Thursday, December 3, 2009

A Glimpse Into the Edits of Dickens

Thanks to blogger/author Jay Asher, I stumbled across something I would love to share with everyone. Each December the New York Times displays Charles Dickens original "Christmas Carol" manuscript. It is amazing to look at--hand written, all scratched and scribbled, barely legible--and see the mundane origins of one of the most amazing novels ever written. Click here to see the manuscript.

So, does it remind you of your own heavily edited work?

24 comments:

Katie Salidas said...

That is so cool. Thanks for sharing!

Nancy said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. The quote at the top of yours is one of my favorite.

Dickens' manuscript looks like one of my non-fiction books. They get marked up a lot.
I have a little red leather 3" by 4" Dickins' Christmas Carol. It's a gas to read the original.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

It definitely resembled my style when I hand wrote my work. The computer has changed all that, though! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for Sharing!!!!!!!!!

Diana Paz said...

Oh I am definitely looking at this, thank you!!

Carolyn V. said...

Wow! That is so cool! Thanks

Tere Kirkland said...

LOL, that's exactly how my notebooks look...

Great minds work alike!

Bethany Wiggins said...

My edited work looks an awful lot like that, too (just on typed writing, not freehand).

Liza said...

When I write longhand, it looks like that, minus the parchment paper. I much prefer the computer, where I can almost keep up with my thoughts. Thank you for visiting my blog!

Suzette Saxton said...

I love this post! What a treasure. It has inspired me to read this book - for the first time ever. I have heard it is fantastic!

Unknown said...

Oh wow! That is so cool!

Anonymous said...

That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. How neat would that be to see in person? And did anyone find out those other "choice" words for Scrooge? :D

Jessica Nelson said...

LOL I can't even imagine what mine would look like with all the changes I constantly make.
Pretty cool. I didn't even know that was around.

Jennifer said...

I'll admit that I hated that book when I was forced to read it in 6th grade, but, dang, that was beautiful. I love looking at pages covered with edits--and yes, it totally reminds me of my own manuscripts. Thanks for sharing! :)

--Jenna.

lisa and laura said...

Is it weird that seeing that made me sort of excited for our manuscript to get all marked up?

Tracy Loewer said...

Love it! It totally reminds me of my scribbled out notebooks (which I will burn when I'm done transferring to the computer - there's no way I'm letting anyone look at that stuff, haha). Thanks for sharing.

DL Hammons said...

The internet is such a wonderful source of information and enlightenment! Here I am, sitting at my desk at work, staring at the eloquently written words of a giant in the writing world.

Just think, someday when my writing catches fire and I sell mountains of books . . . aspiring writers will be imbedding links to youtube video's of me lighting my own farts.

Oh how times are changing. :)

Elana Johnson said...

Oh, for sure. I started on a third draft of one of my novels. Wow. So much scratching and notes and rewritten words. Thanks for the inspiration to keep going!

Conda Douglas said...

This is wonderful--what a find!

Angie said...

Thanks for that. It was great to look at. I feel a little awed. Dickens own handwriting. Cool.

Christina Lee said...

wow that is real wild and wierd to see. Thanks for sharing...

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Oh, I wish I could see it on this computer, but I guess I need an upgrade to do that. Bet it's wonderful, though.

Shelby said...

Your blog is beautiful. The music is exquisite.

So enjoyed the visit. Cheers :)

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Thanks so much for sending me that link. That is amazing!!! Wow, I don't think I could be a writer back then when word processors weren't around to make quick and repetitive edits.