Literature Quiz / What Could Have Been: Literature

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Can you name the book or book series for each clue about a literary scenario that almost happened?

 Plays Quiz Updated Jan 24, 2021

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What-If ScenarioAnswer
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was unable to finish this epic poem based on a dream of Xanadu because he got distracted by an insurance salesman and couldn't remember his inspiration.
Among the working titles for this Margaret Mitchell novel include 'Tote the Weary Load' and (appropriately) 'Tomorrow Is Another Day'.
Bram Stoker has mentioned in notes that he planned for this title vampire's castle to collapse after he was killed.
Though 'Forever Dawn' was originally planned as the only sequel to this book, it eventually had three sequels, ending with 'Breaking Dawn'.
It is believed this medieval work was going to contain a total of 120 stories. However, only 24 of them were completed before Geoffrey Chaucer died.
Started as a joke, 'Buttercup's Baby' was going to be a real sequel to this fantasy-turned-cult classic film until William Goldman died in 2018.
The original opening to 'The Magician's Nephew', the 6th book in this series, dealt with a boy named Digory who was born with the ability to speak to trees and animals.
This Roald Dahl story's precocious, telekinetic title character was originally planned as a naughty child who died at the end of the book.
What-If ScenarioAnswer
Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants, cancelled an anthology project parodying children's stories including a 'Furious' version of this literary monkey.
This novel about cancer & romance had an original ending in which Hazel & Van Houten die in a shootout with a drug lord. Really, John Green?
Who's that living in 221B Baker Street? Had Arthur Conan Doyle stuck to his original names, it would be Sherrinford Hope, not this man.
K.A. Applegate originally started this series as 'The Changelings' for 3-4 books. It was bumped up to 54 books with a much catchier name.
'The New Shadow' was a planned sequel to this series, set during the rule of Aragorn's son. Its author abandoned it after a few attempts at its opening pages.
While originally composing a novel about the Decembrist revolt, Tolstoy shifted focus to the Napoleonic Wars, instead writing this infamously long novel.
This Victor Hugo novel would've felt quite different if Jean Valjean & Fantine had kept their original names, Jean Tréjean & Marguerite Louet.
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