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George RR Martin's latest blog post has broken me.

But what happens when Brandon Sanderson dies?

Art Fear GIF by Google Arts & Culture

I can't see Brandon Sanderson writing sex scenes
 

DKehoe

Gold Member
I think the main thing is that George was always a TV writer, he started writing books after his TV projects weren't picked up. Getting on HBO was probably always his ultimate goal and finishing the books simply became secondary after that

He is especially demotivated now aS they will likely never do anything with the two remaining books in terms of converting them to TV
He was writing books before he wrote for TV.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Does GRRM even have kids? Who gets his estate? I've little doubt that Westeros will live on LONG after GRRM is gone as he must have left a wealth of material. He will just need a Chris Tolkien type curator of things to churn out books for decades and he has that with the couple that does those prequel history books.

George did say he wouldn't let anybody finish the series if he dies, but that doesn't make any sense. Would be a stain on his legacy and a fuck you to fans that have been with him long before HBO came calling.

If he doesn't finish it (I hope he does) then we'd need a competent author to do it.


Don't worry. If he dies Brandon Sanderson will finish it up for him :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:

Fuck, no! Couldn't think of a worse author to pick. I'd rather have my balls shot off with a shotgun than have Sanderson come anywhere near ASOIAF.
 
Huge fan of Sanderson and Huge fan of A Song of Ice And Fire

But if George R R Martin dies, I wouldn't want Sanderson to finish it. He's just a much different writer than Martin. Not to mention, can't see Sanderson writing sex scenes, and other adult content that Martin is known for.
 

Roni

Gold Member
I have a tinfoil hat theory there is another reason he hasn't finished it;

The show ending is actually the real ending he had in mind, and the reception to it was... lets say, not great.

He is having to re-think and rewrite the pathways for a huge cast of characters towards a different ending than the show has, because he realised fans didn't like it. It's taking a lot of time.
The conclusion wasn't really the problem, was it? I always understood the backlash as a pace issue, not a conclusion issue.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
George did say he wouldn't let anybody finish the series if he dies, but that doesn't make any sense. Would be a stain on his legacy and a fuck you to fans that have been with him long before HBO came calling.

If he doesn't finish it (I hope he does) then we'd need a competent author to do it.
But, legally, the second he dies its his estate that makes the call. So his wishes are just words in the wind.

Even if he destroys all of his writing, his estate can just sell off the rights and someone else can finish it. I don't think there is any way, barring all the publishers signing a binding contract, for GRRM to actually enforce a post-mortem decision like that.

GRRM has no natural children, I don't think, and his wife is childless as well and must be nearly as old. So unless GRRM has a super favorite nephew or something he wills it to there is a the very real possibility that all of this stuff goes into the public domain when they are both dead unless it is sold off to a corporation (which, of course, will have a strong interest in continuing to publish stuff).

Makes for good PR though....
 

Ionian

Member
George did say he wouldn't let anybody finish the series if he dies, but that doesn't make any sense. Would be a stain on his legacy and a fuck you to fans that have been with him long before HBO came calling.

If he doesn't finish it (I hope he does) then we'd need a competent author to do it.




Fuck, no! Couldn't think of a worse author to pick. I'd rather have my balls shot off with a shotgun than have Sanderson come anywhere near ASOIAF.

George tends to lie, things can change. Just look at his comments in 'Feast', that 'Dance' would be the next year, haha

Don't trust a word out of his mouth. I've nothing against him but it's false promise after next. His fault.

I can't see him writing the last one at his glacial pace, sucks too..
 

Durask

Member
I did not care for the last book. More new characters, more plotlines. To me it seems like now he is just torturing himself to produce a few pages a month. Even if he tortures himself enough to produce a full book, it will not be the same quality compared to the days when he was writing with inspiration.

Honestly if he even puts out a new book I am not sure I would buy it. I might just read the synopsis on the wiki or something.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I did not care for the last book. More new characters, more plotlines. To me it seems like now he is just torturing himself to produce a few pages a month. Even if he tortures himself enough to produce a full book, it will not be the same quality compared to the days when he was writing with inspiration.

Honestly if he even puts out a new book I am not sure I would buy it. I might just read the synopsis on the wiki or something.

There is potential for it to be the same quality. All the main characters will be back in this book, plus there are a load of action set pieces already set up, including some epic battles.

Quality could be a reason why it's taken so long. In 2015 he said he told his publishers he'd have the book ready for an October deadline. When he had this conversation with his publishers, the book must have been almost finished for him to agree to such a deadline.

My guess is he looked at the finished product and didn't think it was up to standards to his previous books, so scrapped a vast majority of the book and started again.

Either that or he was delusional in thinking he could meet this deadline and it was clearly an impossible task.

Winds will be completed, but he won't finish Dream.
 

DKehoe

Gold Member
I did not care for the last book. More new characters, more plotlines. To me it seems like now he is just torturing himself to produce a few pages a month. Even if he tortures himself enough to produce a full book, it will not be the same quality compared to the days when he was writing with inspiration.

