One of my best friends just published her first book. Tried reading a draft, wasn’t really my thing, so I couldn’t tell you what it’s about, but she deserves the success.

I think we’re due to see something futuristic and maybe dystopian but the kids/friends have to work to make the world a better place or avoid an extinction event, not quite the Hunger Games and not quite Star Wars either.

With how bleak current events are, I can see how that could be appealing.

Huh, if I could pick another book to be huge after Harry Potter it’d have to be completely different. Something crazy like a girl with no magic that’s really good at something like archery. Maybe forced by a dystopian government to fight other kids for the masses.

Nah.

It would never work.

:)

For a movie to reach that level of success, they have to be family oriented.

For kids, it has to be fantastical.

For extended popularity, it has to have a minimum of three movies/4 seasons. It has to have a world that can be expanded upon (this is the issue with Hunger Games.)

If Fourth Wing were appropriate for younger people than it currently is, it could do done it. It has all the right pieces to be blockbuster-level literature.

If the first Eragon movie wasn’t botched so badly, it could have reached similar levels. With the new book and a film series in production renewing interest, I still think it could.

But if we’re talking a brand new IP; Well, I could actually write a book. Magic, beasts, shapeshifters, some sort of organization (like a school or secret society) and/or a small friend group of 3-6, an evil character threatening to take over the world OR a revolution against said character, with a protagonist that’s relatively young and inexperienced learning everything as we go. An evil side character that is good at heart and experiences internal conflict. The main chracter often (but not always) rises from a place of low-ness in society and rises to the upper echelon. These are the core elements to a good YA fantasy novel. They all have these. I have a personal interest in dragons.

Parenthesis indicates possible options below

So: A young woman born into (orphanage, slavery, the slums, etc) gets selected for the prestigious Beast Training School because her long-lost father was one of the best beast trainers the (empire, small secluded country, island nation, world existing in the real world unbeknowst to them like magic or fae etc). The (king, president, elder council, etc) forces the school to recruit her for these reasons. However, the (headmaster, similar synonym) was a rival of her father’s and hated him. Therefore, he makes things increasingly difficult on the MC early on in training. She struggles early-on because she grew up outside of the beast world. Comes to the realization that she is gifted and is worthy, works hard to become one of the best students/trainers. They find out the headmaster is a traitor/spy for the (some sort of dark lord, or larger country/empire that wants their resources) and fight. He’s the first bad guy. Alternatively, he’s actually a good guy and teams up with MC to stop the (country/organization leader) from taking over.

This is just book one. Possibly could be split into two, depending on material written. Writing is a lot more formulaic than people realize, which is why original stories are so great.

I felt Nevermoor could have been it, and may still be it if the author writes and releases more soon. The story starts at middlegrade level like HP.

Heartstopper is there to an extent, and I feel a lot of people missed out on the Winternight Trilogy.

good sci-fi because thats what I like

You’re asking to predict the next lightning in a bottle. HP wasn’t popular because it was about wizards and witches. It was a combination of clever writing and right-place-right-time timing.

Star Wars wasn’t popular because it was about space, but because it was made at just the right time and hit all the right notes for society at the time. No “fun” space movies had been made for a couple of decades and SW filled that gap. But, of course, Hollywood immediately tried to capitalize on it’s success by putting out multiple poorly-made space movies that didn’t come near to the success of Star Wars.

The next Harry Potter will be an utter surprise. It might be a western, it might be space, it might be an adventure, or it might be a fantasy or even something we had never thought of before.

I really enjoyed the dystopian sci Fi elements of the gender games series.

The Shades of Magic series by V.E Schwab deserves this

I was always partial to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators series of books when I was a kid. I think that would do particularly well.

Sever Bronny’s books are a lot like Harry Potter, but darker and more intense. Honestly superior in every way IMO. Strongly recommend this series!

The Arinthian Line is the series name

Youth see the rise of fascism, and take to the hills to train as snipers. Hilarity ensues as the fascists drop like flies.

im going to plug this whenever i see the hunger games mentioned: watch the japanese film “battle royale.” im sure a lot of people already know, but its one of quentin tarantino’s cult classic favorites and for good reason.

Ender’s Game/Shadow, but with six books just focused on the Battle School.

I was always sad that Eragon didn’t make it as big as it deserved. It’s like a kids version of LOTR but with more dragons.