"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." This is the first line to one of the best book series ever, well at least in my opinion. Writing a book is a huge task, and there is a lot that goes into making it. Every character, every place, every scene comes from somewhere. Sometimes there are even specific things that the author used as inspiration. So here is "The (Short) History of Harry Potter".
When Joanne was 25 she went to Manchester for a weekend with her boyfriend to help him look for a flat. At the end of the weekend she took a train back to London. It was on that very train ride that the idea for Harry Potter came to her. By the end of the ride she had found several characters and decided it was going to be a seven book series. The names came from various places. The driver and the conductor of the Knight Bus, Ernie and Stanley, are named after her grandfathers. She got Hermione from the Winter's Tale, which she saw in 11th grade (Upper Form). She found the last name Lockhart on a grave, and Dumbledore is Old English for bumblebee, which is very similar to his character. Some of the characters were influenced by people in her life. Professor Snape was influenced by multiple teachers from her childhood. When she was in 12th grade (Upper Sixth) she became close friends with a boy who had a turquoise Ford Anglia. He helped influence Ron. She picked King's Cross Station because it is where her parents met and she invented Quidditch after a huge row with her boyfriend. There were even other books that influenced the series. Her favorite book, The Little White Horse, always included minor details and she likes so much that she did it too. One example of this is how she always describes exactly what they are eating. There is so much that went into this book series, and so much that she didn't even put in. Just about everything in this post, and more, I found in Conversations with J.K. Rowling. It is a good book to read, especially if you are as big of a Harry Potter fan as I am. I didn't even get anywhere close to the whole history of Harry Potter, there is so much more to find, but for now this concludes The (Short) History of Harry Potter.
When Joanne was 25 she went to Manchester for a weekend with her boyfriend to help him look for a flat. At the end of the weekend she took a train back to London. It was on that very train ride that the idea for Harry Potter came to her. By the end of the ride she had found several characters and decided it was going to be a seven book series. The names came from various places. The driver and the conductor of the Knight Bus, Ernie and Stanley, are named after her grandfathers. She got Hermione from the Winter's Tale, which she saw in 11th grade (Upper Form). She found the last name Lockhart on a grave, and Dumbledore is Old English for bumblebee, which is very similar to his character. Some of the characters were influenced by people in her life. Professor Snape was influenced by multiple teachers from her childhood. When she was in 12th grade (Upper Sixth) she became close friends with a boy who had a turquoise Ford Anglia. He helped influence Ron. She picked King's Cross Station because it is where her parents met and she invented Quidditch after a huge row with her boyfriend. There were even other books that influenced the series. Her favorite book, The Little White Horse, always included minor details and she likes so much that she did it too. One example of this is how she always describes exactly what they are eating. There is so much that went into this book series, and so much that she didn't even put in. Just about everything in this post, and more, I found in Conversations with J.K. Rowling. It is a good book to read, especially if you are as big of a Harry Potter fan as I am. I didn't even get anywhere close to the whole history of Harry Potter, there is so much more to find, but for now this concludes The (Short) History of Harry Potter.
Works Cited
FRASER, LINDSEY. Conversations with J.k. Rowling: the Only Authorized Biography of J.k. Rowling. SCHOLASTIC, INC, 2001.
“Harry Potter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter#Publishing_history.
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