JK Rowling - what next?

writingislife · Jul 24, 2007

Will she sit back and rest on her laurels of these past 7 books, or will she write something else? I wonder if she CAN write something else. This series has been banging around in her head now for a long time. A long time with the same characters in the same setting doing the same things. Can she break away from that and go in a new direction with new characters?

What is your opinion on this?

**BTW, Im a HUGE HP fan as well as JKR fan, so I would buy her next book no matter what she wrote...unless it was Young Teen Romance or something

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

If I were her, after 17 long years and gazillion £s later, I would rest and just enjoy life for a while. Get the world away from me!

How could she even top HP? Some people are going to want to see her fail with her next endeavor. Why bother, right? The world has 7 books to enjoy for many, many, many generations to come.

Toothpaste · Jul 24, 2007

Well I think she is a true writer, that is to say, has that need and drive in her to write. I imagine she will take some much needed time off, but she will be back with another book. Though I hope the pressure of writing it doesn't cause her to have a heart attack or anything. Then again, the way she has handled this whole Harry Potter journey . . . really can you imagine a more perfect person to have been given such a gift? She has handled the fame and fortune and pressure admirably. I seriously do not know how she's done it.

She'll be back. But who knows with what and how successful it will be. Actually I wonder if maybe oddly the pressure's off. She has had unprecidented success, there is no need to top herself. She has money, she doesn't need to write another best seller. She can just write whatever and relax.

OddButInteresting · Jul 24, 2007

Well she said she's taking a very long break. I imagine she'll throw a few ideas around in her head during this period. I honestly can't see her churning out new material for another five years or so. I can picture her writing teen romance, especially judging by how the Harry Potter books have matured.

Southern_girl29 · Jul 24, 2007

I read somewhere that she might do an encyclopedia sort of thing for the series. I would love it if she did.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

Toothpaste said:
Well I think she is a true writer, that is to say, has that need and drive in her to write.

True. But as a writer/artistic type, I know what comes after a high. She had to take two years off (having a baby, etc.) for Book 5 (or was it Book 6?) because she was just overwhelmed. And after this career high for a whole decade, I think she's going to "crash" a little. I really do think she may have to take at least 2 or 3 years off, and maybe then she will start writing something new. So I don't think we're going to see anything from her, if anything, for at least a few years.

Or maybe she will pull a Harper Lee and just disappear. Leave it all behind on a high note.

Kalthandrix · Jul 24, 2007

Well - considering that there are still two more movies to make as well I would imagine that she will take at least the time it will take make them off before diving into another project. Now I do not know how much input or contact she has with the movies, but I know for a fact that she was heavely involved in case selection and such for the first novel-turned-movie.

Heck - I would take a break too if I were her. She has made several billion - yes BILLION - off of the Harry Potter stuff, so she has the ability to sit back and enjoy her sucess for a bit.

Hillary · Jul 24, 2007

Yeah, after things die down, the movies are through, and she writes that for-charity-type HP thingy she was talking about...

She'll be back. With two words. PEN NAME.

MerryDay · Jul 24, 2007

Hillary, that is exactly what I've been thinking she will do!

She is obviously a real writer, and probably has tons of ideas built up after all these years chained to HP, but I can't imagine her wanting to publish under JKR anymore. Anything she did would be judged completely by the HP series!

So, she'll be back...we just have to figure out as whom!

JoNightshade · Jul 24, 2007

Agreed. If I were her I'd absolutely change my name and write as someone else.

Enraptured · Jul 24, 2007

I could see her writing under a pen name. No matter what she writes next, there will be a lot of HP fans who will see it as terrible just because it's not HP. And what if she wanted to write for adults but knew she'd have tons of kids reading whatever she wrote? She might want a fresh start.

reenkam · Jul 24, 2007

She mentioned once that she thought about writing other things under a pen name, but she thinks people would find out too quickly. I kind of agree. I found out two authors were using pen names just with google and maybe 5 minutes...

her publishing company would have to do an amazing job covering it all up.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 24, 2007

Rowling

If she's smart, she'll wait four or five years, and then her publisher will announce that she's writign a new book. No details will be given, but Harry Potter fans will all wonder what it is. A fever pitch will build, and good, bad, or indifferent, the book will sell another bazillion copies when it's released. After that, who knows. But the next book she writes will sell like mad, no matter how good or bad it might be.

