People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: JK Rowling

Around late 1999 my big sister Rudy came home from school one day with a book in her hand. I noticed that there was a boy with glasses who riding what looked like a broomstick on the cover of the book. When I asked her what was the name of the book she was carrying she told me it was called Harry Potter and it’s about a boy who goes to school where he does magic. My first impression of the book was well it sounds like typical kids stuff but I’m not really interested in it. What I didn’t realize was that this book would become one of my favorite stories ever and the woman who wrote it would later become one of my heroes of writing. Her name is JK Rowling and she is an incredible woman who has inspired me as a writer.

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in South Gloucestershire, England. In her youth Rowling was a dedicated student who incorporated many of her school life experiences into her stories when she grew up. Rowling was very close with her mother and their relationship inspired Joanne’s passion for reading and writing. In her adulthood Rowling endured poverty and an abusive marriage, but persevered through it all on the journey to crafting her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone.

On May 8, 1998 Joanne Rowling released her groundbreaking first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in the United States the novel is titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The plot of the novel follows a young orphaned boy named Harry Potter who discovers that he is a wizard and begins attending a school for magical beings. The book would later become a hit series which featured six more entries and would also become a hit film franchise that would solidify its brand as perhaps the biggest story ever.

My introduction to JK Rowling and the world of Harry Potter was very interesting to me. I was introduced to the book when my older sister brought it home from school one day and though I thought nothing of it at the time, when I returned to school I learned that it was popular with every reader and even non-reader in the libraries. It became more noticeable to me when I saw the movie Shrek in theaters in 2001 and the debut trailer for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone played during the previews. I even remember leaning over to my dad and telling him that the preview for the movie we were looking at was called Harry Potter before they even displayed its title.

Amidst all the popularity the movie had when it first came out I genuinely wasn’t interested in seeing it. Eventually I did see it when it started coming on television. After watching it a couple times I actually thought it was a good movie, but I still wasn’t crazy about it, this would all change when the second film in the entry was released.

After watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the first time there was no denying it, I had become a fan of the Harry Potter series and had now made it a mission to start reading all of the books. As I became a fan of Harry Potter I also became a fan of JK Rowling and her style as a storyteller.

JK Rowling’s work on Harry Potter is the perfect composition of storytelling. I was always taught that the best way to tell a story is by using your real life experiences as your source material. JK Rowling did this with literally every detail of the Harry Potter series. The name Potter is one she always liked hence why she gave the main character that last name. King’s Cross Station is featured prominently in the story because in real life this is where her parents first met. Many of the characters in the story are inspired by real people she grew up knowing and Harry Potter even shares her real life birthday.

JK Rowling has been a big inspiration for my style as a writer. I learned so much from her both as a storyteller and as a human being in general. Another area I’ve always connected with her in was the personal battles she fought on the road to greatness. She is living proof that you can take your hardships and use them as weapons to make your life better and also become a better craftsman in the process. JK Rowling will forever be one of the greatest authors ever and an incredible woman who has inspired me as a writer.