Harry Potter was written at a coffee place — imagine what could you write!
Your favorite childhood story — Harry Potter! This time, you’ll get to know where and how it was written.
As a first mini fact, we gonna mention that it was first the books which were written and then the movies were made (and of course, the books are soooo much better!). Does not matter whether you read the books or watched the movies, it matters that you must have heard of Joanne Rowling — better known as J.K. Rowling. She is the author of the series. She is the one who brought the magic in our worlds.
“ We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.”
But, here comes the most interesting part. Do you know where did she write start writing Harry Potter books? It was written in a coffee shop! Yes, I know, this sounds weird right? Like, how can you write such good books with the noise around you? The answer can be found in their story — open your mind and use your fantasy.
The coffee shop is called “The Elephant House” . The coffee house was opened in 1995 and it is located in Edinburgh, Scotland. J.K. Rowling was sitting there, looking at the Edinburgh Castle and writing her books. It is funny how elephants are not even mentioned in her books because there are pictures of elephants everywhere! In addition, there is one collage of J.K.Rowling’s pictures, writing her book and here it is:
On the link below, you can read more about The Elephant House. It is interesting that it was voted best coffee shop in Edinburgh by The List magazine.
On their official website, there is an interview of J.K. Rowling speaking from this coffee place about how she started writing and that the beginning was hard. She had an interview in Elephant House and you can watch it now:
Another interesting fact is that J.K.Rowling wrote her first ideas about Harry Potter on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. Trains were her favorite thing.
“I can write anywhere. I made up the names of the characters on a sick bag while I was on an airplane. I told this to a group of kids and a boy said, ‘Ah, no, that’s disgusting.’ And I said, ‘Well, I hadn’t used the sick bag.”
You can find out more about the creation of Harry Potter on the video below:
Despite the noise there, J.K. Rowling still managed to write her magic. I think there were few factors which were very important to her. Let’s start from the natural light.
The Elephant House has big windows and it’s clear that she didn’t need more light than the natural one. The natural light is the main factor when you are writing a piece of work that is as important as this one. It was mentioned that she was looking at the Edinburgh Castle. Just look at the picture below!
If you stay at a place like this for more than 2 hours, you should order more than just one coffee. You can choose from the menu another drink or if you like to eat, go to some restaurant-bar and have your breakfast.
Think about the atmosphere. Reading reviews, I found out that people like this place. It all depends on one factor: whether it’s very crowded and busy or it’s calm and cozy atmosphere where you can relax. So, this choice it’s up to you!
Use appropriate space! Please, please, don’t be one of those people who sit on a table where 4 people can sit. By doing that, you are lowering the cafe’s profit because instead of you there could be sitting more people. But of course, if you are with friend and you need a bigger table to place your lap tops or books etc., then you have right to do that.
Would Harry Potter leave tips? Of course he would! I think this is the most important part about working/writing at a coffee shop — you should do it. Remember to always leave tips.
If you prefer to work in quiet places, then you should try to avoid the rush hours. For a worker/writer which uses coffee shops, it is the best to go in the early morning hours — there is almost no one and there is a whole day waiting for you to work!
Follow these advices, and who knows, maybe one day you will become as famous as J.K.Rowling! We wish you all the luck! Choose your coffee shop where another piece of magic will be born.
AND, LISTEN TO J.K. ROWLING:
