J.K. Rowling Said One Harry Potter Chapter "Nearly Finished" Her
It's from the fourth book.
By P. Claire Dodson
J.K. Rowling, author and active tweeter, struggles to get work done just like the rest of us. On Thursday, J.K. gave her followers some insight into her writing process when she revealed that a specific Harry Potter chapter was particularly hard to get right.
The conversation began when J.K. shared that her writing productivity had been slow, tweeting, "Upon rereading, the best I can say about today's writing is that I got my second best Tetris score." When a fan responded that they were struggling with re-writes and asked for advice, J. K. responded with some generous wisdom: "Chapter 9, Goblet of Fire nearly finished me. I rewrote it more times than I can now remember. You'll get there."
The chapter she referred to in her tweet is from the fourth Harry Potter book and is called "The Dark Mark." It's a very action-packed chapter that follows Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys when they go to the Quidditch World Cup. In the midst of their revelry after Ireland wins the match, Death Eaters attack the campsite and the Muggles who live there. It's Harry's first glimpse into what the first wizarding war was like, which is a pretty major plot point. So it's no surprise the chapter took extra work to perfect.
But J.K. also added that "perfection" shouldn't be the goal, because it's simply not possible — a good lesson for anyone, writers or not. She wrote in response to a fan who called her work "flawless," that the series was created "certainly not flawlessly, but I did it. Never wait in expectation of perfection or you'll wait forever. Do the best you can with what you've got and be one of those who dared rather than those who merely dream."
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/999728596074758145
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KeywordsHarry PotterJK Rowling