It’s Okay To Be Mad At George R.R. Martin

music by almost sex

[An_actual_walrus]

He doesn’t owe us a book, he just owes us honesty.

[catbowserfantasytherapist]

I’ve always said that I just want GRRM to be honest. If he’s lost interest, if he’s hopeless stick, whatever, just come out and say “I’m sorry, I’m not going to be able to finish it.”

[johnlocke]

This is analogous to falling in love with someone who slowly falls out of love with you, giving you tiny speckles of hope until they just fade into obscurity and you sit there thinking “you wasted my life”.

[sartavin]

As someone who started the series in 1998 and was a member of his fansite forums (westeros) for more than a decade, GRRM is a cautionary tale about fame. The first three books came out when he was relatively niche/unknown and hungry for fame and accolades. Once he achieved that, once he was proclaimed 'The American Tolkien' by Time magazine and got in with HBO, everything came screeching to a halt. Another point of frustration from his fanbase is both his endless promotion of side-projects and selling of merch and schmoozing at conventions rather than putting in the work. He became addicted to being recognized, a very heady and dangerous thing for unrecognized nerdlings with a lack of discipline/arrested development (Patrick Rothfuss comes to mind as well). I've been resigned since 2012 that we wouldn't see a conclusion to this series, and wrote it off then; I was happy to get the intended concept of the conclusion through the show, even if the execution wasn't great.

[jacoporegini]

There is a non written promise between writer and reader: "I know something you don't know. If you keep reading, I will tell you."

[Kite]

When George starts critiquing Tolkien, when he cant even finish his own series, yeah he's open for criticism.

[jas]

The series isnt going to be finished until after he dies and his estate brings in an outsider to "Discover" his lost notes and manuscripts.

[MrGforce]

If Martin wants to be on the Mt Rushmore of fantasy authors he must finish the books. Tolkien wouldn't be known, or if he was it would only be as a joke if he stopped at The Two Towers and not written Return of the King.

[MyObessiveDirector]

The Dunk and Egg series isn't even finished which makes him working on the HBO series even more of an oof moment 😭

[Petter]

Sadly he also seems to take extreme levels of ownership of it, and has stated he does not intend to let anyone inherit it after he retires or passes away. He should clearly take on one or more co-writers to finish it, where he can direct the story, but doesn't need to sit and work out every detail by himself

[LegitBacKdrNiNJa]

Here is the analogy:

A man has a plot of land, he builds a house on this land, it starts off three bedrooms, but quickly he changes his plan to five bedrooms, then seven. He's done the first two floors, and has five bedrooms installed, but hasn't finished the third floor and the final two bedrooms, or the roof.

At this point he starts, building a greenhouse & a pool, putting a fence up & selling images & blueprints of his half made house.

When his family/bank (fans & business partners) requests that he finish the house- he points them to the greenhouse and pool and complains
"I'm bored of building the house, you should be impressed and care about the pool"

And now he is in an argument with his wife and bank about the damn roof & bedrooms. And to cope, he spends most of his time in the garden and dealing with the fence.

[charleslarrivee]

"Can you imagine. aworld where Tolkien became too distracted with Elvish History and side projects to create The Return of the King?" Oh I can imagine. That's kind of what happened, and it's why we have the Appendices at the end of Return; because he DID get distracted. But I see your point, after all Tolkien DID finish, after all.

[Lex_Nocturna]

Meanwhile....

Brandon Sanderson : ...
( viciously typing away at sequels spinoffs and prequels on a multiverse scale and during his "breaks" )

[devinreese]

One day we'll find out there never was a manuscript.

[johnlocke]

I honestly believe that there’s still a very strong core of dedicated fans. But after the tv show, the lies, the delays, the “if I don’t have it by NZ-con you can arrest me”, and the fact he was locked inside for 1-2 years and isn’t even close to finishing it I believe most people have lost interest. Before I would scour the internet in 2017-2019 looking for a crumb to nibble on and now I barely care. If it comes out, cool, but that fire of passion that was burning inside is gone. WoW, like PJ said will be underwhelming and will only leave fans thinking “how can he wrap this up in 1 more book?” and then we’ll be either left with another 10+ year wait or it will just never be released.

[FadzaiSimango]

I feel bad for all the deceased fans who started the series at some point between 1996 and now but didn't live to see the ending.

[waket]

As an artist myself, even if I have a *really smaller audience*, I do feel this on a personal level. Yes, it's true that forcing art isn't exactly the best choice, and the fans are more than willing to wait just a bit more for the product to be really perfect. But you can't procastinate this much in front of them, expecially after you're able to EXCLUSIVELY work on your project bc your fans paid for all you now own. Fans can be toxic from time to time, but the majority is still supportive, but you have to pay back the support, at least up until what dragged them in ends.

[TheCreepyLantern]

there is no doubt in the world that George is in the top five most famous authors alive today... at least in the english speaking world. that is an acomplishment so so SO few people will ever have. and he got there because of a series he doesn't care to finish. It's absolutely okay that we don't respect his unending decisions to work on other things

[TheWarmachine]

It's ironic that George R.R. Martin looks down on Game of Thrones fanfics yet they're far enjoyable to read than his own novels that he will never finish.

[nocturnalnegus]

I've started reading fire and blood because my friend told me chronologically it comes before ASOIAF and I must say this guy can write. Learning more about the Targaryen reign and the range of good and bad kings is fun to read. It almost makes me not wanna read the main books until the final two are published.