George R.R. Martin Has a Message For Anyone Who Thinks He Won’t Finish A Song of Ice

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

This is nothing. Ever heard of Donald E. Knuth, who writes The Art of Computer Programming?

There will be 5 volumes, and the first one was published in 1968. The last current one is 4A. The next ones will be 4B, C, D... ("as many as are needed"), before he starts on volume 5. That is expected to be finished in 2020 (but I doubt he'll make that deadline). Then, he wants to revise volumes 1-3 to bring them up to date to 21st century standards. After that, he plans to write volume 6 and 7, on dynamic languages and compiler design "if these topics are still relevant." He expects to need 10-12 years to finish the drafts.

Donald E. Knuth, now busy on volume 4B, is 76 years old. He'll need to become at least 92 to stand a (remote) chance of finishing this series.

We all depend on and owe a lot to others. I think Donald Knuth more than satisfied his lifetime obligations to the rest of us a long time ago.

Are you even hinting that he has been slacking?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

We all depend on and owe a lot to others. I think Donald Knuth more than satisfied his lifetime obligations to the rest of us a long time ago.

Are you even hinting that he has been slacking?

No, I'm not. Donald Knuth is one of my all-time hero's, because he created TeX, along with Ritchie, Kernigan and Thompon (C, Unix, and, in case of Thompson, his work on chess computing).

I *am* hinting that he may have been overly ambitious. It's not possible for ONE man to write a series of books containing ALL collective knowledge regarding computer programming from the beginning.

In my opinion it's unrealistic to think that, at 76, you can write a volume 4B, 4C, 4D ("and others, if I need them"), volume 5, revise the first three volumes up to 21st century standards of computing, and then write 6 and 7, if the first three (and 4A) volumes took you 50 years to complete.

He's now only halfway through the work he set himself, so he would need another 50 years to complete it. Even if he does live another 50 years, becoming 126+, I don't see him writing computer books. It's a marvel that he still does, and CAN do it at his current age.

Long story short, he, and other writers, are not Elrond. They can plan and wish to do anything they want, but planning and starting projects at 70+ that take multiple decades to finish is just foolhardy.

===

It's the same with Martin. Didn't he say that A Song of Ice and Fire would be 7 books? He now has 5 of them, the 6th hasn't appeared yet, and he customarily takes 5 or 6 years before submitting his first draft, or so I've read. He's 67, and in bad health it seems, so I think it's a somewhat legitimate concern of his fans that he might not finish the series, and they'll be left hanging after 20 years of reading.

I don't like it when an author starts a series without knowing where and when it will end; in this case, while I do have the first five books (I picked them up cheap, using Kobo codes), I'm a bit loth to start reading until he finishes it.

I have the same problem with The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind, which also seems to go on and on and on. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan came to an abrupt end due to him dying and needed to be finished by Sanderson. I don't know if I will ever read The Sword of Truth or The Wheel of Time, as the reviews of the books in the middle of the series are not good.

Now, I'm reading that the third and fourth book of The Song of Ice and Fire are also much less than books 1, 2 and 5.

Raymond E. Feist seems to have become afraid or something, as he cut two books from the Riftwars Cycle, replacing it them with a novella, and suddenly ending the series with Magician's End. That was the point where I got all of the books (30), and I just hope they live up to the reviews.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Even with Babylon 5, though, the ending was rushed because the studio threatened to axe the final year of the series, and then when it wasn't axed, the extra year was rather a mix-mash of ideas.

I think something like that occurred with "Smallville" as well

[mgbino]

I would hope GRRM finishes it, but if he doesn't, I'm sure either Daniel Abraham or Ty Franck will be given the go ahead to finish it.

[danskmacabre]

I quite enjoyed GRRM's GoT books up to but not including "A dance with dragons"
It just got boring, TBH it started getting boring in the preceding book (can't remember the name and can't be bothered to look it up).

I've been enjoying the TV series when I watch it, but I'm not following it that closely.
I suspect I'll enjoy the TV series in the latter part of the series than I did the books.
hopefully they'll chop out a lot of the pointless fluff.

Back to the original question, I suppose it is a rude question and it's his life and body.
but as already stated, he is a public figure and people are entitled to discuss it if they want.

I'm not particularly bothered if the series isn't finished.

[missimpossible]

I'd feel more sympathetic toward him if he hadn't been unnecessarily dragging ASoIaF out over the course of so many books. They're not only in need of a good editing, but I'm not entirely convinced in the necessity of the fourth and fifth books, especially given the original intention was to write a five book series. There are good elements in the books but they're drowned out by so much unnecessary rambling.

It's obviously rude to ask him to his face about whether he thinks he'll live long enough to complete the series. But he's a fool if he thinks people aren't going to speculate about it, especially when he writes at such a slow pace. The show is catching him up a apace and it certainly feels easier to swallow in that format.