Sassee · Jul 24, 2007

I agree, I think she'll write under a pen name, if she goes back to having anything published at all. It is possible to keep an identity under wraps for a few years, and that would be long enough to have something published as a stand-alone without all the "omg it's JK Rowling!" hype.

pconsidine · Jul 24, 2007

I wouldn't expect anything from her, pseudonymously or otherwise, until after the last Harry Potter movie has come and gone. After all, until it's truly out of the public consciousness, she'll always be having to deal with Potter-related stuff, which would be very hard on any new project she'd be working on.

I suppose it will be the answer to the question of whether she's really a writer or not. After all, if lack of money was the only reason she wrote, I couldn't really say she was much of a writer.

Toothpaste · Jul 24, 2007

I totally believe she's a "real" writer. The way she talks about getting her first book published, that it was the greatest day of her life (and remember her advance was small at first). That she knew since she was a kid that she wanted to be a writer. Yeah, she's real.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

Of course she's a real writer. She's written seven books.

I find it funny about the notion that "real writers" have to keep writing until the day they die. Is there a clause somewhere in the writer's manual and contract? Section 2.3.2-5, perhaps?

Someone once said this is an interesting American phenomenon. As soon as you have something new out, the very next question is "What's next?" as if that's the only valid question if the person is "serious." Some will take it as a compliment -- meaning people want to see, hear or read your next work. But, oh, the pressure!

pconsidine · Jul 24, 2007

Maestro -

Writers write. That's all I meant. She could write a book about native British fungus and it would count in my book. If she doesn't write anything else, then she just had one story to tell. I don't believe that to be the case, but it's certainly possible. She wouldn't be the first one.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

I know what you mean, but I never considered Harper Lee as "not a real writer" even though she did have only one story to tell. And she did it beautifully.

pconsidine · Jul 24, 2007

Then that's where we differ, I guess.

Though I might go so far as to say that the fact that we never saw anything else from Harper Lee in no way means she didn't have more stories to tell.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 24, 2007

pconsidine said:
I wouldn't expect anything from her, pseudonymously or otherwise, until after the last Harry Potter movie has come and gone. After all, until it's truly out of the public consciousness, she'll always be having to deal with Potter-related stuff, which would be very hard on any new project she'd be working on.

I suppose it will be the answer to the question of whether she's really a writer or not. After all, if lack of money was the only reason she wrote, I couldn't really say she was much of a writer.

Lack of money is just as good a reason to write as any other, and from my experience, generally is the best possible reason to write.

Rowling has written seven novels that have outsold all other novels in history, and that have pleased many millions of readers. But I suppose this doesn't count if she did it for money.

Better to write a book no one wants to read, as long as your motives are pure, and you're devoted to the "art" of it all.

pconsidine · Jul 24, 2007

Hardly, James. And I'm not even going to get into the "what makes a writer" debate here. It's been done to death elsewhere and my views are archived there.

Carry on.

jhtatroe · Jul 24, 2007

There was a line in HP7 that I thought might have been somewhat revealing about the author's state of mind (not a spoiler):

"It's a damn sight harder making stuff up when you're under stress than you'd think."

I think she'll be back, but it might be a while.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

pconsidine said:
Then that's where we differ, I guess.

Though I might go so far as to say that the fact that we never saw anything else from Harper Lee in no way means she didn't have more stories to tell.

So how do you know about Rowling, then? What if she has many stories to tell, but she never publishes anything else after HP? What if she only writes to her children and grandchildren? Then what?

So the whole argument really is moot, then, that "she can only prove she's a real writer if she does something else other than HP."

My point is, Rowling has proven herself as a writer. She doesn't need anything else to prove again, and again, and again.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 24, 2007

pconsidine said:
Hardly, James. And I'm not even going to get into the "what makes a writer" debate here. It's been done to death elsewhere and my views are archived there.

Carry on.

What makes a real writer may or may not be debatable on some points, but when anyone writes books that please millions, that set all time sales records by selling 8.3 million copies in twenty-four hours, that person is not only a real writer, she's one of the best.

Motives do not make one a writer. Ever. You can write for money, you can write for fame, or you can write for art. It doesn't matter. What matters is accomplishment. If you write books like the Harry Potter books, you're just as much a real writer as anyone who ever lived, even if you write them only because your cat told you to do so in a dream.

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