Writer JK Rowling has only had writer’s block once in her entire life. This happened while writing the second book in the Harry Potter series, Rowling says in an interview with The Sunday Times. “I completely froze because the first book was beyond my wildest dreams and I was panicking. It only lasted a week, but I just couldn’t see my way forward. I was so overwhelmed.”
Rowling recalls that during the filming of the popular series, she once received a call from Alan Rickman, who was trying to figure out Severus Snape’s character. According to Rowling, he said, “I really need to know what’s going on with Snape. Am I a pure villain?” The writer continues: “He’s the only one I ever told: ‘You were in love with Harry’s mother.’ I told Rickman what was going to happen way before it was in the movie.”
When Rowling finished the Potter series, she had mixed feelings. According to her, the seventeen years in which she wrote Harry Potter were not always easy. “It was a place I could escape to. So the idea that I could never escape there again was very difficult.” Yet the writer was also relieved when it was over. “It sounds crazy, but I felt like I was free to fail. I’m free to write whatever I want, even if no one wants to read it.”
The first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in English in 1997 and in Dutch in 1998. In August 1999, the book reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list and remained there until 2000. The book has sold more than 120 million copies worldwide.
