plots of all seven books, and writing the first book.
Five years!
How J.K. Rowling Created the
Incredible World of Harry Potter
Laura-Blaise McDowell ​- 18 June 2018 .​This is an excerpt from the
new book ​The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at
the Right Time by Allen Gannett.
It was 1990.
J. K. Rowling was stuck on the train from Manchester
to London. The train was delayed, and it was looking
less and less likely she’d reach London on time. Her
mind started to wander. Then, as she later told The
New York Times, “It was the most incredible
feeling… out of nowhere, it just fell from above.”
Suddenly the ideas for the characters inhabiting a
magical world began filling her brain, starting with
Harry Potter. “I could see Harry very clearly; this
scrawny little boy, and it was the most physical rush
of excitement. I’ve never felt that excited about
anything to do with writing. I’ve never had an idea
that gave me such a physical response.”
Rowling continued, “By the end of that train journey I
knew it was going to be a seven-book series. I know
that’s extraordinarily arrogant for somebody who had
never been published but that’s how it came to me.”
Harry Potter’s origin story has become a legend. It has
informed how thousands, if not millions, of people
think about creativity. And it has lent credence to the
idea that creativity is a mysterious, spontaneous,
almost magical (no pun intended) process where
earth-shattering ideas drop fully formed from the sky.
Rowling’s story of dreaming up the Harry Potter
universe in an instant has made her a poster child for
this “inspiration theory” of creativity.
But the story has it totally backwards. Rowling’s story
doesn’t prove that creativity is uncontrollable and
random. On the contrary, the real story behind the
creation of Harry Potter persuasively demonstrates
that creativity is a learnable, improvable skill. Let me
show you what I mean.
The Crafting of Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling got off the train when it reached
London, feeling inspired. If she had believed in the
inspiration theory of creativity, she might have gone
home and sat at her desk, waiting for yet more
revelations. Instead, motivated by the vision she’d
already mapped out in her head, she began planning
her books methodically. Rowling spent the next five
years engaged in creative iterations, developing the
Her story is not one of sudden inspiration leading to
overnight success. In fact, Rowling is one of the most
organized and driven fiction writers I found in my
research. Once, during a television interview, she
showed a journalist her papers. Among the troves of
boxes were fifteen variations of the first chapter of
book one alone, as well as a chart that included every
single character in Harry Potter’s class at Hogwarts
that Rowling used to develop her plots.
It didn’t stop there. Rowling published on her website
a plot table she created to plan her fifth book. On the
left-hand side, she listed every chapter, followed by a
column for each subplot, and a map that helped her
organize how various plotlines would unfold
throughout the book. Her original agent, Christopher
Little, described to me how obvious her planning was
when the two of them first met. “What was quite
extraordinary was that she had a very clear picture in
her head of seven books,” he said. “If you asked a
question about a particular scene, where you go down
a corridor, and you turn into the third door on the left,
she knew what was in the first door and the second
door on the left.”
Rowling was more than just a visionary; she was also
a voracious planner who exerted immense effort.
The True Nature of Creativity
One of the things I love most about Rowling’s story is
the colossal gap between the public perception of her
creative process and the reality. She didn’t just get
struck by lightning. She didn’t win the creative lottery.
She toiled for years to create something great.
Rowling planned, outlined, and developed reference
materials, going through endless iterations and drafts
to get her story and her characters just right. She built
the universe subplot by subplot, draft by draft, and
scene by scene.
And the result, of course, was Harry Potter.
The true story of the creation of Harry Potter should
leave you feeling empowered. The way to create
something amazing isn’t to wait for it to be delivered
to your brain fully formed. Creativity isn’t something
that magically drops from the sky, it’s a muscle that
can be trained through hard work and dedication. You
don’t need to be a wizard to create something great.
You just have to be willing to work your wand off.

1.JK Rowling was in a different situation when she
had the idea for Harry Potter. How was this situation?
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5. Talk about your thoughts after reading the story of
how JK Rowling came up with the Harry Potter series.
What do you think is the most interesting thing about
her process?

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2. When the end of her train journey, she had already ____________________________________________
established something very important about the Harry ____________________________________________
Potter series, what was it? ____________________________________________
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3. In the text is said that JK Rowling took a long time

to write the first Harry Potter book. How long was it
and was it important to the success of it?

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4. According to the text, J.K. is a really organized

writer. Why is that?

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