History Trivia / TheDresdenFiles

** ''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 it was supposed to go to [[spoiler:Molly, the rookie apprentice.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Dead Beat'''s necromancers were originally scheduled to turn up in book 8, with ''Proven Guilty'' 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.

-->In short--when it comes to my writing I am not to be trusted. :) However, like any halfway decent liar, about 95 percent of what I say is the absolute truth. That makes the other five percent work LOTS better. :)''
* TheOtherDarrin: In the audiobooks. Books 1-12 are narrated by [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer James Marsters.]] Unfortunately, Marsters was unavailable for ''Ghost Story,'' 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 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]]
** [[http://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2015/marsters-ghost-story-coming-at-last Marsters returns for]] ''Cold Days'', possibly due to fan backlash. Furthermore, a rerelease of the ''Ghost Story'' audiobook, with Marsters narrating it, was released on April 21, 2015.

-->'''Nordling:''' It reminds me, do you like torturing your characters? Is it more fun to torture them a bit?\\
'''Jim Butcher:''' I don't like torturing my characters, I like torturing my ''readers''. It happens to be that torturing the characters is the best way to do that.\\

-->Due to readers' frustration with the wait between books, Jim Butcher and his editor at Penguin Random House are taking inspiration from one of their favorite film trilogies and declaring a temporary hiatus on publication of the Dresden Files novels.\\

---> '''[[https://twitter.com/BigBentley15/status/621479280254390272 BigBentley15]] [Ryan Bentley]:''' @longshotauthor what part of peace talks are you writing RIGHT NOW!\\

** Originally, the title of ''Death Masks'' 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 ''Dead Beat'', a role that originally it 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.

-->'''[[https://twitter.com/BigBentley15/status/621479280254390272 BigBentley15]] [Ryan Bentley]:''' @longshotauthor what part of peace talks are you writing RIGHT NOW!\\

* OneOfUs: At Dragon Con 2014, Mr. Butcher said when he wanted to look up some information about his own series he will look at the Dresden Wikia and ''TV Tropes.'' He compliments the tropers attention to the minute details, including the ShoutOut pages. [[http://youtu.be/sR6RCDkmH1I?t=14m10s See video here]].

* FakeAmerican: Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden.

Add

->''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.

In short--when it comes to my writing I am not to be trusted. :) However, like any halfway decent liar, about 95 percent of what I say is the absolute truth. That makes the other five percent work LOTS better. :)''

* 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]] 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.

* OneOfUs: At Dragon Con 2014, Mr. Butcher said when he wanted to look up some information about his own series he will look at the Dresden Wikia and ''TV Tropes.'' He compliments the tropers attention to the minute details, including the ShoutOut pages. [[http://youtu.be/sR6RCDkmH1I?t=14m10s See video here]].

* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/ClaudiaBlack appears in one episode as an assistant to a slain PrivateDetective from whom Harry was taking a PI licensure class.

** Originally, ''Dead Beat'' was to come after ''Proven Guilty'', but when his agent told Jim, 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.

* OneOfUs: At Dragon Con 2014, Mr. Butcher said when he wanted to look up some information about his own series he will look at the Dresden Wikia and ''tvtropes.'' He compliments the tropers attention to the minute details, including the ShoutOut pages. [[http://youtu.be/sR6RCDkmH1I?t=14m10s See video here]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, the title of ''Death Masks'' was to be ''Holy Sheet'', but [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar that just couldn't fly past the radar]].
* WordOfGod: Creator/JimButcher is quite often going to conventions or signings or readings, and occasionally pops into threads on his own forums, and willing to answer questions. Most of the time he gives a straight answer, it's because it's information that will [[AllThereInTheManual not make it into the series]]. His forums have [[http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/board,43.0.html special sections cataloging various "Word of Jim" posts,]] speaking on everything from how different wizards may perceive things in the Sight (Ancient Mai might perceive a warlock as a dried out, bleached white tree, while Listens-to-Wind may perceive the same warlock as smelling foul), to characters' pasts (Ebenezer [=McCoy=] and the Merlin fought on opposite sides of the French-Indian war), to background information that would explode if Harry knew about it (Ivy's true purpose in the Oblivion War).

* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Dead Beat'''s necromancers were originally scheduled to turn up in book 8, with ''Proven Guilty'' 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.]]

** 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]]

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

** In regard to [[Series/TheDresdenFiles the TV show in particular]], Butcher said Bob was originally killed by an axe to the head and mentions the skull prop has a hole in the back for that reason. You can see the hole in one shot during the series.

** In regard to [[Series/TheDresdenFiles the TV show in particular]], Butcher said Bob was originally killed by an axe to the head and mentions the skull prop has a hole in the back for that reason. You can see the hole in one shot during the series.

* WordOfGod: Creator/JimButcher is quite often going to conventions or signings or readings, and occasionally pops into threads on his own forums, and willing to answer questions. Most of the time he gives a straight answer, it's because it's information that will [[AllThereInTheManual not make it into the series]]. His forums have special sections cataloging various "Word of Jim" posts, speaking on everything from how different wizards may perceive things in the Sight (Ancient Mai might perceive a warlock as a dried out, bleached white tree, while Listens-to-Wind may perceive the same warlock as smelling foul), to characters' pasts (Ebenezer [=McCoy=] and the Merlin fought on opposite sides of the French-Indian war), to background information that would explode if Harry knew about it (Ivy's true purpose in the Oblivion War).

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

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