5 ms·
Writing, Reading, Writing
- buster 6y agoProbably the pandemic is meant to stay until he finally finishes the book.
- thewhitetulip 6y agoI had given up on the series since he started publishing prequels like Fire and Blood, but now, I am hopeful that he'll finish the book. He had been busy with the TV series and other things. With the pandemic raging, I don't think he'll be super busy with Hollywood. Also, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I am grateful that he did not complete his series. Hear me out first! When I first read The Game of Thrones, it was an ebook. I immediately bought the paperback set, only to realise a few months later that the series is not complete. (yes, I never google because ages ago, I was reading a Dan Brown book, and I accidentally ruined it for me by reading out what happens in the end). After finishing the last book, I was stunned. No, I have read LoTR, but ASOIAF was unlike anything I have ever read, including the Mahabharata (which, is much more complex and originally written as Sanskrit verses). But, that gave me motivation to finally start writing novels. I am not a famous author just yet. I have been writing consistently for the last six years, and I have published only one short story on Kindle a few weeks ago. I find that GRRM has encouraged a lot of writers to write. The first thing I did when I started to write was to read his advice for new authors and it was great. His #1 advice is 'stop writing in my universe or Star wars universe of JRR's universe. Creating characters and world building is a significant part of story telling and you will not be an author until you do so. otherwise you are just writing fan fiction' That month, I wrote my first short story. Then my first short film script which won the silver script award in India Film Project 2007. Since then, I have written four full length novels. I am currently working on my fifth novel. And all this has been because GoT's next book isn't coming out and I was so frustrated about that, that I started writing my own novels. (I know it does not sound logic, but that's how I felt. Damn it, I'm writing my own novels!)
- therealdrag0 6y agoMost people would just read other novels. There’s a LOT out there. But congrats on writing your own.
- thewhitetulip 6y agoYes, but the thing is, I had always wanted to write a novel. Reading GoT and finding it incomplete just gave me a push.
- stupidcar 6y agoIt seems pretty clear from this that, had the pandemic not intervened, he would never have finished. He completed three chapters in the space of a week, and yet still doesn't anticipate being finished until next year. Ironic that the jokes fans made about locking him in a cell until he finished the book have sort of come true.
- alanfranz 6y ago9 years since last book. I understand that a writer is not a slave. But there's a breach of trust between the author and his readers. Would you start reading a series that you know has no ending? I suppose I would not. I trust the author to end it. I simply don't trust GRM with finishing his saga. He prefers doing other things. Full stop. No insults, nothing illegal. But I won't buy anything else from him.
- ThePadawan 6y agoI personally have read very many fanfictions in the novel length category. I would say that 60% of them were never finished and might not ever be. I'm still happy that I got to read them. Maybe there is less sunk-cost-fallacy given I didn't pay for them. But it's still a given that sometimes, people just die, or move on.
- thewhitetulip 6y agoI have the same feeling. I also remember how rude Neil Gaiman was about fans who were mad at GRRM to not finish the books. Neil was like 'he doesn't owe you anything'. But this was and is patently wrong. We are not seeing TWOW since 9years and the prequels are written, edited and published. The GoT series is finished. the prequel series of night walkers is being announced and the writing has begun. and we are still waiting for TWOW! This is a breach in trust, if not anything else. Sure, he can choose to write or not write anything he wants, but readers are invested in the stories. and it wasn't until the pandemic struck that he actually started to write the books. I just hope that he finishes ADOS too. That way, he'll be free to write whichever prequel he wishes too and we'll be able to read the next 2 books within a few years!
- harperlee 6y agoYou did not address why "he doesnt owe you anything" is wrong. You just said that you are invested in the story and waiting for long time. Look, if the story was not finished when you started to read, it was your decision, but the author is not obliged to do anything related to a book after publishing it. This is not the first, nor will be the last, story that is left unfinished, and it is not the end of the world. If you need an ending, imagine one! Once the story has been published, it is not solely the authors, you are free to plot and theorize and invent. If later on the author does something different, you did not win or lose anything if your endings match or not.