What the hell is wrong with George RR Martin?

[Arkitech]

This guy is seriously pissing me off. How long does it take to follow up a book? A year? A decade? A century?

He writes one of the best series I ever read then literally takes years to follow up his last book. Damn, Martin finish the book already.

 

[yllus]

It's an impossible task, even for a good writer - he's killed off too many good characters and written too many "mysteries" that can never be adequately explained. Same reason Battlestar Galactica and LOST ended up simply not explaining half of their loose threads.

 

[BoomerD]

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html

 

[Arkitech]

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html

I read that months ago, I seriously want to b*tch slap this guy.

 

[keyed]

I gave up on him years ago. He's going to join the Robert Jordan club of authors who'll die before they finish their series.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I gave up on him years ago. He's going to join the Robert Jordan club of authors who'll die before they finish their series.

Even if he lives to be 1000 I think that's true. He's lost it and CAN'T finish.

 

[Kadarin]

If you're an avid reader, there's very little that's more irritating than a situation where an author can't or won't finish up a series. Two scifi examples I can think of are David Gerrold's "War Against the Chtorr" series, and Daniel Keyes Moran's "Continuing Time" series.

 

[Bryophyte]

If you're an avid reader, there's very little that's more irritating than a situation where an author can't or won't finish up a series. Two scifi examples I can think of are David Gerrold's "War Against the Chtorr" series, and Daniel Keyes Moran's "Continuing Time" series.

I've wanted to bitch slap Gerrold for over ten years, the bastard.

 

[Oceandevi]

I've wanted to bitch slap Gerrold for over ten years, the bastard.

AAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH well at least I know other people want to murder him too.

 

[masterxfob]

lol, it seems like these threads pop up a couple times a year regarding that fat lazy fuck. by the time he does finish the series, it will have been so long that i'll have to reread the entire series.

i sure hope rothfuss doesn't pull this same horse shit.

 

[Kelvrick]

It comes out when it comes out. Regarding the comparison to Jordan, Jordan popped the books out, but it took 4-5 books for the story to move along as much as it would any other book, so it might be the same in the end if Martin Dies before finishing the series.

Maybe the HBO series will be such a hit, someone else picks up (without ruining it).

EDIT: After I write such a hit that gets an HBO series and crap like that, I'd probably do whatever the fuck I wanted just like he is.

 

[Bateluer]

He's irritating me. Been years.

 

[kedlav]

Martin's been tackling what he assumed he could get away with at the series start... a planned 5 year gap that fell apart (plus his myriad of viewpoints to get into the timeline). This lead to two years of futility. After splitting AFFC/ADWD (mainly to avoid a knotty problem in the DWD POV's), he had to scrap his previously written DWD material, leading to 18 months of wasted work. Reportedly, he is 5 chapters from completion on DWD. Reportedly, this is the last major thematic knot he has to work through. Note that ASOS had 9 months of writing time, 3 months of editing time. If he stays motivated, he might be able to finish the final 2 books in 2 - 4 years total...

 

[Fingolfin269]

I really hope he finishes before he dies. This is such a great series.

 

[dainthomas]

Martin's been tackling what he assumed he could get away with at the series start... a planned 5 year gap that fell apart (plus his myriad of viewpoints to get into the timeline). This lead to two years of futility. After splitting AFFC/ADWD (mainly to avoid a knotty problem in the DWD POV's), he had to scrap his previously written DWD material, leading to 18 months of wasted work. Reportedly, he is 5 chapters from completion on DWD. Reportedly, this is the last major thematic knot he has to work through. Note that ASOS had 9 months of writing time, 3 months of editing time. If he stays motivated, he might be able to finish the final 2 books in 2 - 4 years total...

I still have AFFC in hardcover sitting on my bookshelf unread, because I wanted to read it and ADWD back to back (since it was supposed to be one book). At this rate I'll have to just reread all of them since I really can't remember what the hell's going on. Maybe there's a good chapter summary somewhere (like for WoT).

 

[Minjin]

I gave up on him years ago. He's going to join the Robert Jordan club of authors who'll die before they finish their series.

It is amazing how much faster Jordan's replacement ties up plot lines. And so much for there being one final book. They're milking out three I believe.

A recent House episode dealt with an author not wanting to finish the series. Luckily, other than the Jordan situation, I haven't gotten stuck in one of those series. I borrowed A Game of Thrones from the library but had to return it before I could read it. Sounds like that was for the better.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I've wanted to bitch slap Gerrold for over ten years, the bastard.

