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JK Rowling on writing Chamber of Secrets
A collection of quotes about the writing process from various interviews with the author
"I finished Philosopher's Stone, I literally started Chamber of Secrets that afternoon." - BBC Interview, June 19, 2003
"'Chamber of Secrets' was called something different until I had almost finished, too....Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I quite liked that title, unfortunately the story bore no relation whatsoever to the title by the time I'd finished." - AOL Live Chat, 2000; CBBC Newsround Interview, October 23, 2002
"Yeah, Voldemort. In the second book, Chamber of Secrets, in fact he's exactly what I've said before. He takes what he perceives to be a defect in himself, in other words the non-purity of his blood, and he projects it onto others. It's like Hitler and the Aryan ideal, to which he did not conform at all, himself. And so Voldemort is doing this also. He takes his own inferiority, and turns it back on other people and attempts to exterminate in them what he hates in himself." - CBC Interview, July 2000
"I've only suffered writer's block badly once, and that was during the writing of Chamber of Secrets. I had my first burst of publicity about the first book and it paralysed me. I was scared the second book wouldn't measure up, but I got through it!" - Scholastic Chat, October 16, 2000
"Chamber of Secrets, I really did have writer's block. Briefly, I think. It wasn't a very serious case, it was only about five weeks. And compared to some people, what's five weeks?" - BBC Interview, June 19, 2003
"It's a more dramatic ending. Philosopher's Stone has a more linear plot leading to one peak. Chamber of Secrets has several false summits before Harry finally works out what he's meant to do." - The Herald Interview, January 26, 1999
"I always knew the chamber was there. I don't know what first gave me the idea; I just liked the thought that Slytherin had left something of himself behind." - Scholastic Chat, October 16, 2000
Question: In 'Chamber of Secrets', what would have happened if Ginny had died and Tom Riddle had escaped the diary?
Answer: "I can't answer that fully until all seven books are finished, but it would have strengthened the present-day Voldemort considerably."
"Key things happen in book two. No one knows how important those things are... yet. There's a lot in there. And I know how difficult it was to get it all in there without drawing too much attention to the clues." - IGN Interview, November 2002
"Certain crucial pieces of information in book six were originally planned for 'Chamber of Secrets', but very early on (first draft of Chamber) I realised that this information's proper home was book six. I have said before now that 'Chamber' holds some very important clues to the ultimate end of the series. Not as many as six, obviously, but there is a link."
'The Half-Blood Prince' might be described as a strand of the overall plot. That strand could be used in a whole variety of ways and back in 1997 I considered weaving it into the story of 'Chamber'. It really didn't fit there, though; it was not part of the story of the basilisk and Riddle's diary, and before long I accepted that it would be better to do it justice in book six. I clung to the title for a while, even though all trace of the 'Prince' storyline had disappeared, because I liked it so much (yes, I really like this title!). I re-christened book two 'Chamber of Secrets' when I started the second draft.
The link I mentioned between books two and six does not, in fact, relate to the 'Half-Blood Prince' (because there is no trace left of the HBP storyline in 'Chamber'.) Rather, it relates to a discovery Harry made in 'Chamber' that foreshadows something that he finds out in 'Prince'. - JKRowling.com
Now, as I stand back from the second book, since it's a year later and I've just finished the third, I think number two is maybe better, in fact, than the first one. - Book Links Interview, July 1999
"I got it [writer's block] during Chamber of Secrets but that was the only book in which I've had writer's block. In fact I doubt whether it was true writer's block. I think it was panic because I got this big burst of publicity for Philosopher's Stone and I froze. I thought Chamber of Secrets would never be as good. I think it was panic rather than actual lack of ideas. The publicity happened when the American deal happened. Before that, sales of Philosopher's Stone had been climbing very healthily for a completely unknown book so many people were getting interested in, but only in the book trade. Then Arthur Levine in America bought Philosopher's Stone for the American market for what I think may have been an unprecedented amount of money for a completely unknown children's book. And then people sat up and looked around and thought 'Well, what happened there? Why is that worth all that money?' and then I had a lot of press interest - it seemed like a lot to me at the time. Looking back, it probably wasn't that much." - SWNS.com Interview, July 8, 2000
Back to Book 2
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