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  1.  
    Does anyone else have a strange urge to read the first draft of their favourite or most-hated books? Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Inheritance (Maradonia doesn't count because everyone knows why)? How would the fan/hatedom act differently if a series with a fan majority (HP), considerable numbers of both fans and haters (Twilight) or entirely haters (Maradonia/RStanek) had their first drafts published?
    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
     

    For one, I doubt Draco Malfoy would have so many fans, as two of his original surnames were Spinks and Spungen….

    I don’t think Twilight should count, either, since Meyer wrote and published the entire first book in—what?—three months?

    But it would be really interesting to see how fans would’ve reacted to original drafts. Harry Potter would’ve looked much different, since Rowling bandied about several ideas (having statues of the Founders choose their students instead of the Sorting Hat doing it, for one). As a proud non-fan of The Hunger Games, I shudder to think what the original draft looked like.

    • CommentAuthorSen
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012 edited
     

    Funnily enough, I’ve thought more often of reading the first draft of Twilight than I thought of reading the one for Harry Potter.

    When it comes to how people would respond if drafts were made accessible, well, the haters, of course, love to hate. There’d be a whole lot more nitpicking than there already was with the final product. Something I see both fans and haters acting similarly towards would be anything the editor decided to remove for good reason. You know, anything controversial, potentially offensive or something that could have come across as prejudiced in a squint-a-little-and-look-out-your-left-eye kinda way.

    In the absence of anything similar to that however, the reaction may not be that great. I mean a few typos, grammatical errors, and awful florid descriptions that were removed in the end isn’t going to bother people all that much. Although, within a fandom, it might be important to differentiate between the readers and the readers/writers. For sure, there are many significant things that a good reader would be able to pick up on, but I feel that a writer (not necessarily a professional, but nonetheless committed to damn good writing) would pick up on more. They might notice, for example, and this bothered me a little in the past, how much more consistent the writing in the first draft appears to be according to the author’s style. I’m not sure if this has happened to anyone else, but sometimes, in a truly horrible book, a piece of good writing suddenly jumps out at you and you wonder just who put it there. For example:

    Where the bloody hell did that come from? I mean I just read a paragraph with a whole lot of adjectives, which are sprinkled generously throughout the novel and yet, I didn’t wanna throw up. It was good. And does this good writing continue to occur throughout the novel? Er, no. Does anyone else think that an editor or somebody else jumps in once in a while because they just can’t help it? Because the writing’s just that bad? I’ve always had my suspicions…

    I have a feeling that some kind of conspiracy would be revealed if the drafts for some books were made accessible. XD Just for some books, because sometimes I feel like I’m suddenly in somebody else’s head when coming across particular sections of a novel. Makes me wonder just how much input (maybe more than is okay?) people, other than the writer, have with the final product.

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
     

    I wouldn’t mind seeing the first draft of Leaf By Niggle (short story, but it still counts) by Tolkien. Because I think it represents itself perfectly; it is the result of the main themes of the story. I just want to see how much Tolkien picked at it and changed it and reworded bits to make it what he found acceptable.

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
     

    Interesting you should mention Tolkien. I actually own volume 6 of the History of Middle-Earth, which is about the beginning of Tolkien’s work on Lord of the Rings. It’s a very interesting read, mainly because Tolkien broke every rule of writing you ever heard of by not planning the book out at all before he started and wildly changing the story several times as he wrote it, as well as completely rewriting it several times before ever finishing.

    I haven’t read the other three volumes of that set which discuss the rest of the Lord of the Rings, but I’d very much like to. The first volume was great, at least!

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      CommentAuthorInkblot
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
     

    In answer to the title question: I would LOVE that. Cure me of the incredible insecurity and self-doubt I’m always feeling.

    •  
      CommentAuthorBlueMask
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2012
     

    I would love to read the very first draft of HP. Merely because I have read about it on JKR’s website, and it sounds completely different. For example, Harry and his parents originally lived on an island, and when Voldemort killed Lily and James, Hermione’s parents [who lived on the mainland] rowed out to the house to see what was happening. It would be a lot like reading a fanfiction, I think.

  2.  

    Mmm, I don’t know. I know that I would rather not have people read my first draft unless I specifically allowed them. To me, it’s like reading somebody’s notebooks. I haven’t read the notes of authors I really love and respect just because I’m not sure whether it’s posthumously breaking their privacy or something. (I know they’re dead and all, but I would rather not read their notebooks until I’m sure I want to, instead of regretting it afterwards.)

    On the other hand, it would be a really interesting insight into the authorial process…

  3.  

    Where do you even find information on Rowling’s original ideas like how she was going to have statues instead of a sorting hat? I’ve read some things but I’d like a long list of everything. Is there an actual first draft of the entire book to read somewhere on the internet? I find the writing process and how a story develops and changes to be really fascinating and I would like to know what could have been the Harry Potter we know.

    I wouldn’t mind people knowing about my first drafts and ideas I’ve thrown away (once I was going to have someone with an evil twin…...) but I barely write so most of these changes stay in my head. Goddammit I need to start writing properly again that’s why I haven’t been very active here lately.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2012
     

    Some of it is on Pottermore.com, but it’s STILL not open to the public. I haven’t been there in a while because they didn’t have any new content last time I was there.

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      CommentAuthorBlueMask
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2012
     

    I got it from http://www.jkrowling.com/ but it’s not up there anymore. It used to be all cool and interactive.

    •  
      CommentAuthorFalling
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2012
     

    Interesting you should mention Tolkien. I actually own volume 6 of the History of Middle-Earth, which is about the beginning of Tolkien’s work on Lord of the Rings. It’s a very interesting read, mainly because Tolkien broke every rule of writing you ever heard of by not planning the book out at all before he started and wildly changing the story several times as he wrote it, as well as completely rewriting it several times before ever finishing.

    Writing Execuses talk about the two poles of writing from the outliners to the discovery writers. Outliners plan out absolutely everything and can have pages upon pages of point form plot points. Discovery writers invent as they go and often have to restart multiple times.

    I wonder if Tolkien pushed towards the discovery writing end of the spectrum.

    But yeah of all the authors to read first drafts, you could probably do it with Tolkien as they’ve published every napkin he ever wrote on. One day I’ll get that History volume set for a reasonable price.

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2012
     

    they’ve published every napkin he ever wrote on.

    It’s true. If it was any author other than Tolkien, I’d call it a blatant attempt to suck even more money out of fans. Because it is Tolkien, though, the random napkin scribblings are as words from the pen of Calliope herself, and therefore I forgive the moneygrubbing. :D

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      CommentAuthorKyllorac
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2012
     

    Clio might be another appropriate muse to invoke, seeing as how she was the muse of history, and Tolkien crafted an entire history with all its lovely intricacies.