JK Rowling (The Rags to Riches Story thats a load of crap

[Rence]

As someone once said:

This was / is a pointless post. It adds no value, or substance in regards to productive content....

Why are you so concerned with another person’s life? How are you in ANY position to speak on how messed up someone is when you probably have problems of your own?

Some of you are exemplifying the type of parents you are by calling this man, who YOU never knew, names. Is that what you teach your kids? Judge people you don’t know?

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32615005&postcount=62

 

[DarthKTrava]

She could be Dolores Umbridge. She was always a hater. LOL

And you thought the Dursleys were haters....

 

[DarthKTrava]

I had some cyber friends (all English majors, incidentally) who felt that there's simply NO WAY that an uneducated person (though they always said "woman") could have written those books, and that she must have had a ghostwriter for them. And I'm thinkin'....yeah, no. I think that person would have said something by now.

People have said the same thing about Shakespeare for years now....

So what?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

People have said the same thing about Shakespeare for years now....

So what?

Yeah, but Shakespeare's ghost writer was a hawt guy named Kit Marlowe. If Jo Rowling had a ghost writer, it'd likely be some old Scots woman who wears tweed. Not hawt or interesting at all.

And I'm sorry, but working or not, it's not like she was rolling around in the dough before the books. (She was a divorced, single mother TEACHER, for pity's sake!)

 

[LisaR]

How about this except from Time Magazine for a JK Rowling story?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005057,00.html




And if the UK citizens had to pay for her book advance - where can I thank them for it????

I am not one to get teary eyed but that one did it for me. The joy she brought to that little girl is priceless.

 

[DarthKTrava]

Yeah, but Shakespeare's ghost writer was a hawt guy named Kit Marlowe. If Jo Rowling had a ghost writer, it'd likely be some old Scots woman who wears tweed. Not hawt or interesting at all.

I guess that explains all the older wizards and school professors who wear NOTHING but tweed....

How many of us wish we coulda gone to a neat school like that? I'd even suffer thru uniforms to go there!

 

[Planogirl]

Is JK Rowling uneducated? I thought that she was a teacher?

 

[lillygator]

The Rags to Riches Story:

Every single article and every single Harry Potter book jacket seems to work in JK Rowling's humble beginnings as a single mother on government assistance. She then pulled herself up by her bootstraps and wrote one of the most successful series of books in the history of words.

Why it's a Load of Crap:

It's one thing to be born into poverty and claw your way out of it. However, it's a whole different game when your two-year stint on welfare is part of your business plan. Welcome to the Rowling School of Writing.



Rowling's welfare assistance wasn't out of total desperation, it was out of choice. She was an educated teacher who left her job when she had a child. After that, she chose not to work and, instead, collected welfare to get the time to write her book.

While we are not denying for one moment that trying to care for a child, write a book and work full time would be very difficult, we will say that it's not impossible. People do it. Instead, she basically got her book advance courtesy of UK citizens. She also got a generous arts grant (unprecedented for an unknown author) to complete her work when the welfare check wasn't cutting it.

So this was a person who did spend a very brief time in rags, but she went to the store and hand-picked the rags she chose to wear.

do you have a wee bit of the green eyed monster?

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I think the Brits have a different attitude toward "the dole" than we do in the United States. In England there seems to be an agreement that people have the right to healthcare, a roof over their head, and food whether they work for a living or not.

I'm currently reading the autobiography of Russell Brand (the outrageous comedian who played the rock star character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and he was on and off the dole all the time while he was perfecting his craft.

I have always thought the "rags to riches" story of JK Rowling was a bit forced, considering how educated she is , but she has done a fantastic job of marketing her books and herself, and I think that's what the story is all about.

 

[agame2323]

It never fails. You post something on this board and if certain people don’t agree with you, those name-callers come crawling out of their holes showing how classless they truly are. Sad. Pathetic. Is calling me a “troll” the best you can do? (I'll admit it is funny but c'mon) Does your vocabulary fail to reach past the pages of a Harry Potter novel? Grow up.

Anyway, for those who responded in a respectful adult fashion, the point of my post wasn’t to trash the talents of JK Rowling. I think she is a phenomenal writer with exceptional skill in story telling. However, I found it interesting that behind her success story rest a different story that paints a different picture. The article takes nothing away from what she was able to accomplish through hard work and winning the risk / reward game that she played. However, what the article does state are the methods that she used to get to where she is and how its difficult to classify JK Rowling as a “true” rags to riches story.

While some might disagree (which is fine), there are other authors with better examples of going from rags to riches IMO. (see Versandra Kennebrew) I didn’t fine JK’s road to success all that interesting when I realized that it was a path she created. JK’s story is more of a “if you believe you can achieve” type story opposed to a “rags to riches” tale. Again, I absolutely love what she has created with the Harry Potter series. It’s amazing. But as far as how she reached that level and the road she took to get there…when compared to other “rags to riches” stories…it is a load of crap.

One thing I do apologize for is not including the link to the original article. I simply forgot.

 

[Darsa]

story thats a load of crap

Ohhh, I see, so it's okay for you to insult others, in this and other posts, but once YOUR opinion i brought into question it's an issue. And the childish "calling of names" back at us is cute too. The troll portion was pointing out the fact that you posted something you absolutely KNEW without a doubt would get this type of response, then waiting a loooong long while before responding again. In my book that's troll behavior.