How long has it been for Gerrold now? Something like 16 years?

 

[TheAdvocate]

I'm right in the sweet spot of this demo. I picked up Jordan's EOTW upon its first paperback release... when was that? '90? '91? TGH had just come out in hardback.

Like thousands of others, I suffered through the painfully slow plot advancement after the first 4 books, and then the ridiculously slow releases, until I finally gave up in about 2000. I haven't read anything past WInter's Heart (??) and I don't think I even finished that one.

Same with Martin - AFFC is sitting unread on my bookshelf.

So I moved onto action/adventure mindlessness - stuff like Cussler, and police/detective thrillers like (actual) James Patterson...

Even though those last two guys churned books out, a common thread with the fantasy guys emerged - none of these guys are any good at finishing an idea. They are ridiculously creative at forming them and laying down the groundwork. A couple of them are even good storytellers, but even in the stories that are finished, the ending is always such a tremendous letdown after all that buildup.

So my new benchmark on writing is - show me someone who can write an ending worth all the dramatic tension they buildup. I'm still waiting for it...

Edit - Mark Twain famously said something like "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." If any of these writers were as good as their initial reputations, they could condense everything into about 4-6 books, dealing just with the essential plot lines, and write a grand finale that would have you hotly debating it with friends for years to come.

 

[bigdog1218]

I don't think he's lazy, I think it's the exact opposite and he just has entirely too much on his plate and won't can't put anything down. He's trying to juggle all the editing writing he does for other series, the multiple trips he makes every year, writing A song of ice and fire, and now he's involved in the HBO series.

Like kedlav explained I think once the mess with A dance with dragons is done with he should crank out the final books.

What I can't believe is someone like Erikson pumping out 9 books in 10 years with the Malazan series. Though I enjoy them, I don't see how on earth everything will be wrapped up, but at least I only have to wait a couple more months for that.

 

[ProfJohn]

Jordan himself admitted that the 'well ran dry' which is why the story started to bog down around the 6th book.

Up to that point the series was amazing and then it got totally lost. It did start to regain its greatness once he started wrapping up all his loose ends. Then he died.

Personally, I am glad that they are wrapping it up over 3 books instead of one book. Would have never been able to wrap up all the loose ends in one book and it would have ended like LOST with a bunch of unanswered questions or plot themes just left undone.

 

[Babbles]

I gave up on him a couple of years ago. I can appreciate the time needed for the creative process, but I think he over-extended this needed time to an absurd level.

As a (former) fan of his, I felt like he pissed all over me.

 

[BudAshes]

i didn't even really enjoy that last book he put out which makes it even worse. As for robert jordan i quite enjoyed his first post humus book, much better than the dune ones. I think once you right that many words of a story you need some help to rap it up.

 

[shadow9d9]

He has writer's block. He has for years. Anyone can start a great story, but few can end it well. For years now he has been doing ANYTHING he can BUT finish the book.

In 2004, I read AGOT and then stopped. I figured, why continue if the story has little chance to ever finish? Happy I waited.

Do not expect the series to ever be finished.

If you want an epic series that WILL be completed, try Malazan Book of the Fallen. The 10th and final book will be out next year. He(Erikson) wrote almost one a year for the last decade.

 

[BudAshes]

He has writer's block. He has for years. Anyone can start a great story, but few can end it well. For years now he has been doing ANYTHING he can BUT finish the book.

In 2004, I read AGOT and then stopped. I figured, why continue if the story has little chance to ever finish? Happy I waited.

Do not expect the series to ever be finished.

If you want an epic series that WILL be completed, try Malazan Book of the Fallen. The 10th and final book will be out next year. He(Erikson) wrote almost one a year for the last decade.

They are ok, but i would consider them considerably inferior to jordans wheel of time and martin's series. He sets scenes well but his character development is severely lacking.

 

[Eli]

I have no idea what you all are talking about. Are story books really that popular? lol

I haven't read a fiction book since the 4th grade, I don't think. I liked the Boxcar Children series back then.

I've always gravitated towards the non-fiction section... Shrug. I would rather read an encyclopedia than a story, it seems. I have an active enough imagination, I don't need "filler".

That said.. What would be a good survival/adventure book or series? I seem to like those...