SHIP: Transcription of the "very platonic friends" interview

[anguaorc <fausts@attglobal.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52067

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Penny Linsenmayer 
<pennylin at s...> wrote:
> Well, I should preface by saying that I've been completely unable 
to access the entirety of the interview in question.  *Strangely,* 
for such an *important* interview from the R/H perspective, noone has 
seemingly transcribed it.  Hmmm.  As my toddler is asleep in the room 
across the hall, I'm certainly not willing to turn on the speakers 
and listen to it at this point.  So, with that caveat:

Angua:
Obviously, you haven't been hanging out at the right websites, 
Penny. ;)  I have two different versions of it on my hard drive, 
transcribed by two different people (they are identical except for 
punctuation, etc.)  Here is one for your use.  This particular 
transcription is thanks to the hard work of Prettyannamoon.  You can 
check it for accuracy against the spoken version at your leisure.  I 
will respond to the rest of your post when I have more leisure myself.

****JKR National Press Club Interview * Oct 20, 1999****

[Press Club Intro] Sean Bowler: Following custom, I will introduce 
our guest, she will then offer us some magical insight to her new 
book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. [Info on questions 
and book signings, etc.] 

A while ago I read in the New York Times that Harry Potter was 
destined for greatness. Forgive me for my ignorance, but early this 
year, I had no idea who Harry Potter was. My wife and I had twins 
about five months ago. I did know one thing – J. K. Rowling and
her 
young wizard with the lightening bolt scar was taking America by 
storm. Whether on the train to work, in the bookstore, or on the 
phone with my twelve-year old nephew, everyone was raving about this 
bespectacled kid named Harry Potter. I kid you not, recently a 
complete stranger on the train begged me to take his business card 
and get it signed by our guest so he could give it to his son, and I 
do have it in my pocket, and it is signed! So that PR executive from 
New Jersey will have it in the mail in the next couple of days.

It's only appropriate that as if by magic, Harry Potter seems to
have 
appeared out of nowhere. It is if one day, we were without the 
centuries old Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the 
next, America couldn't imagine life without Harry Potter. And as
if 
having over five million books in circulation isn't enough, and
both 
kids and adults clamoring for her books, our guest has captured the 
triple crown of publishing – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone, 
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and today's book have 
rocketed to the top three best seller slots in recent weeks. In 
short, Harry Potter's Hocus Pocus has catapulted our guest near 
legendary status. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, best 
selling children's author, winner of rave reviews on both sides
of 
the Atlantic, and creator of Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling. [applause]

JKR: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It's really
wonderful 
to be here. Um, I'm going to do a short reading for you, and then 
take questions. I like them best. I'm sorry, I know you're
the 
people, I like them best. I'm playing to the gallery today. Um,
so a 
brief reading now. I'm actually going to do a reading from the
first 
book, Sorcerer's Stone. There's a very practical reason for
this, I 
have a good short reading in this one, and we don't have that
much 
time, and I really would like to spend the time answering questions, 
so I think that would be better. So, um, this is the moment when 
Harry buys his most important piece of equipment for Hogwart's
School 
of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is of course, his wand, what else? 
This is what happens in the wand shop, um, Harry has gone there with 
Hagrid, who is one of my favorite characters – you know, the
giant 
gamekeeper from the school, and he's about to meet Mr.
Ollivander, 
the famous wand maker. 

[Reading]

*lets out gasp and closes book* [everyone laughs and applauds]
Okay
 
right, we're doing questions?

SB: Yes. It sounds so much better when you're reading it. The
first 
question – did you write the book for children or adults? 

JKR: Um, I wrote it for me
 so both, because I wrote something
that I 
knew I would like to read now, but I also wrote something that I knew 
I would've like to have read at age ten. So, I never really wrote 
with anyone in mind, I still don't write with an imaginary focus 
group in mind. I have been asked time without number, why are the 
books so popular? And the tru– and I don't want to analyze
that. I 
don't want to decide that there's a formula, I really
don't want to 
look at that too closely, cause I want to carry on writing them the 
way I want to write them, and not, um, you know, start trying to put 
ingredient X in there. It's for other people to decide that, not
me, 
I think. 

SB: Several have asked, how did you come up with Quidditch? 

JKR: Oh, Quidditch. *half laugh* The irony of me inventing a sport
– 
I managed to break my arm playing netball, which as you know is not a 
famous contact sport. Um, I decided that if the wizards had this 
whole secret society, things going on, I was thinking of things that 
unify a society, and that one thing would have to be a sport, and 
that would be an opportunity for the wizards to meet, in secret, and 
all – you know – congregate together. It would just be too
difficult 
for them to congregate and watch baseball, or something. We'd
notice. 
They'd get upset, they'd fire their wands off and stuff in
the crowd; 
that wouldn't work, so they have to have their own sport. So, um,
I 
had a lot of fun making up the rules for Quidditch. Seen so far
it's 
a dangerous game, and I'd be appaling at it, but it's
something to 
think about. 

