Dosteovsky first thought of the ideas that would go into Crime and Punishment in the summer of 1865. Initially Dostoevsky was going to write a story or novella for the publisher Mikhail Katkov, the publisher of The Russian Messenger, which was an outlet for other famous Russian authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev. He had never published in The Russian Messenger before and was having to appeal Katkov for an advance on the project as a last resort as he was in financial trouble at the time. In letters written in November 1865, the story or novella concept Dostoevsky had changed to a full novel and all other mentioning of Crime and Punishment became this. initially a first person perspective, this was later changed along with the initial versions of the story and Raskolnikov as he fused his first idea, The Drunkards, with other concepts he was currently working with. The final version of Crime and Punishment emerged in November of 1865 when Dostoevsky changed the story to a third person perspective. Crime and Punishment was then published in 1866 when Dostoevsky finished his perspective rewrite.
