Quote:
Originally Posted by Geralt
He didn't write these books for fans, but for himself, and he won't finish them for fans either.
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What about the calendars? Were those for himself? How about The World of Ice and Fire companion book? That for himself too?
I understand the sentiment that he (or any author) may not have
started writing these "for the fans." But to try and take them (the fans) completely out of the equation for the motivation behind a massive, self-feeding (and ever expanding) franchise endeavor is silly--and a good deal disingenuous.
If he was writing them for just himself and everyone-else-be-damned, they would have been done already and we'd likely have never heard of them. There wouldn't be a blog inviting external commentary, there wouldn't be public speaking engagements, there wouldn't be convention tours and TV contracts and calendars and companion volumes. There would be George sitting at home in New Mexico churning out books and ignoring the rest of the world's reaction to A Song of Ice and Fire. Fact is; George is writing them to
be read.
I'm not saying an author should be
beholden to fans or anything like that. Or that George is
only in it for the money/fame. But any opinion that pretends there's absolutely no commercial, legacy-building, got-the-fans-now-lets-see-how-far-we-can-run-with-it motives behind the book series being extended (and novellas being inserted) is a blind one.
And it's OK to be franchise-minded. Perfectly fine. But then you don't get play the "poor author just wants to be left alone to tell his story to himself" card. It doesn't wash.
Authors need fans to write books to get fans to write more books to get more money from the fans so they can have more time to write books for a living.
I don't doubt that there are authors that are writing (or have written) books strictly for their own personal satisfaction. But they're not the authors of genre series' that go on the 4-5+ (and then get mysteriously extended) installment plan.
Author George gets no special-snowflake exemption from criticism of things/ideas/processes he decided to share with the world (through books, blog, interviews, or public appearances) just because he's author George.