when it comes to listening to criticism, he has been accused of being more ornery than a bandersnatch. But his work constantly evolved, and the Inklings participated every step of the way. Tolkien’s first drafts were dashed off at great speed, and these are the versions he read to the Inklings. At times, they are nearly illegible, breaking off into fragmented notes when ideas flowed faster than his hand could write. Having dashed off a draft, he would rewrite and rewrite and rewrite again. He would continue to produce page after page in order to discover what he wanted to say. As a result, as
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This is the kind of inside information that comforts me and actually adds hope to my writing process. I think I’m closer to Tolkien than anyone of the inklings in two ways: one, I write like this into, I can be like a Bandersnatch
