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+--- Thread: Why book version of Game of Thrones will never be completed (writer's block style) (/thread-16483.html)
Why book version of Game of Thrones will never be completed (writer's block style) - C C - Sep 13, 2024
It's been 14 years since he began working on the next-to-last novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, with no end in sight for it. Martin is 75 years old. If by some miracle he finally does finish "The Winds of Winter", he still has that last, seventh book to complete (which is also expected to be circa 1,500 pages). So barring his living beyond a 100 and suffering no cognitive decline over that period, this book series will simply not be resolved (by him, anyway). At some point around mid-century or before, maybe the publisher will hire another writer to finish it, using whatever notes Martin leaves behind.
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JON DEL ARROZ
https://youtu.be/lB5yEcrvCSI
VIDEO EXCERPTS: The excuses for George RR Martin not finishing Game of Thrones are getting even more absurd at this juncture.
He's literally doing anything other than trying to work on this book. How many years has it been at this point? He has to be the fattest, laziest writer in all of fantasy fiction.
[...] George R R Martin says he's not made much progress on the "The Winds of Winter" lately. As TV shows ate up his time. What's he talking about?
[...] He's not been working on it at all. But he has come out with other books, by the way. ... He will do anything other than finish the series.
[...] I've got about 19 novels done now, and I started in 2017. What's his excuse?
This is indicative of somebody who doesn't want to work. He knows he doesn't have an ending, he never had one in mind. He knows that whatever he comes up with is not going to be worth all that buildup.
And with that he's creating his own stress.
[...] What about these television projects he refers to? He's not a writer on the show. He's not a showrunner. From what I understand, it's like a consulting role. So what's he doing?
[...] Why would you just sit there and watch other people work? All paralyzed and pretending you can't just spend an hour a day on the one thing that your fans have been asking for over a decade for?
[...] He says "my mood seemed to swing between fury and despair, and at night I tossed and turned", when he should have been sleeping...
I think this is a function of diet and lack of exercise. He needs to hit the gym three days a week, just do some light cardio -- don't need to push it at your age. And maybe get rid of that fatty, high-carb diet...
George RR Martin CRIES VICTIM For The CRAZIEST Reasons For Not Finishing A Game Of Thrones Series!
RE: Why book version of Game of Thrones will never be completed (writer's block style) - Magical Realist - Sep 13, 2024
He probably resents the overwhelming public pressure to finish his books. I know I would. It would be a matter of artistic integrity vs just serving the whims of the masses.
RE: Why book version of Game of Thrones will never be completed (writer's block style) - C C - Sep 14, 2024
(Sep 13, 2024 11:27 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: He probably resents the overwhelming public pressure to finish his books. I know I would. It would be a matter of artistic integrity vs just serving the whims of the masses.
I think he's just sick of this particular series, and wants to spend the remaining years writing other things. He as much said that.[1] It's just an abominably long work that he should never have extended to this length (it was originally going to be a triology, rather than seven gigantic novels).
And a good part of this melancholy probably stems from his having seen GoT completed on the screen. Even though what we saw in the final couple of seasons of Game of Thrones is not Martin's literary version of what will happen, he has still nevetheless witnessed the damn thing being completed on HBO. And there's probably some emotional part of him that feels like he's just walking down a tired path that's already been tread down and revealed (even though that's not actually case), and longs for freedom from the beast, due to that.
And who knows, there might even be some cognitive decline creeping in prematurely, due to his health problems. One of his influences was Jack Vance, who was still writing stuff into his 90s, decades after he went blind. So it's possible to elude dementia that long, but not everyone is that lucky. Harlan Ellison conked out in his mid-seventies -- according to one source (in the past) he didn't write anything for the last ten years of his life after that, though there were heart attacks and strokes complicating that final interval.
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[1] Publishing history: Regarding A Song of Ice and Fire as his masterpiece, Martin stated he would never write anything on this scale again and would only return to this fictional universe in the context of stand-alone novels. He prefers to write stories about characters from other A Song of Ice and Fire periods of history such as his Tales of Dunk and Egg project, instead of continuing the series directly. Martin said he would love to return to writing short stories, novellas, novelettes, and stand-alone novels from diverse genres such as science fiction, horror, fantasy, or even a murder mystery.