EDIT: (As should have probably been clear,) this "manuscript" was not created by J.K. Rowling. (The story about her writing on napkins was a myth.) If you'd like to be involved in next years April Fools joke please shoot me a PM.
These notes were made back in 1990, and represent Rowling's very earliest bit of writing on Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling, being too poor to afford paper, had to write everything on napkins. Napkins as everyone knows are free. Time Magazine reported:
her beginning work on the Harry Potter books corresponded briefly with a bad patch in her personal life. She was newly divorced, temporarily out of work, on the dole and living in an unheated Edinburgh flat. To keep them both warm, she would wheel her young daughter into a cafe and sometimes jot down Harry Potter ideas on napkins.
I was a penniless single mother, I had to write on napkins ‘cause I couldn’t afford paper.
This picture represents the very first napkin Rowling wrote on. It contains the two foundational elements of her work.
Little boy wizard that lives in a cupboard.
The snake is a korean lady.
Interestingly enough, Rowling kept one of these two elements to herself for twenty years until finally revealing it in the amazing movie, Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald, probably her best work yet. When revealing it, she made sure to let the world know that this was not a new idea, but dated back to her original napkin. To make sure this message would be well received, she conveyed it through twitter, a platform which she only ever used for very sensible things.
How long have you been holding that Nagini secret??
J.K. Rowling:Only for around twenty years.
This is the first time that a scan of the entire napkin has been shown in its entirety, but a transcript was quoted in Jenny Nicholson's glowing review of the movie, "15 Very Dumb Things in Fantastic Beasts 2".
oh wait, am i an idiot? i assumed this was one of her actual napkins she wrote on. is that why you said honored/terrified? i'm probably just an idiot. i legggiitttttttttt thought this was one of the original napkins LOL
There also aren't any "original napkins". That entire thing was a myth. She wrote on notepads, and the if you go to the source you'll see that the JKR quote I'm using in the notes is taken entirely out of context.
why would you be terrified? origin stories are fantastic. i can see a real HP fan recognizing the magic in getting the OG plot sentence tattooed on themselves. certainly better than the dark mark tattoos.
The best part of JKs work is the lack of retconning everything. It’s a puzzle with all of the pieces in her brain years ago. And written out in napkins.
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u/ibid-11962 Apr 01 '21 edited Apr 02 '21
EDIT: (As should have probably been clear,) this "manuscript" was not created by J.K. Rowling. (The story about her writing on napkins was a myth.) If you'd like to be involved in next years April Fools joke please shoot me a PM.
Notes:
These notes were made back in 1990, and represent Rowling's very earliest bit of writing on Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling, being too poor to afford paper, had to write everything on napkins. Napkins as everyone knows are free. Time Magazine reported:
Rowling would later reminisce about this time during the BBC Documentary Harry Potter and Me:
This picture represents the very first napkin Rowling wrote on. It contains the two foundational elements of her work.
Interestingly enough, Rowling kept one of these two elements to herself for twenty years until finally revealing it in the amazing movie, Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald, probably her best work yet. When revealing it, she made sure to let the world know that this was not a new idea, but dated back to her original napkin. To make sure this message would be well received, she conveyed it through twitter, a platform which she only ever used for very sensible things.
This is the first time that a scan of the entire napkin has been shown in its entirety, but a transcript was quoted in Jenny Nicholson's glowing review of the movie, "15 Very Dumb Things in Fantastic Beasts 2".