Me Manifesto - Part 3 (Harry Potter and Other Phenomenon)

Section V - Harry Potter
Ah yes, the finale - part 3. Luckily for you, this will be the shortest of these psycho babbling. So as I'm sure most you know already, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out in theaters and I'm pretty sure most of you have seen it already. As a bonus, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, the final book is released this Saturday! What a crazy phenomenon this all has turned out to be. So I've begun reading the books - they are really light reading as I'm sure you fans already know, I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in about 26 hours and I've obviously begun ...and the Chamber of Secrets (although my progressed may be slowed a bit as I bought the Simpsons' Season 5 on DVD today). At any rate, I kind of wanted to talk about Harry Potter for a bit because I think it's an interesting topic, if only for it's wonderful use of mythology and good timing with proper target marketing. I don't have much of an opinion quite yet (actually, I do, but don't feel I'm authorized to share it as I've barely read much at all in the grand scheme of things). What are you opinions? Thoughts? Etc...discuss.

Section IV - the mystery spot, if you will. So I've been thinking, mostly about Harry Potter, and then - how easy is it to write a story? Any story really, how easy is it? And thus - with that thought, I've started another blog (I'm sick, I know) - a private one for us, well, for anyone interested and wants to write...but I don't just want to write, I don't want to waste time posting stupid poems (been there, done that - you all suffered because of it), but I want to start a project and despite me loathing them in school, I'd like it to be a group project. I think we can write something, I want to write something and I wouldn't be surprised if you did too. I want to create a world like Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, the aforementioned Rawlings, hell - even George Lucas. I want to create a universe and write some epic story about this world. It's simple enough, really, if you break it down and take all the fun out of it - let's quick review story archetypes.
The Greeks had two and basically these principles stand up even today - COMEDY and DRAMA, or in layman's terms, the good guys win and the bad guys win, respectively.
Next, the standard seven we (or at least I) learned in 10th grade - man vs. (1) nature, (2) man, (3) environment, (4) technology, (5) the supernatural, (6) self, (7) and God.
Finally, we can break it down into individual story arcs - there are 20 basic guidelines for these
1. Quest
2. Adventure
3. Pursuit
4. Rescue
5. Escape
6. Revenge
7. The Riddle
8. Rivalry
9. Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension

Now obviously, at this point - you all think I'm crazy, I want to write one epic novel containing twenty character story's, plus seven plots with two combative underlining themes? Hell no - that's ridiculous. What I want to do is create a world and through the course of 5 books I want to run through five of those plots, alternate themes and include those twenty character lines. Think about it - it's just crazy enough to work, right? For example -
Novel 1 - comedy, man vs. environment - it would make sense for our hero to break free of him own setting prior to concurring the world. Oh, by the way, I've decided on the hero's journey for our overall mission - traveling is just an easy narrative and symbolically can be used in many ways.
Novel 2 - drama, man vs. nature - a new world is a scary place, am I right?
Novel 3 - comedy, man vs. technology - honestly, I'm not quite sure where to go with this one, but that's why I'm recruiting you, my imagination is expansive, but pretty much a dry wasteland with the occasional oasis
Novel 4 - drama, man vs. man - this is obviously where the antagonist who we have been establishing throughout the previous three books really comes to life and, since it is a drama, probably wins (this time)
Novel 5 - comedy, man vs. self - ah yes, that pesky character flaw all good heroes have, pretty much a necessity if you ask me, and here the hero finally reaches his destination, defeats his flaw and the antagonist all in one easy climatic moment.
I think the key though is not to make any one of the novels a story within the story - they have to be able to stand alone as interesting pieces to a puzzle - now as for the twenty character lines (all of which I have no hopes of using) fit in as we introduce characters, perhaps sometimes they are used a simple back stories or little side trials on the greater journey. Obviously, every good journey needs a group of characters to work together to reach the goal (just like this particular epic needs a group of wannabes to write anything good). Now obviously I don't expect you all to be as enthusiastic as I am about all this, and frankly I don't expect many of you to join me, but I figure it's something to do - something to occupy my mind when not working, or reading, or...okay - I'll only think about while walking the dog or sleeping, but that's not the point, the point is that it's something to think about. Now I also don't expect to just jump in and write a novel - that would be ridiculous to think we could achieve so we should probably start with a few simple short stories, written somewhat together and we can see where we go from there. I've already started one, so if you are interested just say so and I'll add you as an author to that blog and we can see where this takes us. Also, on a side note referring to section 4 - writing a published work is on my life list, among many other things which I haven't even begun with.

That concludes me manifesto (for now). Ta.