THE GAME OF THRONES/ASOIAF SPOILER THREAD (WARNING: SPOILERS)

worth reposting: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/11/just-write-it

He should type up a whole bunch of outlines and then just outsource it to fans to write for him. Like Star Trek or something. Or serialize it! That would be cool, actually, if he published it in short volumes, like comics or prose, which allows for digressions and detours and also shorter bursts of creativity. He's hampered by the doorstop model, but that's just vanity at work. Go short, GRRM, go short!

if GRRM put out 20 page monthly chapter ebooks for a $20 yearly subscription, he would make his publisher a shit ton of money but i bet he'd hit a wall quick enough.

Nah, because any time he wanted to crank out some standalone story that's not related to the central mythology he could.

that would spiral in on itself and we'd have three years of an unrelated character gambling aboard a riverboat somewhere in Shaktarka or some shit

I think just writing for two books that might take another decade would be less frustrating than lots of increments that make bibliographical lists more complicated. Think of the bibliographies you savages!

he should just fuck it off completely and sit on his pile of money, who even cares any more

Evidently loads of people care.

ah the poor guy just doesn't want to write the damn book, it's been like 10 years, he's killing himself

it's been four years fwiw

And it's roughly the same pace as the other books, he is not a quick writer.

he wrote the first 3 in a shorter period of time (and they're the good ones)

it really does seem like his interest in completing the series has waned over time

I would think the burden of living up to fans expectations had a lot to do with that. Wonder if any writers are thinking "shit, I'd better write my entire series over 15 years then released them all in one go"?

Yeah I don't think it's a lack of interest. Just for some odd reason he never figured out the plotting beyond 1-3 and he's desperately trying to figure out how to keep the narrative together.

he should take his time & do it however he wants who gives a fuck

Becoming rich in old age probably has something to do with this

I don't know, he writes books that are about 3 times longer than normal books in about 5 years. That seems pretty decent.

Plus writing and editing lots of other books too.

oh wow, they are still publishing Wild Cards books

he writes books that are about 3 times longer than normal books

Again: why do the books have to be so fucking long? I read the first two books, but I've seen the whole series to date, and there's very little of the books I miss, just more minutia and mythology. The show is just so ruthlessly efficient compared to the prose.

Anyway, if this guy really does have an idea how he wants it all to end, I wonder if it is indeed the show that's thrown him off. That is, maybe the joy of discovery in writing, as he's writing, might have fizzled out after he essentially "wrote" the entire series for the show runners. That's a lot more intense than an outline, that's really bringing others along on an entire journey, locking in the narrative (at least to an extent), then basically going backwards and starting the trip again, while struggling to catch up with the people you gave a head start. It's got to be dispiriting to have someone else usurp your creative momentum.

Incidentally, I just re-read the Harry Potter series with my daughter, and sure, they're I think on their face much better, imo, but more importantly they rarely seem so rambling and focused on pointless minutia, as full of pointless minutia as they may be. There's a clear quest from the start, more or less, and it all comes together tightly in the end. That's seven books in 10 years, a couple of them pretty big, and they never read like the whole narrative is spilling out of control.

he's mad that ppl figured out his marquee reveal so easily and he is stalling while he tries to figure out a plausible alternative.

That's possible, too! It'd be like coming up with a cool story and boasting about it, and then some 10-year old boy is all "what, he's a ghost who has been dead the whole time?" And then you just deflate.

Anyway, if this guy really does have an idea how he wants it all to end, I wonder if it is indeed the show that's thrown him off. That is, maybe the joy of discovery in writing, as he's writing, might have fizzled out after he essentially "wrote" the entire series for the show runners. That's a lot more intense than an outline, that's really bringing others along on an entire journey, locking in the narrative (at least to an extent), then basically going backwards and starting the trip again, while struggling to catch up with the people you gave a head start. It's got to be dispiriting to have someone else usurp your creative momentum.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, January 4, 2016 12:21 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's something to this imo. not fussed about it either way tbh. looking forward to the season, happy to read the book whenever it shows up.

The main benefit of the show finishing first is that he can use all the response to improve upon it. I can't imagine he'll feel the same pressure when the show finishes in 2017.

I'm pretty excited about the 6th season but I can't help but feel it'll suffer for not having finished books, intense fan discussion and hindsight to work upon.

oh wow, they are still publishing Wild Cards books

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmrA8nOZF2Q

Gee, maybe Jon really is dead!

well Tyrion too if that's to be believed? was that some many faced God ref?

I think Dany's one of the faces too, so they're probably overplaying the Anyone Can Die card.

Can they only disguise themselves with the faces of the dead?

I think they were just using the cool room with the faces as a visual motif, and it has nothing to do with whether the characters are dead/gonna die/whatever

Oh soz yeah I didnt take it as interpreting that theyre all gonna die.

hey guys

winter is coming

oh sweet i can finally read this thread

http://imgur.com/a/mrrK4

grrm's original outline to the publishers for the asoiaf "trilogy"

lol really hope that love triangle's still happening.

Sigh

lol

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/25/17280908/george-r-r-martin-grrm-game-of-thrones-song-of-ice-and-fire

Yeah, that made me chuckle as well.

And it's going to be TWO volumes. Except I'm sure that he's going to expand it to 3+, without ever finishing them.

I've been fairly positive for quite a while that Winds of Winter will never see the light of day during his lifetime. This news is a good indication that's what's happening. I don't get people who are highly anticipating it like it will come out any day now. My brother-in-law refuses to watch the two most recent seasons of GoT until the rest of the books come out. Insane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwa6xgIZCv8

I love the cinematography of that film

Martin has somehow achieved the almost impossible task of making a civil war between people with dragons seem dull, with dry prose that would fit right alongside Gibbon’s famed work.

Impossible task?

I can't wait for his 10,000 page Westeros cookbook.

The asiof cookbook is actually really good imo

i have eaten a couple dishes from it tbrr

I can't wait for his 10,000 page Westeros cookbook.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, April 27, 2018 6:44 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

look, we're all excited for winds of winter

I don't know if I'll ever read this series but I'm glad he's just writing what he feels like.