The Info Sheet: Part 2

Continuing from last week’s post on the supplemental “Information Sheet” I received when I wrote to J. K. Rowling as a fan girl…

“By the time I finished writing the final, seventh book in the series, I had been living with Harry for seventeen years. Saying goodbye has been very difficult but the world in which I lived for so long remains inside me, and nearly every day I meet somebody who wants to talk about it. Every writer’s life influences their work, but not many books change their author’s life forever, as Harry Potter did for me.

Working with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany to create ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my working life. We developed the story together and I am thrilled with the result. As you know the play has just opened in London, but we’re hoping to take it to other countries in future.

‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is also based in the wizarding world. I wrote the film scripts in five parts. The story was based on a book I created for Comic Relief ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’ which was published in 2001.”

I noticed in this letter, as well as another author I’m currently reading, that writers from England use commas differently than how I learned to use them – mostly just not as much. Which is funny when you consider the whole “Oxford comma” war that simmers just beneath the surface at American writers’ events, waiting to bubble up for a healthy debate.

Another idea that came to mind as I read this portion was that as a writer, I wonder what it would be like to meet people every day who want to talk about a character or story that flowed out of my creative faucet. I wonder if any of my books will be a catalyst to change my life. Hopes and dreams, my friends. Hopes and dreams…

This last part of the letter is a marketing ploy, I know, but I am still happy to know what’s happening.

Tune in next week for Part 3 of J. K. Rowling’s fan mail “Information Sheet,” and remember “The Tales of Christian Tompta: GNOMELING” will be releasing on March 31, 2017.