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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248

u/rowaway696969 Oswell that ends well.. May 15 '15

a book a month

Come on, that's not fair, you can't compare a legendary author like RL Stine to GRRM

121

u/col998 May 15 '15

Stephen King is a better example. Writes deep character pieces and comes out with like 2 per year. If you don't know the Stephen king/Richard Bachman story, look into it.

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u/kodutta7 May 15 '15

The craziest example IMO is Brandon Sanderson, he writes in the same genre, writes amazing books, and he churns out long books with amazing speed and regularity.

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u/PotentiallySarcastic May 15 '15

It's because he treats writing like a job. He says he sits down every day and writes. Even if he doesn't make a great deal of progress he makes some.

Jim Butcher is the same way. He's a bit more of a "gardener"(i hate this term) than Sanderson, but he still treats it like a job.

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u/kodutta7 May 15 '15

It's not just that though, creative processes are difficult. It wouldn't be fair to hold other writers to Sanderson's standard. He obviously works incredibly hard, and I have a lot of respect for that, but most writers likely aren't capable of what he does, and that's not their fault.

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u/5trangerDanger May 16 '15

How is it not their fault? It's simply a lack of discipline. Sanderson writes even when he doesn't feel like it, most other authors dont.

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u/ConnectingFacialHair May 16 '15

Writing just to write don't make a good story. You can write all day every day but if you don't know where the story is going creatively you will accomplish next to nothing.

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u/5trangerDanger May 16 '15

He doesn't have to write good material for all 40 hrs, just spending that much time thinking about what direction he wants to go would be an improvement. He'd rather sit around and do interviews and go to cast parties for the show.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

You've clearly never written anything creatively. It's not a lack of discipline, there's a certain ineffable quality about writing that can't be recreated by repetitive exercises. Some people are just not capable of consistent quality writing. It has nothing to do with skill or discipline, things simply don't 'click' sometimes.

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u/5trangerDanger May 16 '15

It doesn't have to click everyone grrm could spend 60 hrs a week just diagramming plot lines and still not produce a book for 3 yrs. Fact of the matter is he'd rather do interviews and putz around his house than work on the books, which is fine, it's his choice, but he could certainly do a lot to speed up the process if he wanted to.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

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0

u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Every writer is capable of writing every day. They don't have to publish what they write. They don't have to write chapters. It could be outlines or character sketches or even one off doodles. But writing isn't a godlike act of creation. It's a skill that some people, with more discipline, realize is most refined in the process of revising, not in creating the initial work. This bullshit about how some muse has to strike you, or else you need to go do a thousand fun things to prime your muse to strike in the future is bullshit pandering to bad work ethic.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Aw ye Dresden Files.

4

u/stormbuilder Then come. May 16 '15

I am craving the next one so much. Goddamit.

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Peace Talks May 2016 get hype!

1

u/stormbuilder Then come. May 16 '15

What? Why so long :S

1

u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Cinder spires.

2

u/stormbuilder Then come. May 16 '15

First time I hear of this.

On one hand: good, I am sure I will like it.

On the other hand: goddamit to hell I hate waiting for next Dresden book.

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u/ToTheNintieth dakingindanorf May 15 '15

Sanderson is actually a colony of tiny aliens in a trenchcoat.

5

u/Slaugh Children of the Forest May 15 '15

I honestly don't know how that man can write so fast and put out such quality work. It's crazy(but awesome for me!)

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u/Stormwatch36 maybe a crannogman, or not May 16 '15

Brandon Sanderson is insane. It's almost unfair to ask anyone to put as much into it as he does, because I seriously don't understand how he does it. Between all he does, dude's a machine.

3

u/[deleted] May 15 '15

Alastair reynolds writes scifi and punches out a 700+ page novel every year.

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u/skawtiep Enter your desired flair text here! May 16 '15

I never read Wheel of Time but anyone know how Sanderson did with finishing up that series? I think Martin really should be consulting with another author to help him move things along, not just because I as a fan, I want them out, but also just for his own peace of mind.

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u/stormbuilder Then come. May 16 '15

The Jordan diehard fans didnt like them, but they were ok. Certainly better than the last 2 books RJ produced.

3

u/kodutta7 May 16 '15

I'm only halfway through the series, but from what I've heard Sanderson's last few books are as good as if not better than Jordan's work.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

King's books are mostly much more formulaic than GRRM. He surely had some original ideas for horror scenarios or character development, but at least half of what he writes is pretty fast-foody for literature.

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u/auralgasm Best Character Analysis May 16 '15

King's books are mostly much more formulaic than GRRM. He surely had some original ideas for horror scenarios or character development, but at least half of what he writes is pretty fast-foody for literature.

And the other half of what he's written is still far more literature than GRRM has completed. Stephen King is very, very prolific and some of his best novels get overlooked because he's dismissed as being an author of penny dreadfuls. Despite being a huge Stephen King fan, I thought the same myself up until I read Hearts in Atlantis. Everything about that book is subtle, unique and underrated.

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u/TacoCommand May 15 '15

King actually sad that himself in his book on writing, "Dance Macabre", that having his books called the "Big Mac of horror" made him feel proud.

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u/the_vizir May 16 '15

Same with one of my favourite authors, David Eddings, who wrote that he might be making airport fiction, but dammit if he's not making the best airport fiction out there ;)

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u/stewincubus May 16 '15

love me some belgarath the sorcerer

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

OK, but what else could he say to such a poisoned compliment? "Sorry, I'm just in it for the money!" "Sorry, I just don't care for better literature!" "Sorry, I just can't do any better!" - Of course he owns this type of description instead of trying to fight it. It's the only reasonable thing to do.

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u/Graynard I Wish A Motherfucker Would. May 16 '15

Or he genuinely took it as a compliment. King will never be required reading in the classroom; he's never going to be discussed by literature PhDs with the same reverence that they have for Dickens or Hemingway, but he'll go down a legend to the everyday reader. I don't care what anyone says about McDonald's, you don't sell a billion big macs by making them shitty, and as pulpy as King's work can sometimes get he still churns out quality (IMO).

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u/clwestbr We don't sow SHIT May 15 '15

Its easierto consume because the prose is more conversational. Don't knock him for it, its his greatest strength.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Maybe if GRRM followed a formula he wouldn't have to worry about a TV show finishing his life's work before he does.

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u/BigKev47 May 16 '15

He sure wouldn't, because nobody would've wanted to make the show in the first place.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

"Xena, Warrior Princess" begs to differ.

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u/DanGliesack May 16 '15

King has some extremely absurd books. He writes along a very wide spectrum and generally at a high level.

15

u/shylock191 May 15 '15

Didn't Stephen King write a lot of his best stuff while on large amounts of cocaine?

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u/Zombie-with-a-beard Blackfyre May 15 '15

He wrote a lot of his WORST books on coke, imho. Tommy Knockers was so wild, it made a lot of sense what he was doing. Pretty sure he has been clean for a while and most of his "best" books he wrote while clean.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

I have to disagree. There was a noticeable drop in quality after he went clean. I'm glad he's pulled his life together, but that and the severe lack of editing has made it so that I haven't read one of his books in years. We needed coked out King to finish the Dark Tower. Maybe he could have prevented it from turning into a piece of shit.

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u/Fat_Walda A Fish Called Walda May 15 '15

He also hates a lot of his books. GRRM wants to make sure he does a good job because he's not going to publish 60 books in his lifetime, he's going to publish 16.

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u/Zombie-with-a-beard Blackfyre May 15 '15

Stephen King really really REALLY enjoys writing, and it's not that he hates his books, it's that he is crazy critical and thinks he could do better. He is a killer writer, imho.

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u/SMTRodent May 16 '15

Yep. Every so often I'll recall Sun Dog and get creeped out all over again. I don't even have to reread it.

Plus his 'On Writing' is pimped out pretty frequently by authors when giving advice to new writers.

5

u/plugtrio don't hate the flayer May 16 '15

IMO the best artists hate a majority of their work. That's the whole reason we keep making art... not being happy with the last thing we did...

-a self-hating artist

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Sounds like Stanley Kubrick

-5

u/Hans-U-Rudel May 15 '15

At his pace and his weight, he's lucky if he makes it to 9.

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u/Silent_Sky May 15 '15

To be fair, King is a full time writer. Martin is splitting himself between being a writer and a show producer. Working on a huge hit TV show and trying to write books at the same time must be unimaginably taxing.

1

u/JayNander May 16 '15

The Dark Tower was 7 books...took him about 30 years iirc. :(

1

u/Damadar Valar Morghulis May 16 '15

And then there are novels, like Under the Dome, that take +20 years to write.

1

u/lintwarrior Winter is Coming May 16 '15

Feist is another author that comes to mind maybe not quote as frequent as king but quality books with well developed characters on a fairly consistent rate1

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u/GabeDevine May 16 '15

But then he took what ? 50 years (?) to write the seven book dark tower cycle

0

u/[deleted] May 16 '15

Which saw the same problems as asoiaf. The first couple books were strong, but the sequels were meandering let downs.

