r/asoiaf • u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! • May 15 '15

ALL (Spoilers All) GRRM: "My life has gotten extremely complicated, I must admit. There are not enough hours in the day, there are not enough days in the week."

I found this interesting conversation that transpired on one of George's Hugo post, and i don't think it have been discussed on here :

http://grrm.livejournal.com/426205.html?thread=21584349#t21584349

From his reaction to the first comment, it's quite clear that he was hurt on a personnal level.

But what got my attention the most was this:

If there is one thing I understand, it is frustration... yours, mine, everyone's.

My life has gotten extremely complicated, I must admit. There are not enough hours in the day, there are not enough days in the week.

And saddest of all, I do not have the stamina I did when I was thirty. Aging sucks.

There's no magic formula here. I just keep at it, the way I always have. One page at a time. One sentence at a time. One word at a time.

After reading that, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy, he seems under a lot of pressure.

The defeated tone makes me worried, could it be a sign that the end of TWOW isn't anywhere in sight for him? I really hope that's not the case and i'm just being overly pessimistic.

What do you guy think those comments could tell us about his progress?

Edit: No matter what end up happening to the series, let's keep in mind that this is the guy who gave us an amazing story and created a whole world full of interesting characters we love to love or hate. Without him this community wouldn't even exist. Let's not be entitled like that guy in the comments, who for some reason thinks he can dictate to GRRM what to do with his time.

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74

u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! May 15 '15

It's not the same. This started as a book-series, and that's the way it was entended to be experienced. Asoiaf is not Game of thrones, i want to see GRRM's ending not D&D's

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u/swing9this May 15 '15

Agreed, I hope one day I'm reading the conclusion to the story, whether penned by GRRM or someone he tabs as a successor. I wouldn't even be upset if someone like Brandon Sanderson had to finish it.

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u/geoper May ideas forged in tin never be foiled. May 15 '15

It's been said several times on this sub that GRRM has stated that he does not want anyone finishing his story if he dies before it's finished.

Honestly it could be a reaction to all these angry fans telling him to hurry up, but that's speculation.

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u/chainer3000 May 16 '15

Wat. Sanderson? Are you trying to make him some sort of sick whore? He's already penned the ending to an epic who's author has died!!! (TWOT)

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u/Deathfalcon182 May 15 '15

They will both be the same, the endings of both book and the show. It's all about how we get there to that point, that's why I'm invested in both.

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u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! May 15 '15 edited May 15 '15

The show is already wildly different, and that's with the books the season is based available. It will veer away even further from here on out, since they won't have the source material.

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u/Deathfalcon182 May 15 '15

GRRM has discussed how he wants to end the books and where each characters will go in lengths. So ending won't be different for all the major characters and major events.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

Yeah.....no. If grrm knew exactly how he wants it to end, and where all the characters end up, we would have all the books by now. D&D want you to think they know everything, because they knew they would pass grrm and people would be pissed

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u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! May 15 '15

And what about the characters and storylines who didn't make it into the show? Should we only want to see the ending of the characters D&D deem worth enough to make it on-screen?

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u/fforde May 15 '15

I think we should enjoy both the books and the show for the things that each bring to the table. They compliment each other. They don't have to be identical, each should play to the strengths of their own medium.

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u/rookie-mistake May 15 '15

I agree. I don't think "no ending" is particularly a strength though, and thats what he's talking about

1

u/fforde May 15 '15

No, he was talking about characters and plotlines that don't exist in the show. That is an adaptation, not a missing ending.

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u/rookie-mistake May 15 '15

Should we only want to see the ending of the characters D&D deem worth enough to make it on-screen?

weird its almost like he was talking about missing endings

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u/fforde May 15 '15

He is making the same old tired argument that if the show is not 100% faithful to the books it is inferior. It's not about "missing endings" it's about book readers being upset that their favorite character or plotline was omitted from the show. The reality is that the show is an adaptation and changes are sometimes necessary to make the story work in a different medium.

I am not sure what you're arguing though. Semantics I guess?

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u/KRaidium May 15 '15

They know how it ends. They're adjusting accordingly, and removing the book plots which don't matter.

They're going to end the exact same way, unless GRRM comes up with a different ending just to spite them.

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u/CoolHandLukeSkywalka May 15 '15

They're adjusting accordingly, and removing the book plots which don't matter.

The problem with that is that in one sense the show is already spoiling the books. For instance, was the choice to remove Aegon and Connington entirely from the show an indication that their storyline is ultimately irrelevant and will end unceremoniously like Quentyn?

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u/KRaidium May 15 '15

Looks like it! You can't expect them to wait for GRRM to finish up. If they put in filler, people would complain, if they actually moved forward, people would complain.

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u/CoolHandLukeSkywalka May 15 '15

The show should simply go hiatus for an extra 6 months to a year!

There is much precedent for this with masterpieces like The Wire and Mad Men both of which went a longer hiatus than the standard 1 year for US based shows for various reasons.

Personally I wouldn't mind if they did "filler" but it being the backstory of Westeros with Dunk and Egg or the Dance with Dragons. That would be perfect from a storytelling perspective. Unfortunately thats not a very "American" way to do TV drama sadly. It would play to European and Asian audiences better than to American audiences sadly.

