Editing J. K. Rowling (section)

=== Inspiration and mother's death ===
After university, Rowling moved to a flat in [[Clapham Junction (area)|Clapham Junction]] with friends,<ref>Smith 2002, pp. 104–5 says [[Clapham]]; Kirk 2003, p. 49 says Clapham but p. 67 says [[Clapham Junction (area)|Clapham Junction]]. Rowling tweeted in 2020 that she first put pen to paper in Clapham Junction. {{cite news |first=Bethany |last=Minelle |date=22 May 2020|title=JK Rowling reveals Harry Potter's true birthplace: Clapham Junction |url=https://news.sky.com/story/jk-rowling-reveals-harry-potters-true-birthplace-clapham-junction-11992918 |publisher= [[Sky News]] |access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref> and took a course to become a bilingual secretary.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=2}} While she was working in [[Temporary work|temporary jobs]] in London, [[Amnesty International]] hired her to document human rights issues in French-speaking Africa.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|pp=2–3}} She began writing adult novels while working as a temp, although they were never published.<ref name=JKRStory/>{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=51}} In 1990, she planned to move with her boyfriend to [[Manchester]],<ref name=OldBio>{{cite web|title=Biography|url=https://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226220404/https://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|archive-date=26 December 2007|access-date=7 January 2022|publisher=JK Rowling}}</ref> and frequently took long train trips to visit.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} In mid-1990, she was on a train delayed by four hours from Manchester to London,{{sfn|Kirk|2003|pp=66–67}} when the characters [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]], [[Ron Weasley]], and [[Hermione Granger]] came plainly into her mind.<ref>{{cite news|last=Loer|first=Stephanie|date=18 October 1999|title=All about Harry Potter from Quidditch to the future of the Sorting Hat|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|id={{ProQuest|405306485}}|page=C7}}</ref> Having no pen or paper allowed her to fully explore the characters and their story in her imagination before she reached her flat and began to write.{{sfn|Kirk|2003|pp=66–67}}

Rowling moved to Manchester around November 1990.<ref name=HarryMe/><!-- says about a month before her mother died, which was December--> She described her time in Manchester, where she worked for the Chamber of Commerce{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} and at [[Manchester University]] in temp jobs,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=108}} as a "year of misery".{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=106}} Her mother died of multiple sclerosis on 30 December 1990.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=109–110}} At the time, she was writing ''Harry Potter'' and had never told her mother about it.<ref name=dt>{{cite news|last=Greig|first=Geordie|date=10 January 2006|title='There would be so much to tell her&nbsp;...'|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|id={{ProQuest|321301864}}|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507438/There-would-be-so-much-to-tell-her....html|page=25}}</ref> Her mother's death heavily affected Rowling's writing.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=109–112}} She later said that her literary creation of the [[Mirror of Erised]] is about her mother's death,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=111}} and noted an "evident parallelism" between Harry confronting his own mortality and her life.{{sfn|Cruz|2008}}

The pain of the loss of her mother was compounded when some personal effects her mother had left her were stolen.<ref name=HarryMe/> With the end of the relationship with her boyfriend, and "being made redundant from an office job in Manchester", Rowling described herself as being in a state of "fight or flight".<ref name=Parker2012/> An advertisement in ''[[The Guardian]]'' led her to move to [[Porto]], Portugal, in November 1991 to teach night classes in English as a foreign language,{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=114–116}} writing during the day.<ref name=Parker2012/>