JK Rowling reveals she wrote part of Harry Potter while sitting on a public loo
JK Rowling has revealed she made a splash with the Harry Potter books after writing part of one on a public toilet.
But the British author, 55, has refused to reveal where her creative juices flowed, insisting she is too embarrassed by the episode.
She said: “I once wrote a paragraph of Harry Potter sitting on a public loo. Literally. You know what? It was the moment, I had no time, it’s gonna have to happen now.
“So it made me very un-precious about the conditions I need to write, and that was good because it meant I could continue to raise my kids and keep going.
“Maybe they would’ve been better written if I hadn’t had that life but that’s what it was.”
It was then suggested the lav could be a money-spinner if it was found. But she added: “I’m not telling anyone where that loo was, I’m too embarrassed, I can’t believe I’ve told you that.”
The first Potter novel was published in 1997, and the author is worth £795million.
JK, real name Joanne, decided to use the pen name to avoid the attention of her ex-husband Jorge Arantes.
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She told tonight’s Radio 4 show The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed: “I’d come out of this very difficult marriage and I was a little bit paranoid.
“My ex-husband knew what I’d been writing. He never read it but we had talked about it so if he ever heard about it I suppose he would know it was me.
“But I didn’t imagine it was going to be a success.”