SB: When did you start writing the books?

JKR: Um, I had the idea for Harry in 1990, so I've now been
writing 
about him for nine years. And by the time I finish the seven book, 
I'll be writing about him for thirteen years. So
 it's
going to feel 
like a bereavement, I know, when I write the end of book seven,
it's 
going to be a really – I'm going to be heart broken. But, um,
that's 
what I planned, and that's what I'm going to do, so


SB: Where do you get the inspiration?

JKR: *exasperated sound* Well, if I knew I'd go and live there.
But I 
have no idea. I get asked that a lot, and I – sometimes I have to 
say, well, where do you get your ideas from? And it's really
– the 
problem with turning it around like that is sometimes people know. 
[laughter] So that one doesn't work, you think you're being
really 
clever doing that. "Well, here's what inspi-" Oh, no

So in truth, 
most of the ideas just come, um, I have to work hard for some of them 
normally it's a process
 twist of logic. I do remember nine
and three 
quarters. I wanted it to be a secret place in a real station, and if 
you follow that thought through, you think hidden platform, and if 
you follow that thought through, it's got to be between two real 
platforms, and you end up with a fraction. And I just picked nine and 
three quarters because it sounded like a – you know – cool
number! 
So, you know, sometimes I remember the thought process I follow to 
get somewhere, but other things just do pop up. 

SB: Several have asked about the movie.

JKR: Uh, yeah, right
 the – where we are in the movie is the
script 
is nearly finished – um, director should be chosen by the end of
the 
year, the film should be ready summer of 2001, they're telling
me. So 
um, I can't wait to see Quidditch. That's the bit I'm
really, really 
looking forward to seeing that – I've told them, and they
grinned 
nervously. 

SB: Can you imagine Harry ever growing up? 

JKR: Um
 *exasperated sound* Always, you see I have this
 for
five 
years, I was writing about Harry, and I never spoke about it to 
anyone except my sister, I told her the story of the first book, but 
she'd never read it, so all this stuff's going on in my head,
so it's 
such an incredible thing for me now to be somewhere like this, for 
people to be interested in talking about it, cause I didn't have
that 
opportunity at all for five or six years. But the frustrating thing 
is I can't tell you stuff, because it will ruin the rest of the 
books. So
 I'm going to have to pass on that question, cause
I do 
know exactly what's going to happen to Harry in book 7, and
I'm not 
going to tell you. [audience laughs] 

SB: This one is obviously from one of our guests in the peanut 
gallery there, because it's Xed out words and letters, but it 
says "Have you written your next book? What happens next, please
tell 
me." [laughter]

JKR: I think you should be very offended by that `peanut
gallery' 
remark, frankly. Um
 my book 4 is – I'm going to be
finishing when I 
get home. It's not too far off completion, and I do know what 
happens, and I'm not going to tell you that either. [laughter]
Um, 
I'm trying to think of something I can – you see the
Quidditch World 
Cup in book 4, which is Ireland versus Bulgaria. [laughter] Which I 
like. England got knocked out by Transylvania, which is a bit 
upsetting. And
 I actually said this in Scotland; this boy put up
his 
hand and said "What happened to Scotland?" and I said
"Well, you were 
slaughtered by Luxemburg," and he wasn't happy. [laughter]
They take 
it really – "What, Luxemburg, they're rubbish!"
"How do you know what 
they're like at Quidditch?" Um
 yes, so you see that, but
if you saw 
on the internet, because evil wizards have infiltrated the internet 
and put on there that the title of book 4 is `Harry Potter and
the 
Quidditch World Cup', and that's not true. They're just
messing with 
your mind! [laughter] It's not true at all. But I'm not going
to tell 
you the title; cause I'm a bit superstitious about that, I like
to 
keep it a secret until the book's finished. 

SB: One of our teachers has asked, my students and I wonder if there 
is any significance to you signing your books with just your initials?

JKR: Uh, yeah, this one's a funny one. That wasn't my choice.
When I 
finished my um, my copy of the manuscript, I put Joanne Rowling on 
there, that being my name and all. And uh, then my publisher, my 
British publisher, phoned me up two months before the first book was 
published and said "We'd like you to use your initials."
And I said – 
and – to be frank, I would've let them call me Enid Snodgrass
if they 
published the book. So, I really wasn't that
 with it, my
gratitude 
was such that I said, "Well, okay, fine, but why?" And they
said – 
first of all they said, "We think it looks more striking,"
and I 
said "Why, really?" and they said, well, we think boys will
like this 
book, but we're not sure that they'd pick it if they knew a
woman 
wrote it." *noise of understanding* Mmm
. [laughter] And the
funny 
thing is, that it was a completely pointless thing to do, because two 
months after the book was published, I was on national
television
 
and I wasn't wearing a false beard or anything. So everyone now
knows 
that I'm a, well, everyone that I've met
 no one's
gone "Where is 
he?" And no one seems remotely bothered, which I think is really 
encouraging. So that's why. It was my British publishers
 so
write 
and yell at them, not me. 

