This aired last night (12/4) as part of the 2002 Countdown. I don’t know if it’s a repeat or not, but…
She has written the final chapter of Book 7. She showed the folder it was in…looks like it was handwritten, like a lot of her other work. She said it was a promise to herself, that she would get to that point and when she did, she would need it. It’s an epilogue, wrapping up what happens to everyone after they leave Hogwarts.
She loves her fans, but she’s not concerned about offending people. She seems very cautious about not saying nasty things, whether it’s about the publishers who rejected her first book or the fundie Muggles. About the fundie Muggles, she says that she has never had a child come up to her after reading one of the books and say, “Because of you, I’m going to study the occult.” She says children are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, and they know it’s fiction. She also said 95% of the “witchcraft” is made up, with the rest she took from folklore and changed to suit her purposes.
Her favorite book as a child was The Little White Horse, and what struck her as a child was that whenever there was a meal scene, the author took great pains in describing the food. Rowling said that really stuck with her.
The death scene…she’s written it, and she said it will be very hard to rewrite as well. My guess…it’s Sirius or perhaps one or both of Ron’s parents, or maybe even Dumbledore.
She also said contrary to what people say, she did not write in cafes to escape her unheated flat. She said she is not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter, and that she wrote in cafes because it was the only way to get her baby daughter to sleep. She’d push her in the carriage until she nodded off, then pop into the nearest cafe to write.
The flying car…her dear friend (SO?) Sean, had a Ford Anglia as a teenager, and they would go for a drive, park and drink the night away. She has very fond memories of Ford Anglias, so that’s why the Weaslys’ flying car is a Ford Anglia.
All in all, she seems like a woman who loves what she’s doing, and is writing the books as best she can for her own satisfaction, not to feed the public. Apparently she got one rather critical fan letter, and she wrote back to the fan, “Don’t read any more books.” As she said, she’s not taking dictation.
