The Lightning Thief question

http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/2005/...
It's all right here, guys. ;) From Mr. Rick Riordan himself.

If you look at all the books that exist in the world, there is bound to be similar characters. Millions of characters have that flaw. You can't count every similarity you find between two books 'copy-catting'.

Also, the flaw of trying to save everyone is known as the "Hero Syndrome". So based on your reasoning, you could say J.K. Rowling copied every superhero comic that exists. In order to say a book copies the work of a different author there has to be a lot more than the characters having similar flaws.

no, it's not copy-cat at all. often, even if it's not stated directly, all main characters who take their friends on some sort of mission, etc. have that fatal flaw. they have to. or else the characters that the readers love would die (because Protagonist wouldn't save them) and then the series would flop.

Hp was okay but Percy is Awesome

I think it can be common for people to see similarities between books that they have read, especially when they are more diligent readers and they like the book(s) a lot.

Sometimes it just happens... When I write, even though I might get inspiration from another book, I don't copy it, but there might be similarities because that's where I got the inspiration. Besides, you can't force things on characters. Sometimes you might want them to be a nerd, but it just doesn't work. I say there is no such thing as an author. Only scribes. The characters are the ones who tell the scribe (author) what to write.

Thats the same fatal flaw of every hero lol

I am reading all the books in the series even the "spin-offs" and Rick as made it that the prophesies state that his sacrifice could be the ruin to the world, right? That is quite different than Harry's prophecy.. which just said a boy born in July would destroy Voldemort. Right? Been awhile since I read the books.

The fact that the hero of a story has a bit of a hero complex isn't exactly new material. Actually, it kind of comes with the territory and has been done a million times before.

Personally, I thought that HP and PJ were not much alike. I enjoyed both in their own right. I don't understand why people always have to shout copycat when they find the slightest similarities.

Percy's thing is that he will save his friends at the expense of the rest of the world if he has to, which isn't portrayed as a particularly good thing. It's foreshadowed in Son of Neptune that Percy is going to have to make a huge sacrifice and he won't be able to.

Well,you can find similarities in every book,Michaela.Nothing can be completely different.This conversation is an Uh uh.

I learned about the diffrent character archetypes in my english class. Both Harry and Percy are examples of the hero archetype. They have to save someone. That's in the "job discription" when you become a hero.

I hope I explained that well enough.

What annoys me about every book with a male protagonist is that they feel that no one else can save themselves and they have to save everbody!

It happens with every book.

Meh. I'm not seeing any real similarities.

so. they have a similarity. one thing that annoys me more than anything is people pointing out every single similarity between two books (no offense). but if you look close enough, you will find that almost every book has something in common.

PJ is an awesome book n i dont think therr any similarities between it n HP..HP sucked