Here's my detailed report of ep 1. I won't lie - just listen to it yourself. It's a well edited podcast ep and you will leave it unapologetically simping for Rowling.
Starts with quote
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek" lol this series is gonna be good.
Ask people on street why they like Harry Potter, they give glowing praise. Then is asked about Rowling. Lots of "uhhhh"s, one dude makes a comment off mic.
Mentions how Rowling is a beloved children's author, but first had hate from Christians.
Podcast host (Megan) is from Westboro Baptist Church, so she's aware of how people will just turn on you instantly. Writes to Rowling and she responds. She gets to go to Rowling's house to chat with her (I'm actually jealous).
Rowling couldn't give a rats ass about her legacy (fuck you money energy).
Host spoke to many critics after her talk with Rowling. This ep is about her talk with Rowling.
Talks about her inspiration about the book and her background.
Mother died when she was young, at age 25 went to teach English in Portugal. That feeling of loss helped her write HP. She actually isn't really interested in fantasy, she's more into human nature (this makes sense bc tbh HP isn't a good fantasy book but is a good human sociology book).
Met a guy and became pregnant accidentally. He proposed. She accepted but miscarried. Didn't want to marry the guy but he pressured her. She caved, married, got pregnant again. He started to get abusive and would search her stuff. He didn't allow her to have a key to the house.
He realized how important the manuscript of Philosophers Stone was to her so he took it and held it hostage. She got it back by taking a few pages of her manuscript into work to photocopy it slowly over time. Did this while pregnant. Giving birth pushed her to leave because she didn't want her daughter to grow up under this abuse.
A week before her scheduled flee date to her sister something happened and the husband got very violent. He said "you can go but you're not taking our daughter". She gets into a very violent fight and ends up on the street. She calls the cops and next day takes her daughter and leaves.
Rowling has nothing, she's she Scotland on welfare with her newborn and her manuscript. 12 publishers reject Philosophers Stone and the 13th picks it up. The only print 500 books, which is basically nothing. Rowling recalls seeing her book in the store for the first time - she went to get a picture book for her daughter and looked at the chapter books and there it was on the shelf. It wasn't even in the new releases section.
Publishers expected the book to flop. There was no fanfare for the release. It only became popular because of school kids talking about it with one another. They really encouraged each other to read it. In less than a year Scholastic Books picks it up for the US.
Her life was transformed and she was shot into the spotlight. She buys an ordinary house and there's always journalists at her down. She feels terrified because she's in the public eye by there's someone there who wants her harm (ex husband). She leaves her first place because her ex husband breaks in. Therefore she's VERY strict about people taking photos of her home and visiting because the last time it happened he breaks in. She's living in immense pressure. But the book grows. There's midnight releases where kids camped outside out of bookstores to get the book. It became so big that it felt like so much for her. She recalls that in 2000 there was a bomb threat at a book store from a far right Christian activist. Segway into Christians and televangelists trying to ban HP, which will be covered in next episode.
Don't expect me to do the writeups for the other episodes. This made me realize that I'm not really a fan of doing it.
