History Trivia / TheDresdenFiles

* ThrowItIn: A variant; Jim Butcher apparently created the general plans for the entirety of ''The Dresden Files'' while he was still in college, and has slowly been working through his LongGame for the series since then in the books proper. However, several elements in the later books have either been inspired by certain fan theories that he himself loved or [[RealitySubtext events in his own life]] that he felt worked for the series proper and so were integrated in. Most notably, Butcher has claimed that Mouse's implementation into the books was almost entirely based on how Butcher's family had moved around the time of ''Blood Rites'', and Butcher & his first wife had bought a dog to make their son feel better. Another example is the short story "The Warrior," which was based on a moment of introspection Butcher had after having moved to a new town for about a year and was reflecting on what changes he had brought to the lives of his neighbors since then.

*** The best(?) part is that by then most the fans know better than just overreacting to anything Butcher says and suspect that some form of ExactWords was at play. Although, trying to figure out that one out is bound to delve into EpilepticTrees territory, meaning that the author gets his trolling done in any case. [[{{Touche}} Well played]], TrollingCreator. [[XanatosGambit Well played]]. Turns out [[spoiler:she really does die in ''Battle Ground'' (which was originally supposed to be a part of ''Peace Talks'' before it got too big) after all so he was telling the truth]].

!General trivia:
* TheWikiRule: [[http://dresdenfiles.wikia.com/wiki/Dresden_Files The Dresden Files Wiki]] covers the novels and series.

-->''Guys, I am a storyteller, first and foremost. I professionally take wild liberties with the truth when its in the service of telling a good story. So, while you could be certain that if I saw you drop your wallet, I'd give it back to you with nothing missing, and while you could be sure that if I told you I'd be there to help you hide the body, there I would be--when it comes to telling a good story, I make Nicodemus look like a choirboy. :)\\

** Alternatively, the switch could be justified in a meta sense: Given that for almost all of ''Literature/GhostStory'', Harry was [[spoiler:dead, and therefore in a markedly different state]] and there are even suggestions that he [[spoiler:wasn't even Harry proper, just a shade (though that was wrong)]], having a new voice for that book adds to the ambiance of 'somethings wrong'. Narration returns to James Marsters [[spoiler:when Harry comes back to life]].

* QuoteSource:
** DistractedByTheSexy
** ItMakesSenseInContext
** ObliviousToLove

* CharacterSpecificPages: [[Characters/TheDresdenFilesHarryDresden Harry Dresden]]

-->'''Marsters:'''''"Wait a minute," I managed to say. "Okay, he's off. Put me down." The grip on the back of my neck relaxed...'' Oh. Oh, it's at the back of his neck. ''Fuck.'' ''[goes back to the beginning of the line and proceeds to read it in a normal voice]''

*** The best(?) part is that by then most the fans know better than just overreacting to anything Butcher says and suspect that some form of ExactWords was at play. Although, trying to figure out that one out is bound to delve into EpilepticTrees territory, meaning that the author gets his trolling done in any case. [[{{Touche}} Well played]], TrollingCreator. [[XanatosGambit Well played]]. Turns out [[spoiler:she really does die in Battle Ground after all so he was telling the truth]].

** Originally, the title of ''Literature/DeathMasks'' was to be ''Holy Sheet'', but [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar that just couldn't fly past the radar]]. Similarly, ''Ghost Story'' was originally supposed to be titled ''Dead'' to reflect how both it and ''Changes'' weren't following the series' IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming, but his publishers and editors refused.

* TheOtherDarrin: In the audiobooks. Books 1-12 are narrated by [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer James Marsters]]. Unfortunately, Marsters was unavailable for ''Literature/GhostStory'', which was narrated by John Glover. Fan reaction to the change has, thus far, been... [[BrokenBase mixed.]]
** Alternatively, the switch could be Justifed in a meta sense: Given that for almost all of ''Literature/GhostStory'', Harry was [[spoiler:dead, and therefore in a markedly different state]] and there are even suggestions that he [[spoiler:wasn't even Harry proper, just a shade (though that was wrong)]], having a new voice for that book adds to the ambiance of 'somethings wrong'. Narration returns to James Marsters [[spoiler:when Harry comes back to life]].

* TroubledProduction: The fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Literature/PeaceTalks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a horrible apartment with no writing space for years while an awful contractor completely failed to build him a house. As of January 2019 the book is reportedly now back on track, and as of July 22, 2019, it's complete except for a last editing pass.

** Most notably, ''Peace Talks'' and ''Battle Ground'' were originally going to be one huge {{Doorstopper}}, but his editors informed him that the novel was way too long and so he had to split in roughly in half into two separate books.

* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Literature/DeadBeat'''s necromancers were originally scheduled to turn up in book 8, with ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'' as the 7th entry in the series. Mr. Butcher swapped them around when his publishers insisted that the seventh Dresden tale, being the first hardbound release, really ought to feature something "truly spectacular". [[spoiler:Cue the zombie dinosaur.]]

* TroubledProduction: The fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Literature/PeaceTalks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a shitty apartment with no writing space for years while an even shittier contractor failed to build him a house. As of January 2019 the book is reportedly now back on track, and as of July 22, 2019, it's complete except for a last editing pass.

** Originally, the title of ''Literature/DeathMasks'' was to be ''Holy Sheet'', but [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar that just couldn't fly past the radar]].
** ''Dead Beat'' was to come after ''Proven Guilty'', but when his agent told Jim that book 7 was to be his first hardcover book, he was asked if ''Proven Guilty'' would have an exciting climax. Comparing [[spoiler:a valiant legal fight to save a young girl's life]] to Harry [[spoiler:riding into battle on a zombie ''T. rex'',]] Jim switched the stories with the needed edits. This led to the creation of Butters' character as TheWatson to Harry for ''Literature/DeadBeat'', a role that originally was supposed to go to [[spoiler:Molly, the rookie apprentice.]]
** In ''Literature/ColdDays'', [[spoiler:instead of becoming the Winter Lady]], Jim considered killing Molly off.
** Butcher has stated that, when writing ''Changes'', he considered having Harry become the Winter Knight, use the Darkhallow, or take up Lasciel's coin.

*** The best(?) part is that by then most the fans know better than just overreacting to anything Butcher says and suspect that some form of ExactWords was at play. Although, trying to figure out that one out is bound to delve into EpilepticTrees territory, meaning that the author gets his trolling done in any case. [[{{Touche}} Well played]], TrollingCreator. [[XanatosGambit Well played]].

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: WordOfGod is that Lovecraft falls in this category, and that both he and Bram Stoker died ''because'' of what they did. [[ShownTheirWork This is actually a large part of the expanded]] Franchise/CthulhuMythos, written by others writers since Lovecraft's death, whose stories include Lovecraft as a deceased author who revealed many of the secrets of the Old Ones.

** Butcher has stated that, when writing ''Literature/Changes'', he considered having Harry become the Winter Knight, use the Darkhallow, or take up Lasciel's coin.

** [[http://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2015/marsters-ghost-story-coming-at-last Marsters returns for]] ''Literature/ColdDays'', possibly due to fan backlash. Furthermore, a rerelease of the ''Ghost Story'' audiobook, with Marsters narrating it, was released on April 21, 2015.

* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Literature/DeadBeat''[='s=] necromancers were originally scheduled to turn up in book 8, with ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'' as the 7th entry in the series. Mr. Butcher swapped them around when his publishers insisted that the seventh Dresden tale, being the first hardbound release, really ought to feature something "truly spectacular". [[spoiler:Cue the zombie dinosaur.]]

-->''Guys, I am a storyteller, first and foremost. I professionally take wild liberties with the truth when its in the service of telling a good story. So, while you could be certain that if I saw you drop your wallet, I'd give it back to you with nothing missing, and while you could be sure that if I told you I'd be there to help you hide the body, there I would be--when it comes to telling a good story, I make Nicodemus look like a choirboy. :)\\\
What's even worse is that I'm still learning more and more about the craft, which means that what I thought would be the direction of a story ten years ago often gets revised as I learn more about telling effective stories. So even if the answer /was/ honest a few years ago, maybe I learned something about storytelling that changes my original plan to something that'll be more fun for me to write and more fun for you guys to read.\\\

** Alternatively, the switch could be Justifed in a meta sense: Given that for almost all of ''Ghost Story'', Harry was [[spoiler:dead, and therefore in a markedly different state]] and there are even suggestions that he [[spoiler:wasn't even Harry proper, just a shade (though that was wrong)]], having a new voice for that book adds to the ambiance of 'somethings wrong'. Narration returns to James Marsters [[spoiler:when Harry comes back to life]].

** ''Dead Beat'' was to come after ''Proven Guilty'', but when his agent told Jim that book 7 was to be his first hardcover book, he was asked if ''Proven Guilty'' would have an exciting climax. Comparing [[spoiler:a valiant legal fight to save a young girl's life]] to Harry [[spoiler:riding into battle on a zombie ''T. rex'',]] Jim switched the stories with the needed edits. This led to the creation of Butters' character as TheWatson to Harry for ''Dead Beat'', a role that originally was supposed to go to [[spoiler:Molly, the rookie apprentice.]]
** In ''Cold Days'', [[spoiler:instead of becoming the Winter Lady]], Jim considered killing Molly off.

* TroubledProduction: The fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Literature/PeaceTalks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a shitty apartment with no writing space for years while an even shittier contractor failed to build him a house. As of January 2019 the book is reportedly now back on track.