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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 10:47:24
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The past couple days I've been sitting here reading through posts and I just linked my way to one of the older THO posts about the book Spellfire.
I read this book when I was about 8 or 9 and have been a fan of Ed Greenwood and the Forgotten Realms ever since.
The idea that one third of the original manuscript was left on the cutting room floor and that this is the state of many Realms publications flabbergasts me, and leaves me with one very strong response: DESIRE.
I know this is an incredibly audacious thing to ask, but are those lost nuggets out there somewhere? Are they contractually locked away or have people seen them? Are there any writers that would let us see the parts of their work that were never published?
I'm not sure where to post this or if its even appropriate, but in my head it would be like reading all the appendices of Tolkien's works, all his now published notes that add so many layers to the stories... Have others asked before?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36877 Posts |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 14:24:50
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| This is the norm for any published book. The product we end up holding in our hands is usually much different from the first finished draft that the author writes. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader
USA
2420 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 16:09:41
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| Different is one thing, but selectively cutting out 33 percent is a bit much. |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6680 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 16:12:17
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Most of that 33% went back into the book when the trade paperback was released some years later. Of course, they cut other original stuff out to put that material in the second time around!
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 16:53:39
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| As easy as it may be to vilify editors (for obvious reasons!), the end result is often a better book. Sometimes less is more. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2013 : 17:52:10
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When I bought the re-released hardcover version of Spellfire a couple of years back, it had a forward by Ed Greenwood explaining much of what went on when the book was written, and how much was cut... which unfortunately left the original book a bit of disjointed mess (plotwise). There was so much going on the it was hard to notice (except for things like the Maluagrym, which were never explained) and folks enjoyed the book all the same.
To paraphrase him, the book was supposed to be like a "whirlwind Tour" of the people and places in the Realms (which is why we had cameos by people like Khelben). It was an introduction to the Realms via a novel. Ed, being who he is and having so much material to work with wrote a book FAR larger then they wanted, and it got hacked to pieces.
The hardcover re-release I bought was a 'fixed' version, but still by no means as lengthy as Ed would have still wished it. He was able to go back and tidy-up all the odd loose ends the poor editing left behind the first time. Thus, I was lucky enough to read the fixed version and never read the original, and I would recommend that copy for anyone wanting to re-read this book.
The sequels happened because Ed drops more 'Red Slippers'* then anyone I know, and every tale he spins leads to a hundred new stories (most of which we never get to see).
*A fantastic term coined by Dennis L. McKiernan for his book by the same name. It pertains to something akin to a 'Red Herring', except that it is a real (in-setting) factoid, and embellishes the setting by referencing people and events that are never detailed in other works. He explains that the actual term comes from old Sherlock Holmes novels, wherein Holmes would refer to old cases (never detailed) like "The peculiar case of the Red Slipper". It adds depth to a world without doing a lot of 'heavy lifting', and is a wonderful literary device for fiction authors. Lovecraft used this constantly (to give just one example). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Original Drafts Of Books
