In my last blog, I talked about what makes really good fiction writing. In this one, I’d like to talk about a famous fantasy author, J. K. Rowling. She did an interview with Oprah after she finished writing the last book in the Harry Potter series.
In the interview, Rowling talked about the success of the Harry Potter series being like the phenomenon of the Beatles. On her second tour of the US in New York people stood in long lines to see her at a book signing. When she walked in the door, they screamed and camera light bulbs flashed.
The series and movies made her so profitable that she became the first billionaire author.
For her next book, Rowling said she doesn’t feel like she has to do it all over again. No one expected a children’s book to leap to this kind of success. The first book in the series was rejected a dozen times before it was accepted for publication.
Rowling wanted to be a writer since she was five. The idea of the story of Harry Potter came to her when she was twenty-five riding on a bus. She had no pen to write down her ideas as they flooded in.
Every other page of the books were related to Rowling’s mother’s death. Rowling loved her mother and after she died, Rowling went into a deep depression. The dementors in the story came from her depression. The dementors had the ability to suck a person’s soul out through their mouth and drain their feelings of happiness.
Yet overall, the power of love is the thread that runs through all seven of the Harry Potter books. Love allowed Harry to live and have the help he needed to fight the dark forces.
In a Harvard speech, Rowling said it’s impossible to not have failure in your life and to use failure to gain success. Be willing to try. Rowling had nothing to lose writing Harry Potter. She was a single mother on welfare. We are all richer for Rowling’s success. She cultivated a love of reading in a whole generation of children. One fan said, “You were my childhood.”
When Oprah asked Rowling if she was going to keep writing, she said “I can’t stop writing. I need to do it.” I think that is the reason many people write or do any other creative activity. We write because that’s what we’re passionate about and love to do.
A friend of mine is a fine artist and she expressed the same sentiments. She said, “I paint because that is what I do.”
In conclusion, do what you’re passionate about to add more meaning to your life.
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