J. K. Rowling Working on Final Harry Potter with Mixed Feelings

By Carol Johnson

Since the beginning of 2006 when J. K. Rowling started writing the seventh and final saga in her series of books about young wizard Harry Potter, the media has been given precious few tidbits of information about the book. Rowling herself, who rarely gives interviews, has said only that she has "mingled feelings of excitement and dread" about pulling things together to wrap up Harry’s adventures. Her excitement, she said on her website diary, was "because I can’t wait to get started, to tell the final part of the story and, at last, to answer all the questions." The dread, she adds, is because once the book is published, "it will all be over at last and I can’t quite imagine life without Harry." Rowling began working on the book in January.

Rowling, 40, has not let slip what the exact timetable for the book is, but chat rooms and blogs are abuzz with all types of rumors and postulations. The secretive Scottish author posts regular cryptic updates on her website but says nothing about her future plans for the book or her website. Her only comment to her fans clamoring for information: "Constant vigilance, my friends." Rowling’s last missive, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, came out last July after a two-year wait and became an instant international bestseller.

The one thing that Rowling has made clear is that book six and book seven are, in essence, just two parts of the same book. The style and tone of book The Half-Blood Prince is expected to continue into the final book. The main focus of the plot will probably be the impending war, as shown in book six. The only clue Rowling has given to the idea that trouble may be looming is that "there are more deaths—more deaths coming." Rowling has said that the new book may be shorter than book five, but nothing has been confirmed.

In an interview following the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last year, Rowling stated that she didn’t really see 2006 as the time that she would really finish writing the book. But she said she had started, and she was "doing little bits and pieces here and there when I can." In a Christmas letter on her official website, Rowling told readers that she had been "fine-tuning the fine-tuned plan" of book seven and was planning to really get busy during the first few months of 2006. But, she acknowledged, "Reading through the plan is like contemplating the map of an unknown country in which I will soon find myself."

A number of interesting tidbits to keep readers drooling have been revealed from time to time by Rowling and a variety of fan sites. Readers can plan on learning something major about Lily Potter, and the final word of the book will be "scar." The book will reveal more about Peter Pettigrew, where he is, and what he’s been doing since he was last seen. And Rowling promises to divulge more about who was present at Godric’s Hollow the night James and Lily Potter were murdered.

If the publication timing is similar to previous Harry Potter books, the last installment is likely to be published between 2007 and 2009. Rowling has already told reporters that she has already finished the last chapter of the book, which she will then use as a means of explaining the outcomes of the remaining characters after their final year. But due to the fact that rabid Potter fans the world over are nearly desperate to find out the ending of the saga, Rowling no longer keeps the chapter in her house.