Do Authors Owe us Their Completed Series? George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss Discussion

Who do you think will finish their book first, George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss?

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[CapturedInWords]

Who do you think will finish their book first, George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss? Place your bets!

[ButIamAStick]

The Longer the Beard The Longer the Wait

[mynameisfake]

Do they owe us the readers a completed series? No. But they definitely owe their publishers one. Since, you know, they already got paid to finish them.

[pedrofdez-ordonez]

My money is on Rothfuss, he seems to be doing better lately (also, I’m a bigger fan of KKC than ASOIF...)

[BruceMount]

Do authors OWE us a book? No. But is it totally ridiculous to spend 10+ years writing a book? Yes.

[ominith]

they both die together holding each other in their arms, talking about how sad their fans will be while wiping each others tears with moneys.

honestly i've given up hope of either of them finishing their series.

[matthewparker]

I think that whether authors own us completed series or not, there is no excuse for harassing them.

[XxunforgottenxXxlove]

My vote's on Sanderson.

But honestly, I'm on the fence as well. While I want books to come out in a timely manner, I understand that writing is hard. And when you have a complex word and the pressure of the readers on you, it takes time to create something that you're happy with. That being said, if you are an author that, and this is based on my own assumption, have the money or... the resources to aid them (finding plot holes or minute character details, etc.) then I don't think it should take forever to get it done.

I will say though that progress updates makes the wait easier.

[Luai]

Emotions aside what I’m about to say may offend some people but the reality is they owe us to some extent . The reason is when you buy a book that is titled book number one in a specific series then it’s a contract between me and the author that this is yet to be finished and I’m selling you this with a promise to give you the rest of this series otherwise no one will buy something unfinished !! .
It’s may not be an official contract but rather a morel obligation on their part.

[darianwood]

I can understand both sides of the argument. But when you ride the coattails if your last book for over 12 years it gets frustrating as a reader. I’m a fantasy writer myself and although I have no published works i get the struggle of making a clean neat and orderly plot and sub plots. It takes weeks and months of work and revision. But this is different. He has said multiple times “it should come out then” or “possibly coming out the year after this” it gets frustrating. Especially when this is my all time favorite book series and the third one isn’t even out.

[colelauber]

I was considered the "Professor of The Song of Ice and Fire" at the bookstores I've worked part-time in since 1989. I first read "A Game of Thrones" in 1997 and GRRM's series quickly became my favorite. I've must have sold by hand at least 200 copies of GoT. I was able to get a two-week head start on "A Dance with Dragons", thanks to the perks of bookselling. For many years after the July 2011 release of "A Dance with Dragons", I defended Martin when people criticized him for taking too long to write "The Winds of Winter". However, after the HBO series wrote the MOST DISAPPOINTING FINAL SEASON IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION, and after waiting a full decade for "The Winds of Winter", I'm not defending him anymore. Especially after writing that textbook "Fire and Blood", and the coffee table book of Westeros before that.

I simply think the poor man is stuck. Many people don't know that in May 2015, Random House Publishing asked him if he could finish the book by October 31, 2015 so they could release it before Season 6 aired. He said that he absolutely could, but on October 31, he still wasn't finished, and Random House asked Martin if he could finish it by December 31, 2015, so they could rush-publish "The Winds of Winter" in time to be released in March 2016. He said he could, because he only had "some tidying up to do". He still couldn't get it done.

Once Season 6 was released, Martin found himself in a real mess. If readers watched Season 6, the "Winds of Winter" would hold very few surprises. Then Season 7 and the god-awful Season 8 came out, and his fans were outraged. It's my theory that Martin simply started "Winds of Winter" from scratch and took the book in a mostly different direction from what he originally intended and what ended up on the show. As of a year ago, he still had a couple hundred pages to go. I'd hate to be in his shoes right now. For a while, he was the most read author in the English language, and now that HBO s*** the bed with his original ending, and over a decade of growing hostility from his former fans, I'm sure he's terrified that he will do nothing but disappoint. The expectations are simply too high.

I met Patrick Rothfuss when he came for a book signing at my bookstore in 2010. "The Name of the Wind" was the most beautifully written fantasy novel I had ever read up to that point. His second book, "Wise Man's Fear" came out in March 2011 and although it was okay, it definitely disappointed many readers. Like with Martin, the expectations and pressure on Rothfuss just grew and grew.

Many people are taking bets on whether Martin will die before releasing Book 6. I think it will get released in 2023, but I seriously doubt he will finish Book 7. Things are looking up for Rothfuss though. After about 5 years of hearing absolutely nothing new about "The Doors of Stone", he is now sharing info about it, so there is hope.

So in the meantime, everybody, I concur with Captured with Words in saying that Brandon Sanderson rules the fantasy genre right now. The Stormlight Archives' prose may not match Rothfuss or Martin, but it is definitely better paced, and easier to read. I haven't had a better time reading since Martin's first three Song of Ice and Fire. However, I would recommend Tad William's "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" and "The Last Kind of Osten Ard" series for excellent prose and for a more dependable release schedule.

[roylandrum]

I vote Rothfuss. He only has one book left to finish, while Martin has two.

[imperatrice]

I'm kind of in the middle as well, I want sequels so bad sometimes and I appreciate it a lot when authors let you know of their progress, it's a clear show of consideration for their readers, but I get the other side completely, it must not be easy to be under so much stress and even death threats omg, people need to chill (and read other books!)

[JoffJk]

Your point at the end sums it up for me. Author's don't owe us to complete their series, but we as readers don't owe them our loyal ship. I am over song and ice and fire. Won't be reading it anymore the dumpster fire of game of thrones season 7 and 8 didn't help. I actually have not read Rothfuss because of the waiting fustration from ASOIAF.

[Rogue_VI]

Do authors of a series "owe" their readers? I think the best answer is: Kinda. If an author writes a book and the story is clearly not finished, especially if it ends on a cliffhanger, they need to finish it. Readers have invested time and money and an author who doesn't finish the work has broken an implied promise. I wouldn't have a problem with a series not being finished if the stories were essentially self-contained and the author didn't say there would be X number of books in the series. Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen was 10 books (published over 12 years!) telling one very long story, but every book was complete in and of itself and there were no cliffhangers (with the exception of book 9). I, with most others here, do not think that authors ought to be harassed for not finishing a series, but I also do not think they should be immune from criticism when a series is taking forever to finish.

[theatheistpaladin]

I don't like saying someone "owes" me anything. But not completing a series makes my teeth itch from the inside...

[maxwhite]

For me, a part of starting a book that is stated to be the beginning of a series is the promise that eventually, that series will be completed. When authors extensively delay the next installment they're not delivering on the promise they made. If readers bought the first book because of the promise of an epic fantasy series bringing many storylines together, they deserve that series.

[vajs]

When they publish and work on other stuff, whilst complaining that they don't have the time to finish it, then yes. Yes they do.

[petrahalbur]

Fundamentally, I think taking 10 yrs to write a book you've signed a contract to finish is unprofessional. It's not that the causes for delay aren't valid, but when you turn your creative work into a business venture you sorta agree to meet professional standards ... and that includes meeting deadlines.

[thewhiskybowman]

As I posted on Bookborn's channel the other month when she covered this topic: it depends. If they have been marketing a book as part of a series from before the first book came out then yes, they should fulfil that obligation. If, however they write a book and never mention doing a sequel but have fans/publishers pestering them to do one no, they don't.