SN: South West News Service interview

Interesting facts and notes

"World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling," South West News Service, 8 July 2000

Important excerpts:

Q: Can American kids go to Hogwarts?
A: No, they have their own school. You'll find out in Book 4. Hogwarts just serves Britain and Ireland.

Q: Can Muggles see Hogwarts?
A: You find out in Book 4. When they look towards it, as a safety precaution, they see a ruin with a sign saying it's unsafe. . .they mustn't enter. They can't see it as it really is.

Q: Since Hagrid's name was cleared in Book 2, will he ever be allowed to do magic openly again?
A: He is allowed. He has been allowed to do magic openly ever since he became a teacher but because he was never fully trained his magic is never going to be what it should be. He is always going to be a bit inept.

Q: It seems that the wizards and witches at Hogwarts are able to conjure up many things, such as food for the feasts, chairs and sleeping bags. . .if this is so, why does the wizarding world need money ? What are the limitations on the material objects you can conjure up ? It seems unnecessary that the Weasleys would be in such need of money. . .
A: Very good question. There is legislation about what you can conjure and what you can't. Something that you conjure out of thin air will not last. This is a rule I set down for myself early on. I love these logical questions!

Q: Talking about rules. . .I watched this TV programme about the making of The Simpsons and Matt Groening was talking about rules - like you never see any of the characters going cross-eyed like you do in other cartoons - the characters show quite normal behaviour, by cartoon standards. When you started all this off, did you have a set of rules ?
A: Yes. Absolutely. The five years I spent on HP and the Philosopher's Stone were spent constructing The Rules. I had to lay down all my parameters. The most important thing to decide when you're creating a fantasy world is what the characters CAN'T do. . .you can tell with The Simpsons. It's a work of genius. You can tell that they've structured it in such a way that they're never at a loss for what their characters can and can't do. That's why they're so believable - even though they're little yellow people.

Q: You mentioned something in a recent interview about a flaw in Book 4. . .
A: Did I? Oh yes. . .I repaired it! This is why Book 4 nearly caused me a nervous breakdown - because for the first time ever I lost my careful plot - which I've had since 1994, I think. I really should have gone through it with a fine toothcomb before I started writing and I didn't. I had a false sense of security because all my other plans had held up so well. So I sailed straight into the writing of Four, having just finished Azkaban. I had written what I thought at the time was half the book - it turns out now to have been about a third of the book - and I realised there was this big hole in the middle of the plot and I had to go back and unpick and redo. That's part of the reason it's longer than I thought it was going to be.
Q: Can you say what the flaw was, or would that spoil things?
A: No, because that would ruin it.

Q: If Harry had a magic duel with Hermione, who would win?
A: Very good question! Because until about halfway through Azkaban, Hermione would have won. But Harry - without anyone really noticing it - is becoming exceptionally good at Defence Against the Dark Arts. So that's the one area in which, almost instinctively, he is particularly talented. Apart from Quidditch.

Q: Do you assist with the vernacular, idiomatic expression and other vocabulary changes between the UK and the US versions of the HP series?
A: Do I assist? I do it all! A lot has been made of this but I have to say too much has been made of it. The word changes were miniscule. I don't think it would be as much as one per cent. And they were literally words that meant something utterly different - like 'jumper', which means 'pinafore dress' in America. I didn't want people to think Harry was walking around in a pinafore dress.

Q: What do you do when you have writer's block?
A: I got it during Chamber of Secrets but that was the only book in which I've had writer's block. In fact I doubt whether it was true writer's block. I think it was panic because I got this big burst of publicity for Philosopher's Stone and I froze. I thought Chamber of Secrets would never be as good. I think it was panic rather than actual lack of ideas. The publicity happened when the American deal happened. Before that, sales of Philosopher's Stone had been climbing very healthily for a completely unknown book so people were getting interested, but only in the book trade. Then Arthur Levine in America bought Philosopher's Stone for the American market for what I think may have been an unprecedented amount of money for a completely unknown children's book. And then people sat up and looked around and thought 'Well, what happened there? Why is that worth all that money?' and then I had a lot of press interest - it seemed like a lot to me at the time. Looking back, it probably wasn't that much.

Q: Do you believe in witchcraft and have you ever done any witchcraft ?
A: No.

Q: Where do the Hogwarts teachers live during the school holidays ? Do they stay at Hogwarts?
A: No, they don't. Filch, the caretaker, stays.

Q: Do Hogwarts chefs accommodate vegetarians?
A: If you ask them very nicely. You'll find out something about that in Book Four as well. . .these are all very good questions.