yo there, two hours until cover reveal!!

because i like Suffering, i read the very very first draft of TDMT last night and it was

so for every like over the next two hours, i'll share a fact or bad line!

1: i didn't know until 12 hours ago that Eliot's last name was originally spelled Burch, not Birch

no idea when i changed that or WHY, but i like it better now lol

2: the very very very first draft is only two page: one scene where the characters meet and have a disagreement, and then I gave up

3: which brings us to our first bad line. in the OG, their first scuffle happened when Eliot asked Tess for a rubber (British: eraser, American: not eraser). to everyone's relief, it did not make the cut

upon further review, the line is too embarrassing to share WHAT WAS I DOING

4: okay fine

5: big things to point out here
-the kids were originally in college, E in grad school and T in undergrad
-Eliot wore glasses, they were cut, now Tess wears glasses (???why???)
-why do they talk like Dickensien villains who wrote this

6: Aunt Mathilde was originally named Ethyl. Why was she named Ethyl? I don't know. Reading this version is like shouting into the void and having the void shout back

7: some of my favorite lines from the book were originally a prologue but then I was like "fuck prologues"

(there's nothing wrong with them irl, it just didn't work in this context)

8: i originally planned a very large and involved subplot with ghosts. it did not work out. traces of it still exist.

alas. i love ghosts.

9: i have no idea why but there's a cut chapter opening when tess is talking about the time she accidentally electrocuted a barbie doll

10: there is a cut scene where Eliot is alone in his office, listening to a bagpipe CD

why did i cut that scene