SB: One of our young visitors asks, do you have any imaginary 
friends, and who are they? 

JKR: Well, you know them, see, there's in here. [sounds of book
being 
tapped] That's who they are. Um, I did have imaginary friends
when I 
was younger, I think a lot of children do. I had a very vivid fantasy 
life, I think, when I was a child. Which is not uncommon

it's a bit 
worrying that maybe I didn't outgrow it though. But, um, yeah, I 
think I always will have – no, I don't have imaginary friends
now in 
the sense I'm pretending someone called Pee Wee is standing next
to 
me, no. No, I don't. 

SB: What advice would you give to young people you have an interest 
in writing, and also to their parents? 

JKR: Um, I often get asked by, um, younger readers what I would 
advise if you want to be a writer. This is the way I did it, so 
that's the only advice I can give
 you've got to read as
much as you 
possibly can, cause that's the best way to recognize good
writing, 
and to learn what makes bad writing, and those are very good things. 
You'll probably go through a phase where you imitate your
favorite 
writers; that's perfectly okay, that's another learning
process. You 
resign yourself to writing lots and lots of rubbish
 you've
just got 
to write that out of your system, and sooner or later you'll hit 
what – you know – you really should be doing and what's
your genre. 
And
 perseverance. You've got to persevere. Cause it's a
career with 
a lot of knock-backs, but the rewards are huge. I don't mean, in
the 
sense that that's what you really want to do, you should be able
to 
do it life-long. It's the best thing in the world. Very
rewarding. 
But it's not a career for people who are easily discouraged,
that's 
for sure. And for their parents, um, don't tell them it's 
unrealistic. Never say that. Because even if they're not
published, 
writing, well, writing is the passion of my life, so it's an 
important thing to do.

SB: You probably should read this one, because they're asking how
to 
pronounce one of Harry's friend's names. 

JKR: Oh, yeah. This is the question I get asked more than any other, 
and I'm starting to wish I'd called her Jane. [laughter]
"What is the 
girl who is Harry's friend's name?" Her-My-O-Knee.
Hermione. Her-
Moine is really common, I hear that a lot, but my favorite one's 
still Hermy-One. [laughter] And the wicked part of me, when I heard 
Hermy-One, wanted to say, "That's exactly right. Well
done." But 
that's – I thought that was too cruel because one of these
kids would 
grow up and name their child Hermy-One. [laughter] So we didn't
want 
that. So it's Hermione. 

SB: The next one is – how did you come up with her name? 

JKR: Um, it just seems to somehow suit her somehow, it's a name
from 
Shakespeare, it's in `A Winter's Tale'. Um, although
my Hermione 
bears very little relation to that Hermione. But it just seems the 
sort of name that a pair of professional dentists who liked to prove 
how clever they were – do you know what I mean – gave their
daughter 
a nice unusual name that no one can pronounce! I mean, parents do 
that. Um, and I did want, in truth, I wanted quite an unusual name 
for her, because I think there are quite a lot of girls like 
Hermione, I was a girl like Hermione, and I - it crossed my mind as I 
was writing, without knowing that I would even be published, that if 
I ever was published, I didn't want to give her a common name.
You 
know, just in case somewhere out there, there was a Jane with big 
front teeth who was really swotty and annoying. Just though that 
might not be a good idea. 

SB: Why is the Hippograff a half eagle and a half horse?

JKR: Why is a Hippogriff a half eagle and half horse? Um, I
didn't 
invent a hippogriff. See, um, Medieval European people genuinely 
believed it existed. We won't go into the reasons that might be.
But, 
um, it's a mythical creature, it's an unusual mythical
creature, it's 
not as famous as a unicorn or a griffin. So, um, I don't really
know. 
You have to ask the medieval monks who did those beautiful 
illuminations and they drew them on there. Um, I'm very fond of
my 
hippogriff, I like Buckbeak. If you read book 3, you'll know who
that 
is, if you haven't, then that will be gobbledygook to you, so
sorry. 

SB: Several people have asked, are you stopping at seven?

