J.K. Rowling Talks Galbraith, Potter and Success

J.K. Rowling in conversation with Lauren Laverne in The Guardian talks about how “Success never feels the way you think it will.”

As part of their “Talk to Me: A Conversation Special” issue in The Guardian Weekend Magazine, J.K. Rowling sat down fro a one on one conversation with another fellow UK success story, Lauren Laverne, best known for her work as a radio and TV broadcaster, and as the former lead singer of Kenickie.

Lauren Laverne and JK Rowling Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

As Laverne note sat the top of the article: “[T]his is part of a series about how the art of conversation is dying. And I’m not sure if we’re a test case.” Rowling gamely responses that its time to prove everyone wrong. Some of the highlights from their extensive conversation:

• On choosing the pseudonym for Robert Galbraith: “[It] was a really big deal… when I was a child I wanted to be called Ella Galbraith. So I thought I might be LA Galbraith, but then I didn’t want to use initials… there’s also JK Galbraith, the famous economist. It was only after I’d chosen Robert, for Robert Kennedy, who’s my political hero of heroes, that I thought, it’s as though I want to be found! What am I doing?”
• On attempting to get The Cuckoo’s Calling published without letting on who she was: “I had this dream that I’d manage to get two or three books out before being rumbled… But it was a great liberation, thinking, “No one will know that it’s me.” I was so thrilled with every rejection letter, you have no idea. It just felt so real, it was all about the writing… funnily enough, the first publisher ever to turn down Harry wrote Robert [Galbraith] his rudest rejection. So I think it’s safe to say I will never write for them.
• On the subject of success (which apparently she’s working out by having Cormoran Strike meditate on it in the next Galbraith book): “[W]hen you meet my detective in book four, he is reflecting on how success never feels the way you think it will be. Some people would assume that you’re sitting around feeling simply marvellous and shining your baubles…. From the outside, I’m sure everything looked amazing. But… everything felt phenomenally overwhelming… I now felt: “The next book can’t possibly live up to this.” So I managed to turn this amazing triumph into tragedy, in the space of about five days.”
• On writing Fantastic Beasts: “I always knew Warner Bros wanted to do something with [it] and, being slightly control-freaky, I thought I’d better tell them that I had an idea. Then I sort of wrote a screenplay without meaning to.”
• On becoming a millionaire overnight: I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it. I didn’t know anyone who had ever been through anything like it. One of the reasons I was very keen to meet Oprah Winfrey… She was someone who didn’t grow up rich, then suddenly had money and no one to talk to – and you don’t meet many women in that position. She said to me, “Have you accepted that you will always be rich?” and I definitely haven’t.

My favorite tidbit from the entire article though is one that’s not part of the recorded conversation. While swapping photos on their phones of their children, Rowling mentions how much she hates to be photographed. The only photoshoot she ever enjoyed was one where Annie Leibovitz made her take off all her make up and had her hold burning books. “…and I love fire.”

Check out the full article for all the things Rowling talks about, including having children, growing old and The Smiths.

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(Top Image via The Guardian.)