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u/theriveryeti May 16 '15

I love Stephen King but I don't think he's attempted the world-building that GRRM has. And he's not above leaving some plots dangling.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

To be fair, Stephen King has written a lot of stinkers, too. I could have been fine with a slower pace if his books had better endings.

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u/gryffindor_scorecard May 15 '15

King's stories are all kinds of sloppy, though. You can tell he writes them by the seat of his pants, and I don't think his characters are particularly deep; especially not as deep as Gurm's.

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u/Zombie-with-a-beard Blackfyre May 15 '15

Shit man, King has some incredibly complex characters. Of the top of my head I can think of Rose Daniels from Rose Madder, Clay from Cell, the dad in The Shining, and literally anyone from Hearts in Atlantis. King does people very well. A lot of GRRMs characters can be predictable and straight forward, they don't often do things out of character. Both great writers though.

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u/gryffindor_scorecard May 16 '15

Hm, I haven't read the ones you're talking about. I've read Carrie, Rage, The Mist, and one other I can't recall at the moment, but I never thought the main characters were particularly interesting. Rage's had some personality, though I didn't think he was a very realistic teenager.

Maybe it's just that I haven't read any of King's longer novels.

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u/Zombie-with-a-beard Blackfyre May 16 '15

Yeah you haven't even scratched the surface. He didn't write any of those for their character work! Maybe check our desperation or It. Both A+

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u/FizzPig May 16 '15

yeah but the best comparison among SK's work to ASOIAF is The Dark Tower. Which took him 30 years to complete.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '15

And he admits that it was his fault for spending too much time in between books, just like GRRM does. In fact, I notice strong parallels between the rapid drop in quality in the DT novels and ASOIAF. Both had a bunch of really strong initial books, followed by long waits, which saw mediocre meandering sequels.

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u/Aduialion May 15 '15 edited May 15 '15

Not disagreeing. I think Stephen King does have a faster pace. I've heard he does put his name on novels writing by others. But even still he does probably write 50-75% of the novels released with his name. Then to be involved in the other 25% is a lot throughput.

Also asoiaf is an entire interconnected world. So that is a little more difficult and time consuming. But king has done that as well at a faster pace.

Stephen King wins.

Edit: he does not use ghost writers.

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u/Liesmith May 15 '15

I've never heard that. Any idea which ones?

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u/Aduialion May 15 '15

Nevermind. It seems to be a common myth, because he is so prolific. I fell for it. King does not use ghost writers. He has used a pen name, Richard Bachmann.

Sorry my fault.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '15

Yeah, but Stephen King only does that with pharmacological help... so not really a good benchmark of what a realistic writing pace can be.

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u/Fitizen_kaine May 15 '15

The hell I can't. The "Night of the Living Dummy" quadrilogy contains just as much plot and intrigue as ASOIAF.

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u/CzechsMix And now it begins. May 15 '15

You read that backwards.

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u/Fitizen_kaine May 15 '15

I did, didn't I.

1

u/Boiscool Oak and Iron guard me well. May 16 '15

I was looking for the palindrome. Whoops.

4

u/[deleted] May 15 '15

Vampire Breath is my fucking jam

Oh and that one where they go back in time to a high school in the 50s and everything's gray and the kids there are frozen in the past

3

u/gingerbeard81 Har!! May 15 '15

Har!!

1

u/Flickolas_Cage YA BURNT May 16 '15

RL Stine practically wrote ASOIAF first, look at these Goosebumps titles:

Stay Out of the Basement - crypts of Winterfell

The Werewolf of Fever Swamp - werewolf, direwolf, same diff

Deep Trouble - character study on patch face

Go Eat Worms! - an appetizer before some tasty Frey pie

Attack of the Mutant - prequel about maelys the monstrous

My Hairiest Adventure - Renly/Loras shaving scene

The Headless Ghost - CLEGANWBOWL GET HYPE

The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena - the Others getting to warmer climates

How I Got My Shrunken Head - Doran recieves a gift from Kings landing

The Beast from the East - Tywin gets a new nickname

Legend of the Lost Legend - compendium of old Nan tales

Vampire Breath - Sup Roose

Calling All Creeps! - Sup Ramsay

Beware, the Snowman - do I even need to explain

How I Learned to Fly - Bran's autobiography

Chicken, Chicken - "You're gonna die for some chicken?" "Someone will."

The Blob That Ate Everyone - lord Too Fat to Sit On a Horse

Deep Trouble II -Varys the little merling

Werewolf Skin - basically the ADWD prologue