JKR: Um, at the moment, I definitely think I'm going to stop at 
seven, and I have to say, that will be really heartbreaking. Um, the 
only reason you'll ever see an eight Harry Potter book is if I 
really, in ten years time, burn to do another one. But at the moment, 
I think that's unlikely. But I try never to say never about
anything, 
cause the moment I say "I will never," I do it next month.
So, I 
just – but I think not. I think I'll stop at seven.

SB: How many points does Quidditch have? How many has he played up 
to? Someone's obviously keeping score. 

JKR: Oh, I see. No, I understand. Okay. You – infinity. You can
go on 
forever, because it says in book 1, the longest ever match went on 
for about three months. Continuously. So that was a lot of points. So 
you never stop at a certain amount of points. The only thing that can 
stop a Quidditch match is the golden snitch being caught. And if no 
one catches the snitch, you can keep playing for years. *evil 
laughter* [laughter] Well, she seems all right, but she was quite 
sadistic. [more laughter]

JKR: Did Voldemort go to school with Lily and James? Lily and James 
being Harry's parents. Uh, no. Voldemort is quite a bit older
than 
them. He was at school with Hagrid. Hagrid is – Hagrid
doesn't seem 
that old, but he'd in fact in his sixties. But he's just
– he's a 
strong man, so he doesn't seem that old. So Voldemort is around
that 
kind of age. 

SB: What other books would you recommend for a nine-year old?

JKR: Um
 oh, loads of books. Um, anything by Phillip Pullman. Of 
modern writers there's a book called "Skellig" by an
English author, 
David Armand, which I think is absolutely magnificent. Um, stuff I 
enjoyed when I was a child – I loved E. Nesbitt. And she's
– I'd 
really like to see her come back, E. Nesbitt's books, I think she
was 
a genius. Um
 what else? Paul Gallico, he's out of print a
lot now, 
and I really loved his work too. Any of those people. 

SB: Why in the first book does Harry's lightening scar flash, or
when 
he gets his lightening scar flash, when Snap looks at him?

JKR: Snape. 

SB: Snape.

JKR: Okay, this is a
 [laughter]

SB: I have a problem as well! 

JKR: He's sleep deprived, he's got five-month old twins.
Um
 
*exasperated noise* If anyone hasn't finished reading book one,
would 
they please put their fingers really tightly in their ears now, if 
they don't want the ending ruined? Really tightly now, cause this
is 
a question about the ending. Um
Quirrell had the back of his head
to 
Harry at the point when Harry looked at Snape, so someone else was 
looking at Harry through a certain turban. See what I mean? If
you've 
read it, you understand, and if you haven't read it, you're
going 
what? But that's okay. 

SB: We're going to take a few more questions, and um, the next
one is 
will Harry ever turn into a shape-changer like his father?

JKR: Animagus. No, Harry's not in training to be an animagus, and
if 
you've read book three, you won't know – um, that's a
wizard that's 
very, very difficult to do. They learn to turn themselves into 
animals. No, Harry is not, Harry is going to be concentrated 
elsewhere, he's not going to have time to do that. He's got
quite a 
full agenda coming up, poor boy.

SB: Very good. One more question. Are we going to learn more about 
Harry's mom in the next book?

JKR: Um, this is one of those questions you – some of the best 
questions I get are about – people have clearly read the books so 
well, and they're sensing there's more to be told about
certain 
people. But I can't ever answer them very fully, because I will
end 
up giving things away. There is something very important about 
Harry's mother that he hasn't yet discovered, that he's
not going to 
find out in the next book. It's too important for book 4, he
finds it 
out later in the series. That was interesting. 

SB: I'm going to ask one more. There were a lot of groans when I
said 
we were going to wrap it up, so one more. What happened to
Harry's 
grandparents?

JKR: Um, various interesting things, but again, I'm not going to 
share. [laughter] Sorry! But that's okay, cause we have time for 
another question, cause I didn't answer that one!

SB: Okay, good. It's a good excuse to write more books! 

JKR: True.

SB: Yes. Um, is there anything that you'd want to add? 

JKR: No, I'll see one more question, cause we really didn't
get an 
answer for that.

SB: Very good.

JKR: *looking through questions* No, don't like that one. Oh, I
like 
this one
 do Harry and Hermione have a date? [laughter] No. They
are –
 they're very platonic friends. But I won't answer for anyone
else, 
nudge, nudge, wink, wink. [laughter and sound of kids going
"Aaah!"] 

SB: Very good. We want to thank our guest.

JKR: Thank you very much
 [wild cheers and applause] 

*****************************************

I highly recommend the Audio Transcription Thread at the Sugar Quill, 
where Dr. C is leading a project to provide transcripts for all audio 
and video JKR interviews:  

http://www.sugarquill.net/forum/index.php?
act=ST&f=6&t=2073&s=95191b85a4dbed2975ddf4ff2cfd264f

Angua