Exclusive: J.K. Rowling on How She Crafts Gritty, Realistic Characters

Great question and brilliant answer. Thank you, Ms. Rowling.

I have a question for Patrick (the poster): Can Goodreaders who haven't finished reading The Casual Vacancy access this page? If so, they might appreciate a spoiler alert?

What a great answer!! Thanks, Ms Rowling. :)

One's upon a time some person asked to a man of wisdom name Lukman Hakeem, '' where have you learned adab. He replied. I learned adab from illitrate person but they asked how to learn.....by the way of accepted good things and refused bad things!

Thank you so much for answering. It was a good question, made even better by your answer, J.K. Rowling.

Thanks for putting this up!! I LOVE HP FOREVER!!

Thank you so much Jo, this is wonderful. It was very good question, and all of us readers who chose it knew. But the answer was outstanding. Thank you for it, and for showing the cruel realness of social behavior in your book and in each characters.

Thank you J.k. Rowling for this great answear...

Why am I always the last to find out about good books? This seems like an interesting book that I'll be getting soon. I too am a writer and know the importance of characterization, of making well-rounded characters and showing character flaws. It makes reading.

Amazing answer, very lengthy, and very analytical. It makes me wonder whether all authors have such themes and ideas in mind when they are writing. It was certainly fascinating to pick your brain a bit, and all you said was definitely conveyed in The Casual Vacancy.

Thanks very much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to answer a question with such a long answer! :)

What a beautiful answer -- so glad I live during your time...

Thank you for this excellent question and the oppotruniy to digest the author's reply. Excellent stimulating discourse!
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Thank you for this answer and thank you for your writing which truly inspires me to be a better person.

Great question, and wonderful, thought-provoking answer. Thank you Jo!

Thank you!!!!

I purchased this book the other day. The cover is on backwards and you have to read the book from back to front....and read the page on the right side first then read the page on the left...very cool...can't wait to read it thank you ms.rawling

Thank you Anne Gunden, for your beautifully phrased question. Right on the dot. It is not easy; I tried to phrase this question myself but utterly failed.

Still it was what I admired throughout the book: the attention to the dirty details in our thougth processes that we tend to overlook for our own sakes; but if left undected make us blind to the undercurrents in our lifes that hamper us and if left undisturbed will never be worked through, leaving us in our own lifes with lots of dirt inside. Of course bitter thoughts come from bitter experiences, etc. etc. As JK Rowling ( as we outsiders know her) does not forget to point out.

Really important is to acknowledge we are all here to learn and to grow, and we all get through life with heaps of difficulties and heaps of opportunities to learn from. But a roadmap is not included. Our schoolsystems are built around economically important lessons like languages and math. We all spend long long hours inside schools; years and years and years of our young lives.
When the children come home they find parents rushing around to fullfill all kinds of duties - this is how our society " works" .

The deeper layers of life are not uncovered at all; this has always been left to religion, in times when education and reading of books was a scarce commodity.... oral tradition was important enough to sit around the fire and talk about life in a way that everyone could understand.
With better education commercial advertisements have overtaken and secularisation has set in. Leaving us with nagging darkness and poverty in the spiritual realm

Should occasionally something bubble up confusion arises.
Some fundamental churches have protested against the Harry Potter books; probably out of mundane fears: they feel the undercurrent seeking new ways for expression and fear the books will pull the masses away from church even farther.
Yet in a way the Harry Potter books deal with the questionsof life, the struggle between good and bad in the same way all the old stories in the oral tradition did/do.And of course many adults read the books as avidly as their children.
Btw: we are still wondering about Hermiones cat... too many clues, and unsatisfactorily left open..
Now JK Rowling is adressing adults. Let' s listen and act. Starting with ourselves.

I liked the way the that J K Rowling used the model of the Parable of the Good Samaritan for the scene where three walked by and ignored the boy and one did all she good to rescue him. Very compelling

I have a question for the author: Did you ever do a collaboration with another author? XD

why you describes the book as a "comic tragedy" ?

Will you write another Harry potter book?

A fabulous and inspiring answer ..you are the best Rowling!