked away for past two books.)

I would still have Dumbledore die at the end of book six, but he would either take Voldemort with him or weaken him severely. This would allow book seven to focus on changing of the guard. Harry leaves the house he has been hiding in for the past couple of years, the only thing that kept him there was Dumbledore's influence on him, and meet up with his friends. Here they would take up the cause of clearing the world of remaining death eaters/ killing Voldemort all together. The book would end with Harry taking up a post of prominence in the restored ministry, one that he is terribly underqualified for.