| I seriously doubt that Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books "only" for the money. But if you're cynical enough to believe that she did, then couldn't you say the same thing about everyone else who has ever tried to make a living in a creative field?
My own perception is that Rowling spent a great deal of time and energy creating her story and her characters before she was certain she would ever be published. And I think she honestly enjoyed creating her imaginary world. There's a lot more involved in writing books besides making money.
For all we know, she probably envisioned Dumbledore as a homosexual before she even wrote the first book, so it was always there in her own mind even if it wasn't apparent in the books. Maybe she was dying to tell the world after all this time, and that's why she seemed so giddy about it.
She did seem rather quick to divulge Dumbledore's sexual orientation when the fan asked her whether Dumbledore had ever been in love. I mean, it wasn't necessary to say right off the bat that he was gay; she could have answered the question simply by saying that he had been in love with Grindelwald, and then she could have taken the questions that would have inevitably resulted from that revelation. Or maybe she simply decided to take a shortcut and pre-empt those inevitable questions. Come to think of it, I'm sure that's what I would have done. ("Was he bi? Was it just a youthful indiscretion? Was he cured of homosexuality like those Republican preachers who got caught having sex with male prostitutes?" etc.)  |