Ian Rankin Says JK Rowling "Writing Family Trees" and Working on Scottish Book
J.K. Rowling
Posted by: sue
September 04, 2009, 02:41 PM
Author Ian Rankin has given a new interview on BBC radio with Simon Mayo (download here) where he mentions his friend and neighbor in Scotland, J.K. Rowling. In the middle of this interview, Mr. Rankin notes that while he has not seen the Harry Potter author in some time, he said she "was working on her Harry Potter encyclopedia" and "drawing family trees for all the characters, going back generations." This of course is not a surprise as Jo has said many times in the past that she is working again on various projects, as highlighted last year when she confirmed she was writing again in cafes, and has often expressed her desire to create the definitive encyclopedia of the beloved Harry Potter world.
Please note, as exciting as this is, we stress that it is important to release Mr. Rankin did not say or imply the Scottish book was to be released any time soon, again just noting he had seen her working on the book aka "The Scottish Book" as she first referred to the name during the interview with PotterCast in December, 2007.
Thanks to all who owled!
175 Comments
3936 Points
This makes me so freaking Happy. If I die tomorrow, Which I hope I don’t, I will die a Happy Woman, because JKR is working on the Scottish Book. :DDDDD
112 Points
YA! YA! YA! Thank you! CANNOT WAIT!!!
2536 Points
Eeee, exciting! We figured she was working on it, but it’s still exciting to get some kind of confirmation, right? :) No rush Jo, take your time. :)
2333 Points
YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!! OH MY GOD I CANNOT WAIT
150 Points
Hmm…you’d think that with all those fabled “boxes and boxes of notes”, she’d already have this stuff written out, right? Yet another mark against the seventeen years of planning.
433 Points
omg!!!! I’m soooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this soooo made my week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3187 Points
sweeeeet! i can’t wait.
149 Points
omg i can’t wait 2 read da encyclopedia!!!!! and 2 c the family trees!!! YAYYAYYAY
6552 Points
I can’t wait! I am very much looking forward to this book!!!
407 Points
Yes! I’m so happy she’s writing more. It’ll be interesting reading about family trees…
407 Points
Yes! I’m so happy she’s writing more. It’ll be interesting reading about family trees…
524 Points
Way to go JO kep them comming you write so well very interesting to say the least.
428 Points
awesome…im really excited for this book to come out. Hope it’s near…
594 Points
@starlesswinter, may I be so bold to ask, what are you trying to say? I mean, are you doubting Jo’s words on the “fabled boxes and boxes of notes” because you think she’s really a witch who’s gotten a special permission from the Ministry Of Magic to breach the Statute Of Secrecy and tell Harry’s story to the world at large? Or are you doubting her because of something more sinister? Because you don’t believe her?
I personally have no reason to doubt that Jo wouldn’t have those boxes and boxes of notes. However, having piles and piles of papers and boxes full of notes does not mean that putting together the encyclopedia would be fast, that the Scottish Book would practically compile itself. Quote the contrary, in fact. Jo has to go through every single note and piece of paper, many of which could be hand-written, and that’s just a start. I’m not particularly familiar with writing encyclopedias but I’m guessing that putting together something as huge as the Scottish Book would be quite a complicated matter, involving a lot of decision-making and (re-)writing. She has to decide, for example, how to group and categorise things, how to present the entries, what kind of text style or register to use (somehow I can’t see her using a rather dull and boring encyclopedia-style register but rather the same style and register she’s used in the books), etc. And, she also has to decide, for sure, whether she’s ever going to write something new to bridge the gap between the end of DH and the Epilogue. If not, she can include the information in the Scottish Book. And so on.
This makes me so freaking Happy. If I die tomorrow, Which I hope I don’t, I will die a Happy Woman, because JKR is working on the Scottish Book. :DDDDD