JK Rowling Urges Writers To Defy Fears Of Rejection

4 April 2017, 06:35 | Updated: 4 April 2017, 06:39

JK Rowling has urged budding writers to keep going even if they fear nobody will ever read their work, saying she wished she had been given that advice when she was writing the Harry Potter books.

The author, 51, dished out her words of wisdom in a series of posts on Twitter after reading a message a fan had written, which said: "Hey! You! You're working on something and you're thinking 'Nobody's gonna watch, read, listen'. Finish it anyway.''

Rowling, who has previously revealed her first book about the boy wizard was rejected before she secured a publisher, shared the message with her 10.1 million followers on the site.

She wrote: "There were so many times in the early 90s when I needed somebody to say this to me. It's great advice for many reasons.

"Even if it isn't the piece of work that finds an audience, it will teach you things you could have learned no other way.

"And by the way, just because it didn't find an audience, that doesn't mean it's bad work.

"The discipline involved in finishing a piece of creative work is something on which you can truly pride yourself.

"You'll have turned yourself from somebody who's 'thinking of', who 'might', who's 'trying', to someone who did.

"And once you've done it you'll know you can do it again. That is an extraordinarily empowering piece of knowledge. So do not ever quit out of fear of rejection.''

Rowling told aspiring writers, artists and musicians: "Maybe your third, fourth, fiftieth song/novel/painting will be the one that 'makes it', that wins the plaudits but you'd never have got there without finishing the others (all of which will now be of more interest to your audience.).''

She later added: "I wrote when nobody wanted to read it & I write today because I need to write.''