J.K. Rowling Once Wrote A Manuscript On A Dress

We've all been there: a nugget of genius hits you as you're on the train, or walking down the street, or sitting at the doctor's office. But, of course, you don't have a pen or a notebook on you. So you scramble for an eyeliner or lipstick, a gum wrapper or receipt, anything to capture the thought before it floats off into the abyss of your mind. Perhaps the author most famous for these moments of genius is Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

It is a well-known legend that Rowling first jotted down her initial thoughts and ideas for HP on a napkin while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London back in 1990. But did you know that there is another, far more unique material that Rowling has used as scrap paper?

According to an interview she gave to Christiane Amanpour, Rowling once wrote an entire manuscript on a dress. The story goes that Rowling, who celebrated her 50th birthday during Halloween (even though her actual birthday is in July because she is a queen who can do what she wants), asked her guests to forego the average costume of cat ears and fairy wings, and instead come dressed as their own private nightmare...because, what else would you expect from the genius that is J.K. Rowling?

So, what was her Halloween costume version of a boggart? An unpublished manuscript, obviously.

“I went as a lost manuscript,” Rowling told Christiane Amanpour. “And I wrote over a dress most of that book. So that book, I don’t know whether it will ever be published, but it’s actually hanging in a wardrobe currently.”

OK, so maybe you're definitely wondering why you decided to stop writing on your jeans and Converse in high school so you could pull a Rowling and wear your own unpublished material. But something tells us no one could pull that move off quite like Jo.