8 Harry Potter Edits JK Rowling Made From Earlier Book Drafts

The process of writing differs from author to author. Some meticulously plan everything, from character arcs to narrative strands to subtext, working out each word like its a significant piece of the overall puzzle.

For other writers, the process is a lot looser. Some writers allow the story to naturally guide them, and openly admit they have no idea what they're going to write until they start writing it. And there are those, of course, who fall squarely in-between.

Both of these methods result in editing and redrafting. It's one of publishing's fundamental truths €“ nothing escapes the editing process. It often takes months €“ sometimes even years €“ to get from the first draft to the final draft, and this gives writers a whole lot of time to consider the material they've written (that's not to mention all of the pressure and suggestions from the editors themselves).

The same goes for Harry Potter. Though J.K. Rowling is undoubtedly a genius, she too had to redraft over and over and over again before reaching a completed book €“ then she had to do that six more times. For this reason there's a ton of amazing, tantalizing stuff that sadly never made it to print...