We already brought you part one of our list of 15 things you probably did not know about J.K. Rowling, and now we’re back with part two! Check out eight more fascinating facts about the Harry Potter writer that you definitely (probably) did not know below. You might be surprised by what you find out!
Number Eight: She Invented Quidditch After a Fight With Her Boyfriend. After a fight with her boyfriend, Rowling began thinking about things that hold a society together, and it was then that she knew she needed a sport in the Harry Potter series. Of the game, she says, “It infuriates men…which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.”
Number Seven: She Filled Five Pages of a Notebook Before She Settled on “Quidditch.” Rowling filled up five whole pages of a notebook with different “Q” game names before she arrived at Quidditch.
Number Six: She Wrote Her First Story When She Was Six Years Old. The story was titled “Rabbit” and Rowling proudly gave it to her mother and expected it to be published. She says she wasn’t sure where her desire to publish her work at that young of an age spawned from.
Number Five: Her Parents Met on Platform 9 3/4. It’s true! Rowling’s parents met at King’s Cross Station, and so for her, it is a very romantic environment. She knew that she wanted Harry to arrive at Hogwarts on a train, and from there, she knew she wanted him to leave from King’s Cross Station.
Number Four: You Might Be Pronouncing Her Name Wrong. Many people pronounce Rowling’s name to rhyme with “howling”; however, her name is meant to be pronounced to rhyme with “bowling.” Rowling admits that she doesn’t really mind when people mispronounce her name.
Number Three: Her Literary Heroine Is Jo March. Rowling admitted that Little Women‘s Jo March is her literary heroine because she “had a hot temper and a burning ambition to be a writer.”
Number Two: She Wore a Disguise to Buy Her Wedding Dress. And it was the only time she’s ever gone out in disguise! She said she wore a disguise when she shopped for her wedding dress because she didn’t want too much press surrounding her wedding.
Number One: She Has a First Edition Jane Austen Book. And Rowling has also said that if she could be any character from literature, it would be Pride and Prejudice‘s Elizabeth Bennet.