Back in February, we told you Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was a guest at the James Joyce Awards in Dublin, Ireland. Thanks to La Gazetter du Sorcier there is a new report online containing a many of her remarks at this event. Answering a range of questions, Jo again says she intends to “write an Encyclopaedia which would hopefully incorporate a lot of back story I couldn’t… or flesh out back story that wasn’t in the books.” JKR was also asked if she thinks of the actors when she writes. Jo said “to be honest no, the only actor or actress who has ever, ever intruded while writing was Evanna Lynch, who is absolutely perfect as Luna. And I must admit I have heard her voice in my head when I wrote the book.”
Specifically on the topics of the books, J.K. Rowling reflected on the theories that she heard while writing the series and mentions several in particular, notably ” when Neville visits his parents in St Mungo’s and his mother presses sweets wrappers on him, which I always saw as a poignant moment… There was a theory that she’s passing secret messages on the sweet wrappers. There have been loads of them. But Dumbledore being Harry from the future is definitely my favourite of all the insane theories. But then you have people, I had people as early as Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book. I remember a woman saying to me : “I think Snape loves Lily”. I was “Oh my God what the hell did I give away ?”. But so people, people got stuff very unnervingly right. Often. Yeah.”
Jo also says she would like to go back and tighten up “Order of the Phoenix,” (“I must admit I was feeling the strength of the pressure a bit during that phase, and I think it shows in the book”) and mentions one hurdle she had to deal with when writing the series, stating : “The one thing, the difficulty I did sometimes have was I made a rule so tight it was sometimes hard to navigate around it myself. So not being able to Apparate in and out of Hogwarts was a pain in the back. Because it was necessary, I had to put that limit to make it a safe place. But finding a way to get in and out of Hogwarts was always a bit of a challenge. I was quite proud of Aberforth again, the tunnel. I like Aberforth. And his goat. [laughing] Yeah, Dumbledore pales into insignificance.”
Of interest are her comments regarding the plot lines and several of the characters. The Harry Potter author said some of the less crucial story lines were not always planned right from the begining and evolved as she went along, “But the big ones, the Dumbledore storyline, the Snape storyline were always there because you — the series is built around those.” Further comments on the importance of Snape and Dumbledore came from a question about the development of their story lines. Jo said:
“with Dumbledore quite deliberately, you find out little about Dumbledore’s own private life because his interactions with Harry are always about Harry, which sets up the fact that in the seventh book Harry thinks “but why did I never ask ?” He’s gone now and he’s never even thought of saying : “so how about you ?” you know, at the end of one of those conversations which I think is something that happens after the grief, the regret that he didn’t ask. And I think also that Dumbledore had always been such an almost god-like figure to Harry in some ways, that he felt he couldn’t ask him personal questions.
Snape, on the other hand, I had to drop clues all the way through because as you know in the seventh book when you have the revelation scene where everything shifts and you realize why Snape was… what Snape’s motivation was. I had to plot that through the books because at the point where you see what was really going on, it would have been an absolute cheat on the reader at that point just to show a bunch of stuff you’ve never seen before, you know… “Oh by the way, in the background this was happening.” So I did know. It was a complicated plotting process but by the time Philosopher’s Stone was finished, I definitely knew all the big things about Snape and Dumbledore because in many ways they’re the two most important characters in the seventh book… Well, other than the trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Yeah, I agree with whoever above said something about not believing the Snape/Lily connection (before DH, of course) because it was too “cliche”—
I too thought that, and was semi-mortified at the idea that it could actually be TRUE, but once I read it I was surprised to find that it didn’t bother me.
In fact, it helped unite the story and . . . gasp . . . even made me a little teary-eyed!
Eeyore It is good to see you again. I thought you had left us. Come see us at the poll.
OOP is tied with POA for my favorities. POA had me crying at Taco Time when I realized that Harry was hearing his mother’s screams, and the word play and the complex story line was what hooked me on HP. BUT the new angry Harry of OOP is wonderful. Not only is there the PTSD of all he has been through, but his behavior is so typical of 15 year old hormonal boys it is sometimes laughable.
To whomever that commented on Evanna Lynch. I believe that she had been corresponding with Jo as a fan long before she was cast for Luna. I am not sure that they had spoken, but some one her vibes certainly passed through to Jo.
