How Great Writers Work and Think

Regardless of what one thinks of the content of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, I would certainly call her a "great writer"—if only for the scope of her vision and imagination and her ability to tell stories that have captivated a significant portion of the world's population. As one who stumbles around words and ideas for a living, I was fascinated by the document below -- part of Rowling's "vision" for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book.

This was received from one of Rowling's editors and posted on Alan Jacobs' "Text Patterns" blog at the website of The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society (Image posted by me without permission.) Thanks to Jacobs -- and to Daniel for the recent link to the journal's web site and associated blogs. The chart is hard to read, of course, but you get the idea of the process Rowling went through in casting a vision for H.P. and friends: