"This isn't a complaint: those characters belong to the readers as well as to me, and each has their own life in the...

Originally shared by Alan De Smet

"This isn't a complaint: those characters belong to the readers as well as to me, and each has their own life in the heads of those who have read them. Sometimes the inner lives of characters as imagined by readers are not what I imagined for them, but the joy of books is that we all make our own mental cast. I've always enjoyed hearing about versions of Potter characters that exist in heads other than mine."
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"I said above, and I stand by it, that every reader has the right to his or her own version of my characters."
- J.K. Rowling, "Why Dumbledore went to the hilltop", Oct 27, 2015 http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sno25c

There are a lot more interesting points in there, but I really liked this bit. Readers have never been passive consumers, and the idea that the author is the exclusive source of valid stories about the characters is nonsense.