[tubemonkey]

After that response he gave, maybe the reporter should've asked him if he'd live long enough to finish the interview

[hansl]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

... it's his life and body.

... and its your life too. Given that you could die before G.R.R. Martin, maybe you should not develop too much of an ASOIAF addiction. I feel some dissatisfaction that it doesn't go on, but I also don't see the story go anywhere towards a comprehensive end without cliffhangers. The end of any new volume will revoke the same longing for more, no matter how long G.R.R. Martin or you will live. Or maybe not.

hansl

[Lagopus]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I don't like it when an author starts a series without knowing where and when it will end; in this case, while I do have the first five books (I picked them up cheap, using Kobo codes), I'm a bit loth to start reading until he finishes it.

Martin probably knows where the story will end, it's the part in the middle he lacks a plan for.

Martin originally planned for a five year gap in the story between book three and four. But when he started writing book four, he realized there were just too many cliffhangers that couldn't be adequately resolved by characters having flashbacks to the previous five years. So he dropped the five year gap, and progress on the storyline have been slow since that. I suspect that Martin is now struggling to adapt his original ideas about the end to that decision. (In particular, the five year gap would have allowed the children characters to grow up a little. Now he needs an ending where they're still kids.)

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by hansl

... and its your life too. Given that you could die before G.R.R. Martin, maybe you should not develop too much of an ASOIAF addiction. I feel some dissatisfaction that it doesn't go on, but I also don't see the story go anywhere towards a comprehensive end without cliffhangers. The end of any new volume will revoke the same longing for more, no matter how long G.R.R. Martin or you will live. Or maybe not.

hansl

I'm far from ASOIAF addiction, I didn't even bother finishing "A dance with dragons"
It's highly unlikely I'll bother picking up this series again in a book format anyway.
I wonder if HBO will end up doing a better job of ending the Series than GRRM if he did die before the books were finished.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I wonder if HBO will end up doing a better job of ending the Series than GRRM if he did die before the books were finished.

He won't have to die to find out. The show will air the ending before the books are written (even if he lives forever). It's pretty-much logistically impossible at this point for him to stay ahead of the show.

The show producers all but admitted that 7 seasons was their plan (and there will be no hiatus while they wait on George to finish books). That means three more years at most (from the beginning of next season) to finish the book he's working on AND the final installment (if indeed he can actually wrap it up in seven). He can't do it. He's going to still be plugging away at writing the ending that HBO has already revealed to the world. Talk about anti-climatic.

[ProfCrash]

Looking on Wikipedia we have this publishing track record

A Game of Thrones 1996
A Clash of Kings 1998
A Storm of Swords 2000 Novel
A Feast for Crows 2005 Novel
A Dance with Dragons 2011 Novel
The Princess and the Queen 2013 Novella
The Rogue Prince 2014 Novella
The World of Ice & Fire 2014 Reference Book

And the TV series

Two years in between the publication of the first three books. All three I enjoyed and were pretty well written and tight. Then five years between the third and fourth book.

Reports are that the fourth and fifth book were actually one insanely long book that were divided into two books. The fourth book being insanely long and about minor characters that most people didn't care about. If this is true, why did it take six years to publish the fifth book?

So we are already at the four year mark from the release of the fifth book and no publication date is set. And it could be 1,500 pages.

Someone had a good idea of where he was going at the beginning, he was hitting regular release dates and the story was moving in a way that made sense. I know I was wondering what the heck was going to happen after book three since so many characters were dead. I wonder if he was as well. And now we have two massive books, apparently a massive change in the planned story, longer gaps in publication while he tries to figure out what is going to happen and a TV series that will eventually sort this all out for him.

Yeah, I am glad I stopped reading after the third book.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The show producers all but admitted that 7 seasons was their plan (and there will be no hiatus while they wait on George to finish books). That means three more years at most (from the beginning of next season) to finish the book he's working on AND the final installment (if indeed he can actually wrap it up in seven). He can't do it. He's going to still be plugging away at writing the ending that HBO has already revealed to the world. Talk about anti-climatic.

Is there any particular reason that the TV show has to finish the same way that the book does?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Yeah, I am glad I stopped reading after the third book.

If I hear things like the above, I'm inclined to not even start reading.

Anybody read Joe Abercombie, who seems to write in a style comparable to George RR Martin?

(And why is every screenshot of every reader and of calibre always displaying A Dance with Dragons? That alone makes me not want to read the book.)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Anybody read Joe Abercombie, who seems to write in a style comparable to George RR Martin?

Yes. His "First Law" trilogy is a "must read", if you enjoy fantasy, although it's very grim and dark. You won't find many happy endings.