K. J. Bowlings was sitting in a small café, staring out the window despondently. Yet another one of her novels had been turned down by the 8th publishing company she had gone to. She finally got the hint that purple ponies wern't cutting it in this modern world. She took out a pen and took a napkin from a holder to write herself a reminder for a meeting the next day, when an idea finally hit her. Wizards! And in a modern-day scenario! Oh, this was brilliant. Now, she needed a main character… a girl… no… a boy. Definitely a boy.
He needed a name. She wrote down several names, but all of them sounded and looked too weird. "Kodari Rynlika" just didn't make it. Maybe this boy needed a common place name. Harry—no, too old-world. Bob—hell no. Finally! Jerry! Jerry… Fodder! Jerry Fodder had quite a nice ring to it. He could be a wizard, but perhaps not a very good one. But then again, he was going to be the main focus here, he can be the greatest wizard of all time, even though he was only 13 years old.
Now any normal 13 year old boy needs friends… how about from varying social status? That sounded good. K. J.'s hand was flying across the napkins. Perhaps a best guy friend… Don. Jerry and his best friend Don, who was of course, poor in wealth and magic, to counter balance Jerry, who would be ridiculously rich because… because… his parents died in a tragic accident… no, too sad, it'd make the kiddies cry. But every story needs a sad element.
What makes Jerry so special, though? Inspiration struck! An evil villain could be out to kill him… no his family. And so the bad guy goes to his house one day to bump them all off… with… a… rubber duck! Yes! He throws a rubber duck (1) at Jerry (an infant at the time) but his mother jumps in the way, the duck claiming her life instead of her son's… oh that's a real tear-jerker there. And because the duck was meant for him… the magical duck… the image of a ducky was permantly imprinted upon his forehead, giving Jerry the mystical powers of the duck!! Yes! Yes! This was coming together SO nicely.
He and Don could meet in school. But wait, what would talented boys be doing in public school? The elite wizards don't want to mingle with the… She needed a special wizardy name for normal people. Fraggles! They didn't want to associate with Fraggles, so they go to a special wizarding school called… Pigzits! Exactly! The plot was unfolding.
K. J. stuffed the napkins in her pocket and ran out of the café, forgetting to pay her bill. She sprinted down the sidewalks of downtown London and suddenly tripped on a crack. Her napkins spilled everywhere, littering the streets. Cursing her awful luck, she kept heading for home, too busy to pick them up.
Later that day a young woman was walking despondantly down the street when she saw some napkins in the road. How rude of people to litter! She picked them up and noticed they had writing on them. It looked like a story, and not a bad one at that, although it needed some fine-tuning. J. K. Rowlings tucked the napkins safely in her purse and the rest… as I like to say… is history.