I never used to read the author’s notes before getting into a book – “Who cared what the person thought when they were writing this masterpiece? Get me to good stuff and let me know how it ends… SHOW ME THAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT”.
But more and more, I’m fascinated by them in understanding what someone went through in creating this piece of art.
Starting a new book today, from 1986, the author had about 10 pages of notes walking you through thought processes and how this book was their first idea but then they needed a prequel (and oddly enough it was the prequel that hit big).
Hearing someone turn over ideas over and over to come to the final product has become so interesting.
In newer books, I see a couple of pages, not an entire history.
In our AI prompts, I see “Let me think on this…”
Don’t lose the notes, the best lessons are in the notes.