Harper Lee's Lost True Crime Book | Hacker News Reader

Harper Lee's Lost True Crime Book

theguardian.com

29 pointsdrjohnson8 comments

I do some creative writing too, and can save things for a very long time, agonizing over details. But life as a programmer has taught me to just ship it. Writing and code are never perfect, no matter how perfectionist I am.

So I really feel sorry for Harper Lee -- there were probably 300 pages of good writing that went up in smoke because she set an impossible standard for herself. My advice to you all is to seek high quality, but remember that eventually worse is better, and it's time to ship it.

A similar thing can happen to Actors Harry H Corbett for example The Son in Steptoe and son

what happened to Harry H Corbett?

If you want to read a real Harper Lee True Crime book, read Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." She helped him with the research, and some people feel she may have ghosted much of it.

Regardless, it's an iconic true crime book you could (and should) read.

On the other hand, there are people who think that Capote heavily edited "To Kill a Mockingbird". Which is interesting, because the character of Dill is of course based on him.

I always thought Lee and Capote were just very close childhood friends, who read each others works before anyone else, and suggested changes. Nothing more, nothing less.

I find it odd that people would think she ghosted In Cold Blood, considering that Harper Lee published exactly one book (two as of 2019) and Capote published well over a dozen.

Not saying it isn't possible, one would just generally assume that the "ghost" would be the more experienced author.

Well, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has never been out of print (since 1960) and Capote isn't known for his novels. "In Cold Blood" (1966) was his most successful work. One could argue that she was the more successful novelist.

Capote's fame is mostly due to his "jet set" social life, not the quantity or quality of his work.

Seems like John Grisham got a few basic plot points for A Time to Kill from the Maxwell story.

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