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I'd be interested to hear more about the creative dynamic between this new book and To Kill a Mocking Bird. It says she put this new one aside 60 years ago to w

I'd be interested to hear more about the creative dynamic between this new book and To Kill a Mocking Bird. It says she put this new one aside 60 years ago to write TKaMB, but it features the characters later in their lives. I wonder if she was sketching out backstory to flesh out the characters and that was more compelling, so she pivoted and wrote To Kill a Mocking Bird instead?

swamp40 12y ago
It sounds to me like her editor thought the flashbacks to Scout's childhood were the best part of the unfinished book - so as you said, she pivoted to the good stuff.
- mercer 12y ago
  While I expected it to annoy me, for some reason in this particular situation I love the fact that we're using very current terminology in the context of a 'classic' from the 60s. Perhaps because it 'anchors' the term and makes it seem more like a useful word to describe a phenomenon that has always existed, rather than annoying, very-specific jargon.
  - spike021 12y ago
    Maybe at the time they would be referred to as 'memories'.
    - celticninja 12y ago
      He meant pivot. It has become a bit of a buzzword and perhaps people think that it has only just come into practice, however it was always around it just hadn't been reduced to a single word.
      - spike021 12y ago
        Oh I see.
    - deleted 12y ago
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- deleted 12y ago
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nzealand 12y ago
"In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called 'Go Set a Watchman,'" the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. "It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became 'To Kill a Mockingbird') from the point of view of the young Scout. "I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told. I hadn't realized it (the original book) had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years."
seanalltogether 12y ago
I'm also curious to know if this second book pulls as heavily from her life experiences as mockingbird did. Mockingbird is such a poignant book because of how well it captures a certain period in american history. If the second one does as well, it could be just as important of a novel.

swamp40 12y ago

It sounds to me like her editor thought the flashbacks to Scout's childhood were the best part of the unfinished book - so as you said, she pivoted to the good stuff.

mercer 12y ago
While I expected it to annoy me, for some reason in this particular situation I love the fact that we're using very current terminology in the context of a 'classic' from the 60s. Perhaps because it 'anchors' the term and makes it seem more like a useful word to describe a phenomenon that has always existed, rather than annoying, very-specific jargon.
- spike021 12y ago
  Maybe at the time they would be referred to as 'memories'.
  - celticninja 12y ago
    He meant pivot. It has become a bit of a buzzword and perhaps people think that it has only just come into practice, however it was always around it just hadn't been reduced to a single word.
    - spike021 12y ago
      Oh I see.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 12y ago
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nzealand 12y ago

"In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called 'Go Set a Watchman,'" the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. "It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became 'To Kill a Mockingbird') from the point of view of the young Scout. "I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told. I hadn't realized it (the original book) had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years."

seanalltogether 12y ago

I'm also curious to know if this second book pulls as heavily from her life experiences as mockingbird did. Mockingbird is such a poignant book because of how well it captures a certain period in american history. If the second one does as well, it could be just as important of a novel.