OLD DRAFTS - SPOILER ALERT!
On this page, I share parts of my first drafts of 6th Grade with My Crazy Classmates, My Super Smart Sister, & Me. This includes sensitive information about the plot as a whole, so if you haven't read the book yet, PLEASE don't scroll any further down this page! Instead, buy the book on Amazon, read it, and then you'll be welcome to explore this page :)
All of the drafts you will see below were written when I was eleven and twelve years old. They are the true originals! Well... except for the excerpt from "School Starts", because when I was about fourteen, I decided that my first draft of that was purely awful, and decided to write a new one. Unfortunately, I have lost the true original copy of "School Starts", but I hope to find it someday because that would be a LOT of fun to read!
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This is from the second draft of "School Starts" (written when I was 14). Originally, Pete was in Allisen's 6th grade class as well! In the original drafts, Pete had tattoos of the word "BAD" on both of his cheeks. You can't see it too well in the scan since the bottom of the illustration is cut off, but he always used to wear a shirt that said "MUST BE BAD." |
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Click through the images below to read the entire first draft of "Me, A Babysitter?"
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Sometimes editing involves removing irrelevant details--such as this part of "Moving Time" that specifies exactly what kind of ice cream each family member gets. The phone number and address here are completely made up, although the zip code for Dripping Springs, TX is correct. I chose that city because my grandmother has friends there. I changed the state Emalie Maye moved to in the final draft because my best friend moved to Texas, and I didn't want it to seem like Emalie Maye was based on her (because she isn't). |
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Click through the images below to read the entire first draft of "The Holidays Approach"
(yes, this is LITERALLY the entire thing!)
(yes, this is LITERALLY the entire thing!)
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This part of "Why Me?" was not edited a whole lot from its original form. For the final version, I took what I'd originally written and just added more detail. I also removed the irrelevant detail of Mirisen being 3'9. |
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In the first draft of "Love, Love, Love," Allisen was getting annoyed not only by Jack but also by Nalcie. I changed this because I wanted Allisen and Nalcie to be friends. I also changed Nalcie's speech impediment to just a lisp, to make it easier to read. Tatha, Marie, and Jim is a fictional series that I never wrote. I'm not sure I ever even planned on writing it. I just remember drawing pictures of the characters. |
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"Pupsurprise" was basically the same, but again, lacked a lot of the details that show up in the final version. Also, I just noticed this, but apparently I was having a hard time deciding whether I wanted the Zepettos to have two or three cats! |
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"Going to Carolina" didn't need a whole lot of editing, just a few touch-ups here and there. I changed the timeline of the story a bit (in the first draft, Mirisen and Carolina had made up and were perfectly happy by Easter and Carolina's birthday), and changed Desley's name to Jessie (I just wanted to give her a less unique name). |
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"Showtime Star" also didn't need much editing. When I wrote the final version, I decided that Mirisen wouldn't intentionally try out for the part she knew her sister wanted, so I changed that part, but not a whole lot else. |
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Domacie Cooce originally played a much bigger role in the series. Despite living in Indiana, he would frequently just show up at the Zepettos' house and cause problems. This is a deleted scene from "It's Your Choice." |
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I didn't change much about "Camp Nature Woods." One thing I did change was the names of a couple of the characters. I changed Laura to Lauren because I had a friend named Laura by the time I published this, and I didn't want a "bad" character to share her name. I changed Macie to Milly because "Macie" is similar to "Domacie." |
Click through the images below to read the entire first draft of "Do You See How I See?"
