Many of us have heard the WOJ about how Dresden File was created as a writing class project. How he came up with 20 plotlines and the BAT idea. Now, let's imagine what we think each of those plotlines were that summarize each book. Here is my initial thoughts:
1. Harry is blamed for a crime commited by an evil sorceror.
2. Harry saves mob boss from rogue werewolf feds.
3. Harry chases ghosts at a vampire party.
4. Ex-girlfriend involves Harry in Fae war.
5. Harry rescues holy relic from demons.
6. Harry discovers unknown brother.
7. Harry saves friend's daughter from Fae. (going with original idea of PG being Book 7)
8. Harry blackmailed into finding god-making book. (going with original idea of DB being Book 
9. Harry searches for witch-killer.
10. Harry repays debt by rescuing girl from demons.
11. Harry proves wizard's innocence in murder.
12. Harry saves his unknown daughter from vampires.
13. Harry learns what it is like to be ghost.
14. Harry ordered to kill daughter.
15.Harry steals holy relic for demon.
16.Harry helps his brother and father-to-be. (Guess)
17.Harry becomes prisoner in another world. (Guess)
18. Harry solves the murder of wrestling god. (Guess)
19. Harry loses powers. (Guess)
20. Harry suffers death of family member. (Guess)
BAT1. An allout war starts. (Guess)
BAT2. Good guys are losing war. (Guess)
BAT3. Final battle. (Guess)
I try to be as vague and general as possible since many characters and groups were probably not named until later. Also, my memory of future books is weak. I will try to ammend phrasing with later posts. So, who wants to play?
1. Harry solves magical murders that the police can't.
2. Harry fights werewolves. (I recall a Word of Jim that he didn't have this one fleshed out beyond this until he sat down to do it—something like "I decided not to do a traditional 'who is the werewolf' story and make it more which
type of werewolf was responsible.")
3. Harry fights ghosts, loses his girlfriend, and starts a war.
4. Harry's ex-girlfriend comes back with bad news, and he has to fight faeries in a political power struggle.
5. Harry fights fallen angels and stops a mini-apocalypse.
6. Harry visits a porn set and discovers his long lost brother. (Also, three-witches-murder-plot).7. Harry saves his friend's daughter from Fae (I think you were pretty close and can't say it better).
8. Harry fights ZOMBIES.
9. And Then There Were None plot, with MAGIC.
10. Harry fights fallen angels again, but this time with friends. (I don't think he intended to write this book at first; we're a few books behind, according to Word of Jim, and this one I find most suspect as not being in the original plan, along with book 6.)11. Harry finds a traitor, impersonates Hercule Poirot.
12. Harry murders the vampire world. (Originally, I think his idea was that the Red Court War would end here with Harry getting them all, and I recall a Word of Jim that Maggie was the result of wanting to make a BDSM scene plot-relevant).
13. Harry solves his own murder.
14. Harry finds out who is pulling strings, stops mini-apocalypse.
15. Harry pulls a heist with bad guys.
16. Harry has to prevent a new war. (GUESS)
17. Harry meets Dirty Harry, with a goatee. (GUESS)
18. Harry fights luchadores. (GUESS)
19. Harry finds a dragon's hoard. (GUESS)
20. Harry has to prevent a time paradox. (GUESS)
21. Harry faces resurrected foster father bent on ruining his life. (GUESS)
22. Harry retires, coming back for ONE LAST JOB. (GUESS)
BAT:
1. Harry realizes the world is ending, has to come out of exile to stop it.
2. Losing allies, Harry has to gather whoever is left in a counterattack.
3. Harry is forced to make a decision that will decide the fate of reality.
Note: Italicized books were those I suspect weren't part of the original plan. I think Thomas was retconned in as his brother to give someone Harry cared about besides Murphy. I also suspect that Small Favor wasn't planned at all, and only came up because he wanted to use the Archive again. Hence, 22 outlines.