I see, it's all straightened out for me now. Thank you for clearing it up.

 

[agame2323]

Ohhh, I see, so it's okay for you to insult others, in this and other posts, but once YOUR opinion i brought into question it's an issue. And the childish "calling of names" back at us is cute too. The troll portion was pointing out the fact that you posted something you absolutely KNEW without a doubt would get this type of response, then waiting a loooong long while before responding again. In my book that's troll behavior.

I see, it's all straightened out for me now. Thank you for clearing it up.

Simon: Paula what did you think?
Paula: I though it was bad. Your attempt at being funny needs work sweety.
Simon: Randy, what about you?
Randy: Yeah, sorry dog but you gotta work on that.
Simon: Well, I thought it was absolutely horrible. Sorry but its three no’s. You won’t be going to Hollywood.
***Darsa walks (no runs out) audition room to Ryan Seacrest.***
Ryan: Wow Darsa, what do you think went wrong in there?

You made that too easy. (and enjoyable). Okay honestly, I have no idea what your talking about and prefer you direct any further statements away from me. Thanks!

 

[Darsa]

No problem, you're already on my ignore list. Have a good one!

 

[StuZioCardyni]

First, can I apologize for not reading the whole thread. Someone may have pointed this out but speaking from a UK perspective...

Anyone who has a child in this country is given something called 'child benefit' it's not a massive amount of money by any means but it is given to you whether you are as poor as poor can be or a millionaire. Also a lot of women choose not to work when their children are very young and I think all in all that's a very good thing. children need their parents around so whether it's a mum or a dad it's good that someone is at home. I agree that the rags to riches thing is a little over played but I didn't like the slightly spiteful undertone of the posters thread, it felt like you were implying she was a scrounger. Yes she wasn't dirt poor but she was by no means rolling in money. Teachers over here really don't get paid a great deal so I couldn't be happier for the success she's had...well done JK. As a tax payer I would happily contribute to another authors success, the benefits of what she did outweigh the 2 years of a little government support (much of which she would have got if she worked or not) a million fold.

 

[luvmy3]

It never fails. You post something on this board and if certain people don’t agree with you, those name-callers come crawling out of their holes showing how classless they truly are. Sad. Pathetic. Is calling me a “troll” the best you can do? (I'll admit it is funny but c'mon) Does your vocabulary fail to reach past the pages of a Harry Potter novel? Grow up.

Rence's post says it best, and judging (yes, I am) by what you said in that thread, and your verbiage in this one, there really isn't anything more one can conclude except your desire here is to stir the pot.
I know I enjoyed the way the other posters ignored your bait and had a little fun with their Harry Potter vocabulary, but what would you expect from a classless name caller who needs to grow up

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I'm confused. I thought that the Dis liked people who got off of welfare instead of "milking" the system for years and years?

So, now people who use the welfare system for a couple of years and end up making a better life for themself are now as bad as the people who obviously "don't want to work" and are wearing their diamond earings and driving their porsche's while using their foodstamp card at the local grocery store?

 

[ckay87]

I don't agree with the original post and I'm not a big fan of the poster, but I'll tell you that I'm surprised that the post got such a heavy emotional response. It's a good debatable topic. It's wrong , but it's a topic nonetheless.

 

[The Orchid]

I don't agree with the original post and I'm not a big fan of the poster, but I'll tell you that I'm surprised that the post got such a heavy emotional response. It's a good debatable topic. It's wrong , but it's a topic nonetheless.

Well, I kinda agree. It would have been a good debatable topic (even though it's wrong ) if he/she would have chosen to present it in a nice manner. When the story behind the most beloved story teller in the world is posted as being "crap," most of those in the wizarding world aren't going to take kindly to it. Besides, most of us were just teasing in a good natured way. If we were serious, we would have strung him up by his ankle with levicorpus.

Anyway, I don't know if anybody saw the special on Jo Rowling a few days ago. It was an hour long show...can't recall what it was called. Perhaps, "A year in the life of Jk Rowling?" Something like that. Anyway, she was pretty darned poor when she wrote HP. She had left Portugal and a bad marriage (the guy was a bitter squib) and arrived home with a two year old and a great deal of depression. Her mother had died of MS. Her marriage broke up. She had a lousy relationship with her dad. And she had a small child with whom she was plagued with persistent fears of losing. Her mental state was pretty bad off. The dementors were stalking her and closing in fast and she didn't have enough sickles for chocolate. She was on welfare because she was a single witch who was a wreck. She wasn't sponging off the ministry of magic at all, she needed help. She was not well and writing Harry Potter was therapuetic for her. She lucked out in that she had amazing talent (and she didn't even need to use a quick quotes quill like her colleague Rita Skeeter!) and her books were more than therapuetic...they brought in a lot of galleons. She used the first galleons from her first book to buy chocolate which helped her develop a strong patronis and that cleared out the dementors. The rest of her books earned even more galleons. She has since shared those galleons with other witches and wizards who are in need.

As for the OP, well, he kinda disapparated after his initial post. He coulda came back and explained his position and perhaps softened his argument with some kinder words. I'm quite sure that he knows that a LOT of people on the DIS love Jo Rowling and that referring to the story of her life as "crap" would not float well. But what can you expect from a Slytherin?