At this critical juncture in our national dialogue about race, I remember, a few years back I picked up Go Set a Watchman, purportedly a new novel by Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. I purchased it on the spur of the moment, surprised to find the sequel to a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel at deep discount in Walmart.
Then I began reading. Although the book starts with a lyric description of Alabama landscape, the narrative quickly wanders off to seemingly disconnected anecdotes about train travel, delinquent cousins, Civil War battles, and more. Although familiar characters soon appear: Jean Louise Finch, as the grownup Scout, and her beloved father, Atticus, they are inconsistent with their portrayal in Mockingbird. I kept searching for a clear voice, a compelling through line, until I abandoned reading it.
What a relief to hear NPR’s Maureen Corrigan call it “kind of a mess.” It wasn’t just me. The provenance of the new novel was also questionable. Perhaps it was not new at all, only a newly discovered first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird.
If this was true, on my bedside table lay the dry bones of a masterpiece. What an opportunity for a writer, to study the stuttering first blurt, against the finished work. What a lesson in craft, to see the decisions made about narration, characterization, and plot, knowing the end result brought to life the voice of Scout, the little girl who dared speak the truth about racism in her hometown.
And what an encouragement to know that even a gifted author began with such a rough draft, it was unrecognizable from the book that made her famous. How reassuring to know that an astute editor could see the gold amidst the dross.
So fellow writers, know it doesn’t matter how you produce your first draft, or what it’s quality. Keep mining the story God has given you to tell and trust him for the results. You never know how treasure from your own backyard could change the world.
