“Keep in mind that TKAM was also severely edited in it’s transition from
Watchman.”
My impression is that is a mistaken impression many have and the two are separate works.
” So how much of the editors writing style got embedded?”
Editing would be an issue in the software analysis.
Like many unpublished authors, Ms. Lee was unsure of her talents. “I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee said in a statement this year about the evolution from “Watchman” to “Mockingbird.”Ms. Hohoff offers a more detailed characterization of the process in the Lippincott corporate history: “After a couple of false starts, the story-line, interplay of characters, and fall of emphasis grew clearer, and with each revision — there were many minor changes as the story grew in strength and in her own vision of it — the true stature of the novel became evident.” (In 1978, Lippincott was acquired by Harper & Row, which became HarperCollins, publisher of “Watchman.”)
There appeared to be a natural give and take between author and editor. “When she disagreed with a suggestion, we talked it out, sometimes for hours,” Ms. Hohoff wrote. “And sometimes she came around to my way of thinking, sometimes I to hers, sometimes the discussion would open up an entirely new line of country.”
The Invisible Hand Behind Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’