Honestly if he even puts out a new book I am not sure I would buy it. I might just read the synopsis on the wiki or something.
The preview chapter The Foresaken is maybe my favourite piece of ASOIAF writing he’s done. So I think the quality will be there.
 
There is potential for it to be the same quality. All the main characters will be back in this book, plus there are a load of action set pieces already set up, including some epic battles.

Quality could be a reason why it's taken so long. In 2015 he said he told his publishers he'd have the book ready for an October deadline. When he had this conversation with his publishers, the book must have been almost finished for him to agree to such a deadline.

My guess is he looked at the finished product and didn't think it was up to standards to his previous books, so scrapped a vast majority of the book and started again.

Either that or he was delusional in thinking he could meet this deadline and it was clearly an impossible task.

Winds will be completed, but he won't finish Dream.

Dreams is as good as dead with how long he's taking with the Winds of Winter. He must be typing with one finger lol
 

Lunarorbit

Member
The giants and jets are doing well so don't expect any progress this fall. Apparently if the new jersey teams are doing poorly he can't write so I'm guessing he'll have a blog post soon (if it's not already out) talking about how football is making him less focused on winds.

But don't worry true believers! It's coming.

He's gone on record multiple times that he won't go the Jordan route and have someone finish his novels. Plus Sanderson has said he wouldn't finish grrm books even if asked. Abercrombie gets mentioned all the time too as a replacement.... These guys write in completely different styles. It's probably not going to happen until after he and his wife die and there's a giant fight in probate.

Kinda like how we got rings of power and embracer group has the rights to the hobbit now (or whatever it was). It will eventually splinter into different pieces that Warner Brothers can sell piece meal cause they are just a shitty fund managers play thing now.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Speaking in a live stream with Random House, Martin spoke about the latest series of House of the Dragon and the long-awaited Winds of Winter.

“It’s a big, big book,” said Martin. “It’s a challenging book. It’s probably going to be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series.

“The Dance of Dragons and Storm of Swords were the two largest books in the series. They were both about 1500 manuscript pages. I think this one is gonna be longer than that, by the time I’ve finished it.”

“I think I’m about 3 quarters of the way done, maybe. But that’s not 100% done. So, I have to continue to work on it. “

“I’ve given up on making predictions [of when it will be finished]. Because people press me and press me, ‘when’s it gonna be done?’”

“I’ve never lied about these predictions… But I guess I overestimate my ability to get stuff done and underestimate the amount of interruptions.”

“One day it will be done. And then, it will come out. And then, the next day, someone will tweet me ‘When will we see A Dream of Spring!?’”
 

AJUMP23

Member
He still has to do another book after this one. 😂 that won’t happen.

he is going to be a ghost writer. And his publisher has probably told him lay out the story in case anything happens we can finish it.
 

crumbs

Member
“I think I’m about 3 quarters of the way done, maybe. But that’s not 100% done. So, I have to continue to work on it. “
Wow, George, thanks for the deep insight. Something that's unfinished needs to be finished.

“One day it will be done. And then, it will come out. And then, the next day, someone will tweet me ‘When will we see A Dream of Spring!?’”

Stupid fans, wanting to spend more money and time enjoying his writing. What a pain!
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Speaking in a live stream with Random House, Martin spoke about the latest series of House of the Dragon and the long-awaited Winds of Winter.

“It’s a big, big book,” said Martin. “It’s a challenging book. It’s probably going to be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series.

“The Dance of Dragons and Storm of Swords were the two largest books in the series. They were both about 1500 manuscript pages. I think this one is gonna be longer than that, by the time I’ve finished it.”

“I think I’m about 3 quarters of the way done, maybe. But that’s not 100% done. So, I have to continue to work on it. “

“I’ve given up on making predictions [of when it will be finished]. Because people press me and press me, ‘when’s it gonna be done?’”

“I’ve never lied about these predictions… But I guess I overestimate my ability to get stuff done and underestimate the amount of interruptions.”

“One day it will be done. And then, it will come out. And then, the next day, someone will tweet me ‘When will we see A Dream of Spring!?’”

Holy shit. This truly has broken me. Over 11 years and he's only 3 quarters of the way through.

FML. I was 15 when I started this series in 2000. By the time it's finished I could be a grandfather. No joke either.

Crazy talk. He is an awesome writer.

Each to their own. I'd probably rank Sanderson with Peter Brett as some of the worst authors I've ever had to endure.
 

Trogdor1123

Member
Holy shit. This truly has broken me. Over 11 years and he's only 3 quarters of the way through.

FML. I was 15 when I started this series in 2000. By the time it's finished I could be a grandfather. No joke either.



Each to their own. I'd probably rank Sanderson with Peter Brett as some of the worst authors I've ever had to endure.
I’m sorry to hear that, which book are you referring to?
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I’m sorry to hear that, which book are you referring to?

Finished the Mistborn trilogy. Hated it. Bland world, bland story, unlikeable characters (except Kelsier. He was awesome) and it was far too long. It's not that I'm opposed to long novels, but these books had a lot of unnecessary filler.