I worked out Snape loves Lily on book six because it was the theory that made the most sense. It gave him a motive and made Snape interesting. The whole remorse thing never came up in my mind though, I just thought Dumbledore had made an unbreakable vow with him and ordered to kill him by the end of book six, which is why he trusted him so much. The whole withering arm bit was a big clue that Dumbledore wanted to die so I also had that as one of my theories. I did not believe that Harry was a horcrux because I figured if he was, he couldn’t be any longer because Voldemort had recovered his bit of soul from him in book four.
The two things I liked the most was the wand thing working out for Harry in the end. Voldemort was so above him in power that there was no way Harry should survive in an honest duel against him. There HAD to be a trick. There HAD to be something he could use. Love being so powerful was a downer for me at first because I thought she might use it as some sort of destructive force when love is completely the opposite. When it turns out he ended up pulling the same spell his mother did on him on the rest of his friends because of his sacrifice, it all worked out far better. Love as protection makes far more sense than love as some sort of death beam from a wand.
Oh, and I thought that in the final battle he’d use the stone to call the ghosts of his parents and dead friends to FIGHT against Voldemort, not to give him the courage to enter the forest. I even thought he’d end up calling the ghosts of Hogwart’s founders to help him. That would have been one heck of a battle but she chose a more emotional path instead.
My favorite part of OOtP was when George (testing the skiving snackboxes) was projectile vomiting into a bucket and then beaming, arms held wide, to protracted applause. I wish that could have been in the movie. Hilarious. Just like I wish in HBP they would include the part where Harry is magically re-filling the liquor bottles to keep Slughorn and Hagrid drinking so Harry can get the secret from Slughorn. It’s these funny little touches that make the books so great, and I wish more of them could be included in the movies.
Sue, I always loved OotP. Of all the books, I read that one the most, and I really enjoyed it. I thought I was in a complete minority in liking it a lot, and it is nice to see so many others that like it.
I love it that JK thought of Evanna while writing book 7, I bet she’s thrilled. Evanna is definitely how I imagined Luna, and it’s great that she’s such a potterhead :)
Wait, so Snape and Dumbledore were important?! Wow, never picked up on that one. Good thing she explained that in an interview, cause from the books, it’s not entirely clear!
Oh, please – I really hope Jo doesn’t touch OotP! I am one of those weird people who really dislike when writers/directors go back and “improve” their original works. Like when George Lucas redid the original Star Wars trilogy. I have VHS tapes of the original before he went back and “remastered” the movies and I will literally cry my eyes out when I finally wear out those tapes. You can’t get them on DVD.
I came late into reading the HP series, and got a boxed set of the first 6 as a gift. After reading all of them (in 10 days) my friend wanted to know which was my favorite. OotP was – hands down. It still is even after reading DH!
When Jo said she wants to, “tighten up Order of the Phoenix,” she means she wants to fix it up, considering the fact that it was incredibly long and she really wanted to fix things on it and make it shorter—which she said in an interview.
So she finally confirmed things that the Snape fans have been saying for years while mud has been flying at them – thanks!
I agree that she should have explained this more thoroughly to WB.
I hope she never revises OotP, which is my favorite book. I’m sorry, but it is, and that’s because it is the very one in which Snape’s story begins to show it’s importance. I have believed strongly that the last three books are really the Snape/Harry story, and now I know that’s true.
Snape is not good. He is mean and small man. He took all his malice out on an innocent child, treated poor Neville like dirt and continually degraded both Hermonie and Ron. He played favorites and had no forgiveness in him He had one saving grace that he loved Lilly and because of her he would keep their child safe. If he were truly a good guy, he would have loved Harry because of her. He didn’t treat Harry, who as Dumbeldore said has more of his mother’s character. He didn’t bother to find out was totally nasty to him because he looked like James. This is a good guy.
Snape is not good. He is mean and small man. He took all his malice out on an innocent child, treated poor Neville like dirt and continually degraded both Hermonie and Ron. He played favorites and had no forgiveness in him He had one saving grace that he loved Lilly and because of her he would keep their child safe. If he were truly a good guy, he would have loved Harry because of her. He didn’t treat Harry right who as Dumbeldore said has more of his mother’s character. He didn’t bother to find out ,was totally nasty to him from the first day because he looked like James. This is a good guy.
Yeah, I agree with whoever above said something about not believing the Snape/Lily connection (before DH, of course) because it was too “cliche”— I too thought that, and was semi-mortified at the idea that it could actually be TRUE, but once I read it I was surprised to find that it didn’t bother me. In fact, it helped unite the story and . . . gasp . . . even made me a little teary-eyed!