Great White Snark

Are you inspired by the Harry Potter series? In what ways?
Again with literary high-horsiness, but yes, I think it's a very inspirational series--in many ways! JKR has inspired thousands (millions?) of kids to read, and reignited that spark in a load of writers. If I ever try my hand at novel writing again, I'll definitely be taking writing tips from the HP series as far as plot, character development and point-of-view go.
As for the stories themselves, yes, they're inspirational. It starts out as such a simple child's story about an orphaned boy who can do magic. But it evolves into something so much more than that. Throughout the series so many different issues are explored--socio-economic status and opinions, corrupt governments, classism, race, sexuality, and acceptance on all those fronts. It's a story about love and how that's the inherent magic--it's the thing we're all capable of experiencing but no one can define scientifically or otherwise. It just is. It's the magical ability we all have within us. And it's a story about bravery, about overcoming impossible circumstances and emerging victorious in the end. That's the other real bit of magic about the stories--we all have that capability for courage and strength within us. It's just a matter of nurturing that inner bravery through our choices, allies, and growth as human beings.
So overall, yeah, it's pretty epic. And I think J.K. Rowling summed it up best when she said,
"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already...It's important to remember that we all have magic inside us."