Tried to get into Stormlight, but it just want for me.

Sanderson isn't as bad as Peter Brett. The Demon Cycle series was a real grind to finish. Book one was pretty good, but every book after that was total gash. I have a huge hate boner for that series.
 

Trogdor1123

Member
Finished the Mistborn trilogy. Hated it. Bland world, bland story, unlikeable characters (except Kelsier. He was awesome) and it was far too long. It's not that I'm opposed to long novels, but these books had a lot of unnecessary filler.

Tried to get into Stormlight, but it just want for me.

Sanderson isn't as bad as Peter Brett. The Demon Cycle series was a real grind to finish. Book one was pretty good, but every book after that was total gash. I have a huge hate boner for that series.
His books can get long, I agree.

Try Stormlight again if you can. They are worth it.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
His books can get long, I agree.

Try Stormlight again if you can. They are worth it.

I'm not sure. The books are huge. It's a hell of a commitment.

I have a rule. If I can finish the first book in a series, then I'll finish the whole series. This is why I've never started Wheel of Time. If I'm hate the series in book 3 then I'm fucked.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Steven Erikson could finish ASOIAF.

If ANYONE could write a legit fantasy battle between white spider riding wights with zombie footsoldiers and the armies of men backed by fire tossing priests and a few dragons, it's him.

He understands the impact of history on narrative, creating a lived in world, and judging multiple storylines.

If anything, Westeros would be him taking a break :p
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
¾ finished means almost four more years of writing.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
¾ finished means almost four more years of writing.

At the current pace, sure. However, he could also go back to his original pace when he could knock out a book in two years. In which case, it could be finished in 6 months!
 

Thaedolus

Member
I've made my peace with the saga never being properly finished. At least we got to see Emilia’s boobies before HBO decided to go full wiener wienerwiener wienerwiener…
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Martin needs some of that Stephen King cocaine magic

SK writes a book trilogy before breakfast
He actually asked SK how he writes all these books, King replied that it’s a job - you write X jours a day, later toi decide to keep it or not. Martin was shocked.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
“I’ve never lied about these predictions… But I guess I overestimate my ability to get stuff done and underestimate the amount of interruptions.”

Interruptions is a roundabout way of saying he's working on other novellas, faux history of Westeros books, tv series, pilots, a yearly anthology series, a movie theater, tv appearances ...
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
At the current pace, sure. However, he could also go back to his original pace when he could knock out a book in two years. In which case, it could be finished in 6 months!
Do you really believe this will happen? He has 100x more projects now, and knowing him he refuses to focus solely on the main books.

Then again, if you look at it this way:

LotR was 30 years in the making
Silmarillion was probably close to 50 and still didn't get published by the time Tolkien died

Taking the above into consideration GRRM is not doing so badly.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Do you really believe this will happen? He has 100x more projects now, and knowing him he refuses to focus solely on the main books.

Then again, if you look at it this way:

LotR was 30 years in the making
Silmarillion was probably close to 50 and still didn't get published by the time Tolkien died

Taking the above into consideration GRRM is not doing so badly.

No. Not after watching that interview. I now have no faith he'll finish the series. Over 11 years and only 75% done on Winds, which is also an assumption from George. Could end up being less than that if he makes more changes.

We also need to consider that Winds was pretty much finished in around 2015, or to a degree that he told his publishers that year he'd be able to make an October deadline. He clearly scrapped most of the book and started again. What's to say he won't do that a second time.

Winds will probably be out by the end of the decade. Dream won't be finished.
 
The extent to which he doesn't seem to care about finishing it is truly bizarre. I'd be itching to get it done with.

He is such a talented prose writer.
 

Alcibiades

Member
The guy is writing about football on his blog - is he intentionally trying to piss off fans cause my guess is a ton of them DGAF about sports. Doesn't bother me I've enjoyed sports on and off throughout the year, but I imagine a good chunk of his fanbase is yelling at the screen to turn off the TV and get back to finishing the book.

Also, is there a backup plan in place. The guy is 74 and isn't exactly in good shape, although he looks lively enough in interviews. What if a health issue comes up? Who finishes the series then?

I never read the books so I'm not upset but the drama over this is intriguing and I feel bad for fans that have been waiting so long. That said if I hear good things about the final books I'll probably read the whole thing cause I was annoyed at how bad the last few episodes were.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Also, is there a backup plan in place. The guy is 74 and isn't exactly in good shape, although he looks lively enough in interviews.
The problem with old age is any issues can creep up quickly and snowball. Elizabeth the II saw Liz Truss on Tuesday, died two days later on a Thursday. I put a timestamp on this video, this shows the queen two months before she died:

 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
G.R.R.Martin will forever be a mystery to me. How can a man with a profession simply refuse to learn the skills of his profession (ten finger typing) and not use the best tools for the job available.
It's like a Rockstar guitar player recording his album note by note, on a plastic kids guitar, gluing his recordings together in post production and wonder why that shit takes this long to create.
 
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