at 16:22 on August 1, 2006, EST.
By DEEPTI HAJELA

NEW YORK (AP) - Author J.K. Rowling says writing the last of her seven Harry Potter books is proving to be "fun in a way that it hasn't been before."

"To an extent the pressure's off, I suppose, because it's the last book so I feel quite liberated," she said Tuesday. "Now I can just resolve the story."

Rowling was in the United States for the first time since 2000 to take part in an authors' reading for charity. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving were scheduled to read from their own works on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Radio City Music Hall.

An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp is supporting two non-profit organizations: The Haven Foundation, King's choice, which helps performing artists whose accidents or illnesses have left them uninsured and unable to work, and Doctors Without Borders, Rowling's pick, a humanitarian group that delivers emergency aid in more than 70 countries.

King, who came up with the idea after doing a reading for a favoured cause of Irving's, said they hoped to raise at least $250,000 US for each group.

Rowling said she was "well into" the writing of the seventh Potter book. While she will miss writing the series that have made her a global publishing phenomenon, there would also be an element of freedom, she said.

"There will also be a sense of liberation as well because there are pressures involved in writing something that's popular, and wonderful though it's been, I think that there will also be a certain freedom in escaping that particular part of writing Harry Potter," she said.

In talking about the writing process, both Irving and Rowling said they planned their plots out in advance so that they knew going into the writing whether they would be killing off characters, something which made writing the death scenes somewhat easier.

"I have a kind of casualty list of which characters make it and which characters don't before I write the first word," said Irving, author of works including The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules.

"By the time I get to write those death scenes themselves ... I'm not truly as emotionally affected when it comes to writing those scenes, it's as if they've already happened," he said.

Rowling agreed, although she admitted it still wasn't always fun to do.

"I don't always enjoy killing my characters, I didn't enjoy killing the character who died at the end of book six," she said, declining to name that person in case someone had yet to finish the book. "I really didn't enjoy doing that but I had been planning that for years so it wasn't quite as poignant as you might imagine. I'd already done my grieving when I actually came to write it."

King, author of works including The Shawshank Redemption and Carrie, said he was looking forward to the last Potter book.

"I want to read the book, I love that series," he said.

Irving said he and King considered themselves as "warm-up bands" for Rowling, and assumed the crowd at the readings would be younger than those who read his works, and largely made up of her fans.

"I'm a little intimidated by the age of the audience, it's not my usual audience," he said.

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On the Net:

Radio City Music Hall: www.radiocity.com


©The Canadian Press, 2006

I hope she doesn't kill off harry.

She better not kill him off!
I'd be bawling my eyes out, and so would millions of other fans, I'm sure...
He must live! Pwweeese let him live, Joanne!
(And while I'm at it, I would like it very much if Dumbledore and Sirius Black turned out to not be so dead after all... -Yeah, that would be nice!)

flutterbyyy said:

They're all going to die in a mass cult suicide.

I saw this on CNN last night. Talk about having something remind me of .orgers because I IMMEDIATELY thought of posting it here!



On CNN JK, said that a character has gotten a reprieve and 2 other characters that she didn't expect to die have.


That really had me

I can't wait for the last book.

TMPletz said:

*falls to knees*
Nooooo!!

butterfli25 said:

like gandalf.

I really really want Snape to turn out to be good.

Oh, and for Sirius to come back and Lupin to not die.

evenstar3 said:

me too. i'm hoping for a sappy, sweet ending where all the good guys live (or are resurrected) happily ever after and the bad guys all get what's coming to them.


BUT i don't think that's what JK has in mind.....

The amount of money she makes with this is insane. There are people camping outside of stores to get the first books. Idiots.

Imagine something happened to JK herself mid-book.

I'm not wishing that upon her, by any means, but imagine the wails of horror across the globe from all those Potter fans, never knowing what would happen.

onenitealone said:

yikes. thanks for raising that issue.

even stephen king was quoted as saying he can't wait for the last book. i think it rocks that JK has made this kind of name for herself

calldapplwondery83 said:

She's kinda like the George Lucas of literature...except that she writes dialog better.

XxAxX said:

This is what I'm hoping for:
-Snape turns out to be good (I'm convinced he is! )
-Sirius and Dumbledore aren't really dead (at least not completely dead).
-Lupin lives.
-Neville lives.
-Hagrid, Ron and Hermione live.
-Luna and Ginny live.
-Voldemort is vanquished once and for all, and everybody lives happily ever after.

But you're right, this is probably not what Rowling has in mind, and I think it would be boring if she did.

TMPletz said:

waaaaay better.

calldapplwondery83 said:

There was a video online of someone who drove past one of these stores, with all the kids waiting in line, and yelled the ending out of his car window then sped off, LOL. You could hear parents screaming "you asshole!!". I think it was on Ebaumsworld or some site like that.

If J.K. Rowling's kills Harry Potter, she will become the most hated writer in the history of the world. Just the thought of Harry dying is making me sick. We should have a revolution to make sure Harry lives. Let's camp out on Rowling's doorstep.

cborgman said:

No comparison.

I think Voldemort and Harry should die.

Harry should scrifice himself to take out LV.

That would be in keeping with Harry's character.

Can a human be a Horcrux? Maybe Harry is the final Horcrux.

roanmairin said:

that is TOTALLY my theory! it would be a HUGE payoff for the scar.

roanmairin said:

Aw shit... that's it...

He beats Harry, becomes all powerful, then Harry is freed of Voldemort's grip and kills him, with compassion.

cborgman said:

Do we get a prize if we're right?

You know 1% of book sales or something. I will split it with ya!



I will be surprised if Harry doesn't die.

I don't want Snape or Ginny to die. Either of those will piss me off.

roanmairin said:

i am betting hagrid or snape is going down

cborgman said:

I wouldn't be happy about Hagrid either. That just seems cruel somehow.

Of course if Snape dies to save Harry that really is a slap in the face to Harry for how he has always distrusted Snape.

I was thinking it is going to be hard not hearing about it before you can get it read.

Will have to avoid the world and get it mail ordered to my house.

No tv, no internet, no radio.

roanmairin said:

thankfully, i am a very fast reader. will take me a day and half to two days at most to read most books.

cborgman said:

Yeah, but there will be idiots blabbing about it a week before it comes out.

I will probably download the Jim Dale audio book. He is amazing, the best way to experience Harry as far as I'm concerned.

roanmairin said:

saw him in "threepenny opera" here on broadway with cyndi lauper and anna gasteyer and alan cummings. he was the best, by far

cborgman said:

Alan Cumming and Jim Dale, wow.

Two of my fav's.

You have to listen to his Harry cd's if you haven't. They are better than the books. Honestly. He is perfect.