So, I finally started planning my story, but have come across a potential problem. In my world there will be a round table type of group called The Circle of Magical Brethren but have now realised that the Magical Brethren are used in Harry Potter, Does this stand as a future potential problem?
dont think so, but someone with laws might know better but all stories have something similar so as long as you dont use an actual name like Harry Potter you would do fine, unless your group is too similar to them you might want to change somethings
Well it is similar because the magical brethren in Harry Potter are all the magical beings and that's what my circle of magical brethren is.
Sounds like you're nitpicking about a vague similarity in setting. Don't worry about it until you've written it and have someone read it and say "It's just 'The Worst Witch' but with cowboys."
i'm a professional editor and have been working in the literary world for many years... i've also done a lot of paralegal work... so, to be on the safe side, i strongly recommend changing your circle's name enough to avoid any problems with the litigious ms rowling...
If you consider "we the members," it might not mean a thing. However, who is your story aimed at? The public book purchasers? Is it a screenplay? Did you just write it for fun? I'd muddy the water the bit. Just about every group has some form of 'steering committee.' Labor unions have officers. My wife is a teacher, and that clan alone has layers of do-nothing empty suits who use the epithet "director." Yikes, even my motorcycle club has officers and a "Head Patriarch." I wouldn't depict a scene where the power brokers might be at a literal roundtable with robes, chants and secret handshakes. I'd also rule out Philip Marlowe-esque tools like smoky offices or trashy saloons. A mahogany rich gun club might be a good backdrop. Lots of James Bond scenes were at golf courses and higher end casinos. I've worked for the rich, they like to play.
If the group was called - The Circle of Magical Brethren - then I wouldn't use it. If it was described as 'a circle of magical brethren', (although I'd change the brethren for brothers) then the description is just that, like a 'coven of witches', and you could probably use it. You could try: alliance, council, league, fellowship, order, fraternity. So you could go for League of Mystical Brothers or Magicians or similar. There are ways around it if you look.
Good catch. The mafia was known as "our thing." Of course, my Aunt Clara calls them, "my inlaws." Perhaps that the hook. To make their association even more clandestine, think up a very mundane epithet for the gathering. Like "suits" or "the members" or "the Thurdays' gentleman." To add the spooky factor, when spoken of, there's terror. For example: The dowager known as Clara was always a bit skiddish on Thursday nights. She could always divine if a mangled body would be found Friday morning. She referred to her personal terror simply as 'the suits,' but rarely, and then only as her face blanched to the hue of cold, dead ashes.
