'Potter' Author Juggles Life, Work
Since its release on Saturday, "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix" has become the fastest-selling book ever, with an estimated 5 million copies snapped up on the first day.
The woman behind the craze, author J.K. Rowling, has been very busy, marrying Dr. Neil Murray and having a baby - all while penning the nearly 900-page book. She sat down with the BBC's Jeremy Paxman and told him that contrary to popular belief, writer's block has never been a problem for her.
Rowling says, "I finished 'Philosopher's Stone.' I literally started 'Chamber Of Secrets' that afternoon. I finished 'Chamber Of Secrets,' I started 'Prisoner of Azkaban' the next day. And I finished 'Azkaban,' and I'd already started 'Goblet Of Fire,' because they overlapped. So there was absolutely no letup. And I knew I couldn't do it, I just knew I couldn't do it. My brain was going to short circuit if I tried to do that again. So they said, 'Well, how about if we do still get the book when you finish it, but you don't have a deadline.' So I said okay, so that's how we worked it. So there was no deadline, so just once and for all and for the record, I didn't miss the deadline because there was no deadline."
She didn't have writer's block, Rowling says, "I just produced a quarter of a million words."
And when asked if she found the need for secrecy a bit ridiculous, Rowling says, "Not at all. A lot of it comes from me."
"Really?" Paxman asks. "Yes. Definitely," Rowling answers, "Because that's part of the excitement of the story, and having - you know - sweated blood to create all my red herrings and lay all my clues to me it's not a... this is my,this is my... I was going to say this is my life, it's not my life, but it is a very important part of my life."
As for the plot, Harry is going to become a teen. Rowling says, "He's a lot angrier in this book. He really is quite angry a lot of the time. I think it's justified. Look what he's gone through."
And there is going to be a death.
Rowling says, "Yes. Horrible, horrible, death." And it is of a significant figure.
She says, "Well I had re-written the death, re-written it and that was it. It was definitive. And the person was definitely dead. And I walked into the kitchen crying and Neil said to me, 'What on earth is wrong?' and I said, 'Well, I've just killed the person.' Neil doesn't know who the person is. But I said, 'I've just killed the person.' And he said, 'Well, don't do it then.' I thought, a doctor you know... and I said 'Well it just doesn't work like that. You are writing children's books, you need to be a ruthless killer.'"
When Paxman asked if she thinks it going to upset people, Rowling says, "Yes. Upset me."