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Will GRRM Ever Finish Game of Thrones? (1 Viewer)

Will GRRM Finish GOT Before he dies?

  • Yes, he will. For winter is coming.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, he won't. Ours will be the fury.

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • Someone else will finish it. Fire and blood on them.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Nobody will care once the show is over. Hear me roar with indifference.

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Total voters
    3
PoS

PoS

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Why Is George R. R. Martin Writing His Books So Slowly -- and Why are they Getting So Long?

There is no question the books have been coming more slowly as Martin has become more popular. The series’ second book was his first to make the New York Times Best Seller list, reaching #13 and coming out a relatively rapid 30 months after book one, A Game of Thrones. Book three hit #12 on the Times list, and came out an even quicker 20 months after.

Book four, originally titled A Dance with Dragons, turned out to be a doozy. Astute readers have noted that the fourth book did not actually bear that title. That is because the book that Martin produced was so far from a reasonable page length that he was actually forced to split it into two separate novels. The first of the two, A Feast for Crows took an astounding 60 months to publish following Storm, and debuted at #1 on the Times list.

A Dance with Dragons, the first book to come out after the popular HBO show, not only debuted at #1 on the Times list, but sold a staggering 298,000 copies in a single day. Unfortunately, it took an even more stunning 68 months to release, an uncommonly long period for a genre fiction series.

The forthcoming book six, The Winds of Winter, appears unlikely to buck this trend. The earliest conceivable release date (given Martin’s recent announcement) would be 60 months of waiting for fans, and many people are speculating that the delay will be significantly longer. It is worth noting that after publishing three books between 1996 and 2000, Martin has written only one Thrones novel — published as two books — since the Clinton Administration.
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What do you think? :mrgreen:
 
PoS said:
Why Is George R. R. Martin Writing His Books So Slowly -- and Why are they Getting So Long?



What do you think? :mrgreen:
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My son suggested I take on the Tale of Fire and Ice, after book 5 was released.

I picked up book 1 and was intrigued.

Book 2 was a page turner but what a slog. How many people are assisting Martin? Who the hell is keeping track of all the characters?

Book 3 - Wow. Did that just happen?

Book 4 - Am I climbing Everest, or reading a book? Am I trying to cross the Sahara without water? What the hell? Why do I care about these people? Who are they again?

Book 5? Are you kidding me? How long did people wait for it? Am I to wear concrete boots while slogging through the mire of this story? 200 pages to go, and what, nothing is coming together? No threads reaching some type of finality? A push to the last page, and now what?

How long before book 6, 10 years maybe?

Some months after he dropped them off to me, I returned the pile of books representing the Tale of Fire and Ice to date.

I thanked my son for thinking of me, and asked him what I had done wrong to subject me to it
 
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longview said:
Just my opinion, but I suspect he is a bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to his writing.
Also his story has so many threads, that he feels he is required to deal with.
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Well according to the article, GRRM does attend a lot of gaming conventions and frequently updates his blog. Stuff like that does take a lot of time away from writing, I know that from experience. ;)
 
Maybe the level of evil and debauchery in his books has begun to disgust even him. Personally, I am rooting for the dead to come and kill the whole lot of them.
 
Fletch said:
Maybe the level of evil and debauchery in his books has begun to disgust even him. Personally, I am rooting for the dead to come and kill the whole lot of them.
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I admire what he's done, GRRM has upended the usual tropes and cliches of the fantasy genre, prior to his books most others were just pale copies of Tolkien like Terry Brooks and his Shannara books.
 
I love the book series, but I really don't think that he's coming out with the sequel any time soon. I don't know if he will finish the series, I doubt it.

But what's with authors starting to pile up the years between releases. Patrick Rothfuss is doing it with The Kingkiller Chronicle...been waiting for the Doors of Stone forever now.
 
Ikari said:
I love the book series, but I really don't think that he's coming out with the sequel any time soon. I don't know if he will finish the series, I doubt it.

But what's with authors starting to pile up the years between releases. Patrick Rothfuss is doing it with The Kingkiller Chronicle...been waiting for the Doors of Stone forever now.
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Yeah, I am not enjoying the wait for Rothfuss' third installment.

So, I read the first GOT book several years ago, maybe a year or two before it was announced it would be an HBO series. I loved it. Easily in my top 5 books of all time. Before picking up the second book in the series I did some research and learned about how long it takes him to write a book, and there were still a couple left in the series. I realized if I read the incomplete series I would have to reread it when the new books came out because these books are DENSE and no way would I remember all the important stuff.

So I decided to not read any more and just wait for the day, years down the road, when it would be finished. I would then reread the first book and binge my way through rest of the books.

