Karen1

I suppose it could be classes as chick lit, but its not the usual type of chick lit as it deals with some quite serious issues.

Hi Marbles. Welcome to the board. I'm also from the East Kilbride area.

Welcome to the board Margaret.

JK Rowling did a live web chat earlier today and answered a whole load of questions about Harry Potter. The transcript is here. Definitely worth a read, but only read it if you've finished the last book as it does contain spoilers!

Oooh yes...another fan of Lost here. I love that show!

I read about that on one of the LJ communities I'm a member of. Sounds like fun!

Thank you for answering all of my many questions Kate.

Whoops! Sorry!

This sounds great. I love the synopsis for it and even just the title alone sounds like fun...which brings me on to another question - hope you don't mind. How and when do you come up with your titles? Do you get the basis of the story and plot outlines first and then think of a title (which I imagine to be the case) or have you thought up a title and then liked it so much that you've then had to come up with a plot to fit it? Oh and do your titles ever change as the book progresses?

Hi Kate. I haven't actually read any of your books (yet) but I do have Brown Owl's Guide To Life in my 'to read' pile and I'm a regular reader of your blog. I'm usually rubbish at thinking up questions on the spot, so here goes. I don't think these ones have been asked yet. 1. How did people react (friends, family etc) when you told them you were writing your first novel? Were they all supportive or were some a little sceptical about whether or not you could ever make a career out of it? 2. Are any of your characters based on anyone that you know? 3. Would you like to see any of your novels made into movies? 4. What tips do you have for aspiring writers? Oh and one more... 5. I really like the cover of The Self-Preservation Society, how much influence do you have over the covers? Do you get the final okay on it?

I thought the exact same thing when I was watching this last night.

He played the character of Eric Weiss in Alias and he was also in Felicity and played the pilot of Flight 815 in Lost too.

It was certainly interesting. And yes I agree the male nurse is pretty cute. Also good to see Greg Grunberg in the show - I love that guy. Hopefully next week things will pick up a bit as the two episodes last night seemed to be more about introducing the characters and their abilities than anything else.

I love this show, those boys are hilarious.

I'm another BBC2 viewer. I'm really looking forward to it and have heard good things about it so my expectations are rather high. It will be great to be able to discuss the episodes with other people, so yay for the thread.

So it looks like JK Rowling will probably write a Harry Potter encyclopaedia... "...promising many more details about her beloved characters and the fate of the wizarding world beyond the few clues provided in the seventh book

Welcome to the board Ratna.

Providing I remember its on I'll be watching it.

This seems to be the general feeling on other boards too.

I thought Dobby's death was the most touching, the funeral was so sad. And Fred, Lupin and Tonks was also really sad even more so because of baby Teddy. I'm assuming he was brought up by his grandmother but spent a lot of time with the Potter and Weasley families. I have to say that I thought Neville seemed like a totally different person when he first entered the scene in this book. It just didn't sound like him at all but yay for him killing the snake. Not sure what to think of Snape. I've sort of hated him from the start and always thought that he would be evil, however I'm sort of coming round to him. I was dreading him turning out good because I didn't know how JK Rowling could have justified him being evil throughout the past 7 years, and then suddenly turning good at the end, but I think the way in which his actions were explained was done really well. Just the fact that he'd been in love with Lily for all these years hence his hatred for James and Harry, but at the same time doing his best to protect Lily's son. I thought that was a nice little twist and the fact that his patronus was the same as Lily's - aww cute! Mrs Weasly was amazing. I liked the epilogue at the end and thought it was a nice touch finding out what happened to the three main characters, but at the same time a little disappointing. I mean what about all the others? We don't know what happend to George after Fred died. We don't know what any of them are doing for a living except Neville. And what happened in the wizardring world after the downfall of Voldermort? How long did it take them to get back to normal and what happened at the ministry?

Just finished reading it about 15 minutes ago. Fantastic ending to a fantastic series. I really felt like it wrapped things up nicely. Really sad about all the deaths though. I mean obviously I knew there was going to be a fair few people dying seeing as there was going to be one final big battle, but I thought there would be only two main ones that would affect me. But there were loads...so sad. I liked the epilogue, although there were still a number of characters not mentioned in it who I would have liked to have found out what happened to them during the years after Voldermort's downfall.

Hey Steve. Welcome to BCF!

I totally agree with you Janet. And on the same subject...

With regard to what happens during Chapters 4 & 5...