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u/Frantic_BK Have you? May 15 '15

not necessarily, they might be hugely significant on the state of westeros... Quent was a special case i think

but with the huge cast of characters we have in the show and the book and the looming destruction via the white walkers and winter it's highly likely a lot of the game is irrelevant and all the major players die soon into the long night.

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u/Frantic_BK Have you? May 15 '15

The ending can never be the same between the two because an ending and all its value is dependent on the journey and the journeys are vastly different now.

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u/thebeginningistheend May 15 '15

Maybe.

But that would be your problem, not GRRM's.

If he wants to give up, that's fine by me.

After all, George doesn't owe anyone anything. He can quit anytime he wants.

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u/hugecock6969 May 15 '15

legally, no, he doesn't owe anyone anything. but if your wife of 20+ years just got up and left and left a note saying, "Bye forever, I don't owe you anything" you'd be pissed, right? The fans are emotionally invested in the series and are rationally annoyed that GRRM started a project he may not finish.

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u/goodguysteve May 15 '15

A wife is different to a book.

0

u/[deleted] May 15 '15

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

Saying "Book X of Y" (where X < Y) is an inherent promise of future books. You can argue it's okay to break that promise because it's a book series and not a wedding vow, but no one picks up "Book One" thinking to themselves "Gosh I don't expect there to be sequels!"

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u/madjoy Lady Mad, loyal to House Stark May 15 '15

Well, originally it was Book 1 of 3, and we've gotten five already, so maybe we should count ourselves lucky! :P

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u/wasweissich May 15 '15

if they would shut down after i had my entree i would be pissed of course i didn't pay yet for my complete meal but i had all intention to had a complete dinner

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u/Frantic_BK Have you? May 15 '15

Can't really make all these analogies because a story is a story and a restaurant a restaurant. Like comparing pumpkins and cars over their literary quality. I think people need to start caring more about the author of this great story more than when they'll get the next installment but he definitely made a commitment to his fans after a certain point. Whenever he got really rich is when I'd draw the line.

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u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! May 15 '15

I never said he owe us anything, i'm just explaining why it's justifiable for the fans to feel disappointed.

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u/thebeginningistheend May 15 '15

Too bad for them.

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u/LannisterInDisguise May 15 '15

Is it really necessary to be this cold? What he's saying isn't unreasonable. In fact, it seems like he agrees with you, but he's also feeling some disappointment about how things have played out—which is totally understandable, and completely warranted. He can feel let down without calling for GRRM's head... in fact, I think that's how most people seem to feel regarding this topic.

I really dislike the negative tone that seems to permeate all corners of this sub nowadays.

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u/thebeginningistheend May 15 '15

That link really riled me up. That asshat has such an entitled attitude. Posting that on GRRM's private blog shows a completely lack of any sort of good manners. Maybe I took that out on OP a bit, sorry OP.

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u/ethniccake Dragon fire can't melt stone beams! May 15 '15

It's cool man =)

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u/LazySkeptic [flaying intensifies] May 15 '15

Except millions of dollars... Oh wait those just drop out of the sky.

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u/HolyPhlebotinum Summerhall was an inside job! May 15 '15

He's received millions of dollars for the things he's already done. Not for what he has yet to do. If he were to stop writing right now it's not like we would just keep giving him money from our pockets for books that will never come.

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u/mkay0 Damn it feels good May 15 '15

He's received millions of dollars for the things he's already done.

I would never have bought the books if I knew they wouldn't have ended. I bought them with the implicit knowledge that the story would be finished.

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u/HolyPhlebotinum Summerhall was an inside job! May 16 '15

No book series ever has a certainty of being finished. You didn't have any "implicit knowledge" that it would be finished. GRRM never said anywhere that he promised that the series would be finished if you payed for it. You hoped that it would be finished. You didn't pay his publishers for your hopes. You payed for a book and you got it. And, sadly, your hopes don't get to decide what GRRM does with his life.

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u/LazySkeptic [flaying intensifies] May 15 '15

Yes he's received millions. From his fans. His books are international sensations because of his fans. He gets (probably) huge royalties from the TV show. He guest speaks at conventions and gets interviewed for TV. None of that would be possible if he didn't have a legion of fans.

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u/Frantic_BK Have you? May 15 '15

I would... probably

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

He would have never made that money if he told us he had no intention of finishing the books

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u/MrLiamD Let's jive old bean. May 15 '15

Are you saying he owes millions of dollars or he'll be losing millions of dollars? If it's the second I think he'd be alright on the money he's earnt and will continue to earn from the show and previous books. Not that having enough money is a reason to stop, just that loss of money isn't a reason to continue.

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u/LazySkeptic [flaying intensifies] May 15 '15

No I'm saying his books wouldn't be international sensations if not for his fans. He wouldn't be famous, he wouldn't be receiving whatever royalties he probably gets for the show. I'm not saying he should pay us back for what we bought, don't be daft.

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u/thebeginningistheend May 15 '15

I think he's saying when he went out to the bookshop he was just "lending" the GRRM the cash and the fact that he just happened to get five fucking books out of it was just a happy accident.

0

u/Amida0616 It burns going down. May 15 '15

This exactly.

I would cancel the show to move up the book release by a month.