And then the HBO series came out. "Ok", I told myself. "You have already read the first book so you should feel safe to watch the first season. It won't likely spoil anything."

Well, damn it. The first season of HBO's GoT was so freaking good I couldn't stop watching. So I have watched every episode of HBO's GoT and frankly have little desire to read the books. I hate reading books based on films after I have seen the film. I'm ok doing it the other way around.

So I really don't know if I will read it. Between GoT and The Kingkiller Chronicle, though, I have learned my lesson. I will no longer start an epic book series that is not complete. I'll make an exception for more serialized book series like The Dresden Files in which the books each have their own plots with, for the most part, closure at the end.

I will say this in defense of these authors. Their work was obviously good enough for us to read and love them to begin with. Waiting sucks but forcing them to expedite their creative process could likely result in an inferior product. If only we could infuse them with some of Stephen King's productivity.
 
BrewerBob said:
Yeah, I am not enjoying the wait for Rothfuss' third installment.

So, I read the first GOT book several years ago, maybe a year or two before it was announced it would be an HBO series. I loved it. Easily in my top 5 books of all time. Before picking up the second book in the series I did some research and learned about how long it takes him to write a book, and there were still a couple left in the series. I realized if I read the incomplete series I would have to reread it when the new books came out because these books are DENSE and no way would I remember all the important stuff.

So I decided to not read any more and just wait for the day, years down the road, when it would be finished. I would then reread the first book and binge my way through rest of the books.

And then the HBO series came out. "Ok", I told myself. "You have already read the first book so you should feel safe to watch the first season. It won't likely spoil anything."

Well, damn it. The first season of HBO's GoT was so freaking good I couldn't stop watching. So I have watched every episode of HBO's GoT and frankly have little desire to read the books. I hate reading books based on films after I have seen the film. I'm ok doing it the other way around.

So I really don't know if I will read it. Between GoT and I have learned my lesson, though. Between GoT and The Kingkiller Chronicle, though, I have learned my lesson. I will no longer start an epic book series that is not complete. I'll make an exception for more serialized book series like The Dresden Files in which the books each have their own plots with, for the most part, closure at the end.

I will say this in defense of these authors. Their work was obviously good enough for us to read and love them to begin with. Waiting sucks but forcing them to expedite their creative process could likely result in an inferior product. If only we could infuse them with some of Stephen King's productivity.
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If Martin writes and publishes more books, I will read them; hands down. I love the books, and as much as I do like the HBO show, the books are better. I didn't think that the Kingkiller Chronicle would be delayed as much as it has been, but there are some other books in that universe that are good reads.

It does say something for the author that they can write a book that creates such frenzy in the fans. Victim of their own success sort of thing. They have created a world so addictive, that people NEED the next installment, and the longer they wait the more anxious, impatient, and outspoken they become.

The Expanse series has been pretty decent thus far (I'd call it more Space Opera than Sci-Fi), and they are pacing at about a book/year fairly reliably. Maybe it will slow down in the future, I'm not super sure. But for now, it's gong at a good clip and I've really enjoyed the series.
 
Ikari said:
It does say something for the author that they can write a book that creates such frenzy in the fans. Victim of their own success sort of thing. They have created a world so addictive, that people NEED the next installment, and the longer they wait the more anxious, impatient, and outspoken they become.
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My guess is nothing engenders writer's block more than millions and millions of people yelling, "WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!" at you. :)
 
BrewerBob said:
My guess is nothing engenders writer's block more than millions and millions of people yelling, "WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!" at you. :)
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I'm sure it doesn't help. But I wonder if it does stroke the ego some to have so many yelling for the next installment.
 
Ikari said:
I love the book series, but I really don't think that he's coming out with the sequel any time soon. I don't know if he will finish the series, I doubt it.

But what's with authors starting to pile up the years between releases. Patrick Rothfuss is doing it with The Kingkiller Chronicle...been waiting for the Doors of Stone forever now.
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David Weber is one I read and the reason he takes so long is because he working on multiple projects at the same time. I find it annoying. Especially since I am only interested in the Safehold series.
 
PoS said:
I admire what he's done, GRRM has upended the usual tropes and cliches of the fantasy genre, prior to his books most others were just pale copies of Tolkien like Terry Brooks and his Shannara books.
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Tolkein might have something to say about that. :cool:

 
BrewerBob said:
My guess is nothing engenders writer's block more than millions and millions of people yelling, "WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!" at you. :)
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That would do it for me. I bet they feel like sled dogs. Mush Mush... Mush damn you. :lamo
 
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