Becoming a world-famous author is no simple task.- The journey to that goal for J.K. Rowling wasn’t easy either, and yet she is a true story of someone coming up from rags to riches.
- Check out the inspiration details of J.K. Rowling’s life and influences!
- J.K. Rowling is 54 years old. She was born on July 31st, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire. Her birth name is Joanne Rowling.
Joanne’s parents met on a train from King’s Cross Station, which Joanne later used in the Harry Potter books as a gateway into the Wizarding World.
- When she was a child, Joanne would write fantasy stories that she would read to her sister, Dianne, who is just two years younger.
- While developing the Harry Potter books, J.K. based Hermione Granger’s character on herself when she was 11 years old.
- As a teenager, J.K. says that she has a difficult and unhappy time. She had a hard relationship with her dad, and her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
- During her time in sixth form, Joanne’s best friend at the time, Sean, had car which ended up being the inspiration for the flying version in the Harry Potter movies.
- When it came to publishing, it was suggested that a large target audience of young boys might not be inclined to read a book written by a woman which is why she chose to use a pen name.
- Joanne Rowling doesn’t have a middle name. The “K” initial in her pen name is for Kathleen, which is her grandmother’s name.
- When J.K. Rowling was writing the first Harry Potter book, she and her daughter were staying with her sister. She didn’t have a stable income at the time and she was living off of welfare.
- In 1990, Joanne was on a four-hour delayed train where the idea for Harry Potter became fully formed into her mind. Once she reached her destination, she started writing immediately.
- A lot of characters and ideas in Harry Potter are based on her own life. The Dumbledore character was inspired by one of her headmasters.
- Similarly, the Dementor creatures were based on her experience with clinical depression and contemplated suicide.
- After seeing an advertisement in The Guardian, J.K. Rowling moved to Portugal to teach English as a second language.
- J.K. Rowling had been writing Harry Potter for 6 months at which point her mother passed away. She had never told her mom that she was writing the books.
- Most of the writing done for Harry Potter, Joanne did in various cafes. She says one of the reasons she worked out of cafes is because taking her baby for a walk was the best way to get her to sleep.
- One of J.K. Rowling’s hero’s is Robert F. Kennedy.
- The first of the Harry Potter books was finished in 1995, typed entirely on an old manual typewriter.
- J.K. Rowling submitter Harry Potter to 12 publishing houses and got rejected from all of them. It wasn’t until she sent it to Bloomsbury that she finally got a deal. The advanced payment for the book was only £1,500.
- Even when Bloomsbury went along to publish the book, they suggested to Rowling that she get a day job because there wasn’t much money in making children’s books.
- J.K. Rowling was the first person to win the Smarties Prize 3 times in a row.
- Although she wasn’t financially stable when she started writing, in 2004 J.K. Rowling was named the first person to become a billionaire by writing books.
- When J.K. Rowling went to buy a wedding dress for her second marriage, she wore a disguise because she didn’t want to be recognized.
- J.K. Rowling named her daughter, Jessica, after Jessica Mitford who was an English author and one of J.K.s hero’s.
- After J.K. Rowling came into her newfound wealth, she set up a charity in 2005 called Lumos. It is dedicated to stopping the institutionalization of children worldwide.
- Joanne wrote two books related to Harry Potter, both of which she donated the proceeds of to Comic Relief which was over $22 million dollars.
- One of Joanne’s demands about the Harry Potter films when drafting a contract, is that the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast.
- Although she’s known for Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling also wrote her first adult fiction book in 2012 called “The Casual Vacancy”. It was later adapted to a three-part miniseries in 2015, airing on HBO and BBC.
- Once when Joanne bought some pricey earrings, she felt guilty and sent money of the same amount to a charity.
- Joanne’s favorite sport is basketball, which was the inspiration for the invention of Quidditch. When trying to come up with a name for the new sport, she tried the names Snitch, Bludgers, and Quaffle.
- In 2012, J.K. Rowling made $160 million dollars of charitable donations, which knocked her out of the list of billionaires.
- J.K Rowling is truly a remarkable woman, not only an incredible author but also a kind, caring and charitable person.
I’m not sure about you but I’ll be interested to see what she does next!
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