Some interesting things I came across while reading an interview she did with Amazon.com:
Amazon.co.uk: Where did the ideas for the Harry Potter books come from?
Rowling: I've no idea where ideas come from and I hope I never find out, it would spoil the excitement for me if it turned out I just have a funny little wrinkle on the surface of my brain which makes me think about invisible train platforms.
A vote for unconcsious then!
Amazon.co.uk: Are any of the stories based on your life, or on people you know?
Rowling: I haven't consciously based anything in the Harry books on my life, but of course that doesn't mean your own feelings don't creep in. When I reread chapter 12 of the first book, "The Mirror of Erised," I saw that I had given Harry lots of my own feelings about my own mother's death, though I hadn't been aware of that as I had been writing.
This is the writing process, when it's good it can be quite mysterious.
Posted by portocac
at 11:15 AM CDT