JK ROWLING shocked and thrilled her fans in equal measure yesterday with the revelation that her new venture, Pottermore, was set to feature a wealth of new and previously unpublished material about the world of Harry Potter.
Although the author made clear that she had “no plans to write another novel”, the fresh Potter material – to be unveiled later this year – already stretches to 18,000 words about the novels’ characters, places and objects, with more to come.
Rowling’s new writings range from details of Prof McGonagall’s love for a Muggle as a young woman, to how the Dursleys met (Petunia was working in an office); from new information about Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses, to details about wand wood. All will be part of the interactive, free Pottermore.com website.
“I had more than half of the new material already written or in note form. I literally dug some out of boxes,” said the author at a press conference yesterday to announce the launch of the website.
“I generated more material than ever appeared in the books. I thought ‘who would ever want to know the significance of all the difference wand woods?’ ... Now you can go and see. It’s such a rich experience to do it this way.” The material will be used on the new website, a collaborative project for fans set in the Harry Potter universe.
“I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new generation,” Rowling said.
“I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content.”
She said that Pottermore had been designed as a place where fans can share the stories with friends as they journey through the site.
The website will open first to a million users who register first on July 31st – Harry’s birthday. These users will help shape the site, with its full launch to all users to take place in October.
Pottermore will also sell the long-awaited e-book versions of the Harry Potter books directly to users from October, as well as digital audio books. – ( Guardiannews service)