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Harry Potter author on 'Larry King Live'Thought Potter would be an 'obscure book,' says Rowling
(CNN) -- Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling thought her books were going to have a narrow appeal at best, she said in an interview Friday night. "I didn't think it would do this well with anyone," she told CNN's Larry King on Friday night's "Larry King Live." "I thought I was writing quite an obscure book that, if it ever got published, would maybe have a handful of devotees. ... I never expected it to have broad appeal." The Harry Potter series, about a young wizard and his friends learning their trade at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, now features four books and is one of the greatest publishing successes of recent years. The books have dominated bestseller lists the world over for more than two years and are published in more than 20 countries. The fifth book in the series, Rowling revealed early Friday, will be "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
A movie based on the first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ("Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States), is currently being produced by Warner Brothers. (CNN Interactive and Warner Brothers are both divisions of Time Warner.) Rowling also said that she never intended to become a children's writer. "I thought I was going to be a writer for adults, but 'Harry' was the first (book) I tried to get published," she told King. "Philosopher's Stone" was one of many books she had written, she continued, but readers shouldn't expect to see Rowling's early works in stores: "I've made it very clear that they're due for the shredder," she said. 'Very physical response'The idea for Harry Potter came to her all at once, Rowling noted. "It came to me on a train going from Manchester to London. ... I had this very physical response to this idea. I just thought it would be so much fun to write." Rowling spent five years planning out the entire series before finishing the first book, she said. The best thing about the success of the series is the financial freedom, she said. "I don't have economic pressure anymore. ... You know, there will be a single mother out there who will understand nothing means more to me than the fact I don't have to worry about (money) anymore because it's a difficult way to live." Rowling, a single mother herself, was scraping along financially before the success of the Potter books. She has since donated a six-figure sum to a charity for single mothers. But her day-to-day life, she said, hasn't changed much. She had difficulty finding time to write before she was successful, she said, and she still does. "(It) used to be difficult because I'm a single parent and I was doing a day job," she said. "And now it's difficult because the phone never stops ringing so I still walk out of the house to write. Occasionally, obviously, I'm on the 'Larry King' show. This was not a feature of my life." Almost all imaginationRowling said she creates Potter's world from a variety of sources, but mostly from her imagination. 
"A few people were inspired by living people," she said. "Hermione, who is one of Harry's best friends, was most consciously based on a real person, and that person was me. ... Ron, who is Harry's other best friend, (is) a lot like most oldest friend, who is a man called Sean." Rowling also likes collecting names. Snape, one of the villainous professors of the series, is a place name in Britain; Dumbledore, the name of Hogwarts' headmaster, is an old English dialect word. The spells are almost entirely made up, despite the ideas of Potter fans -- and foes. "I meet people at book signings who whisper to me, 'We are trying the spells.' And I think: Well, don't bother, because I know I just made them up. They don't work," she said. She added that some of the supernatural elements in Potter, such as the Hand of Glory, were derived from ancient legend. But what of the series' conservative religious opponents, who have criticized the book for its occult elements and have tried to have it removed from libraries? Rowling was firm. "What it deals with is good and evil, like a lot of classic children's literature ... So my feeling is that their objection is utterly unfounded. I mean, occasionally, I wonder: Have they read the books? I think they're very moral books. "If we're going to object to depicting magic in books, then we are going to have to reject C.S. Lewis. We're going to have to get rid of "The Wizard of Oz." ... A lot of classic children's literature is not going to be allowed to survive." Watching quidditchRowling has been thrilled with the making of the movie, which is being directed by Chris Columbus ("Bicentennial Man") and written by Steve Kloves ("The Fabulous Baker Boys"). 
"It's actually been a lot of fun for me," she said. "Writing is a very solitary business and to work collaboratively on something ... it's Steve's script, but he's allowed me some input." Daniel Radcliffe, the young actor selected to play Potter, is "just perfect," said Rowling. But, though Rowling knows a lot of money is riding on the success of the movie, she plans to enjoy it like any other Harry Potter fan. "I'm going to be sitting there like everybody else, really wanting to watch quidditch (the most popular game at Hogwarts, a sort of soccer played on flying broomsticks). That's the thing I want to see most. ... I've been watching this inside my head for 10 years, so to be able to physically watch it ... I feel like a kid when I think about that." RELATED STORIES: Potter sparks scrums in Germany RELATED SITES: Scholastic: Harry Potter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Audio excerpt from newest Harry Potter book - 1