Holy shit - this. I mean it’s certainly one approach to the idea that you can’t make everyone happy. It’s not a good approach, but it’s an approach.
At this point, I really am not that interested any more. I read the books before the series on HBO was out,. If found it engaging enough that for a while I was looking for some kind of expected publication date. But now, so much time has progressed since I read it that I know longer look for any sign of them especially since I feel like it would probably advance by one book, and then who knows when/if the next one would be written. I did not watch the series, mainly because it was not readily available to me at the time it was being broadcast, which probably contributed to my waning interest to the point it is today.
//i\\
I am certain that Martin will never finish the books. He is too old at this point and appears to have lost interest. After he dies, his estate will hire a ghostwriter and “finish” the series by novelizing the story the TV series presented and pocketing the revenue.
Or the estate could hire an illiterate 13 year old to finish the books and have a better ending than the show.
He’s 73, and while overweight, not aware of any other significant health issues - he’s a very active dude. If he is interested in finishing the series, he’s got plenty of time. Just don’t know if he is interested in writing his way out of the mess he’s made of the plot lines - seems like he’s more interested in writing Westeros history books and producing TV spin-offs.
Egads, you may have got it: he has come to the conclusion that like history, it does not move towards a resolved end…
He’s just wasted ten years producing no book. “Plenty” is on a different scale for him. Even if he pops out one in the next year, a similar timescale to the last one would mean he’s writing it at 84.
My point was that if he actually wants to complete the remaining books, that timescale would get expedited. He’s been very productive recently with other projects where he is investing his time and energy,
He’s written more than the total words of the last book on his blog in recent years, usually about American Football. He’s written more multiple Westeros history books. I’m not sure if he writes anything when he “edits” wildcards. Writing isn’t his problem.
Writing the ASOIAF books are his problem. And it isn’t getting any better. What makes you think it will?
(What you are saying was what I was hoping about seven years ago).
To answer the OP:
(for myself)
I was disappointed by the last couple of seasons of the show, but those were still better than the last books he wrote. I couldn’t finish book 4, never mind book 5. I am totally indifferent to subsequent books and I imagine that Martin isn’t all that committed to finishing it either.
I am sure that he has heard the criticism from the way the TV show tried to tie up so many loose ends, satisfying few. (I am not in a position to say if this is true or assign responsibility.). What is his incentive to write more books, if it cannot be done well? Does he need the money or recognition? A prequel or supplementary item might be easier and more satisfying to write - and more immune to further criticism.
And less tied to an already-vast array of continuity snares.
I’m looking forward to Kafka finishing “The Trial”, but he’s been dragging his feet for a while now.
Or, go the Robert Jordan route and get another talented writer who’s familiar with the mythos to finish the books. I’ve never read The Wheel Of Time series, but a good friend is a serious fan, and according to him, Brandon Sanderson did a very good job finishing the story.
This gets brought up a few times. He’s stated that he’s not seeking help and he does not want anyone else to write it for him (the inference also is that he doesn’t want anyone to do it posthumously). Whether someone throwing cash at his heirs changes that, I’m not sure. But at the moment, it’s not an expected route to be taken.
If I understand correctly, Robert Jordan left behind notes explaining how he wanted the series to be finished. It’s possible that George R. R. Martin can’t figure out how he wants his series to be finished, and that if he could, actually writing it would be no problem for him.
I’m nearly positive that GRRM knows the ending of the story. I believe he’s stated that and that he also told HBO how it should end. He just doesn’t know how to get there. Or figuring out how to get there and make it satisfying is too boring, so fuck it.
I like Brandon Sanderson but I actually would have much preferred Jordan finish the series. Author’s have a “voice”, and Sanderson did not attempt to emulate Jordan’s (which he has admitted in interviews), I think that was the right call–Sanderson needs to write as Brandon Sanderson not as Brandon Sanderson trying to write like Robert Jordan. But the difference was very notable and jarring, and it’s just hard when you have a long series with one author’s distinctive voice switch to another.
Sanderson was hand picked by Jordan’s wife who was also his longtime editor, and I think he did the best of a rough job–but I definitely just don’t like the way his style clashed with the rest of the books. As far as Jordan’s notes…there’s a lot of fan speculation on that. There’s some weird covenants in Jordan’s will that says most of them can’t be released to the public for a long time (I think like the mid-2030s, he died in 2007.) While at the time Sanderson’s ending released the “Jordan notes” were highly touted, significant doubt has been introduced by fans far more interested than me (while I liked Wheel of Time, I am not one of the die hard fans, but I read some of their posts on the WoT forums) that Sanderson really had the sort of comprehensive notes that people thought. It seems more likely Jordan had very rough outlines, wrote a few final pages to slap into the epilogue, but that Sanderson had to significantly ‘wing it.’
Sanderson also introduced a new character totally outside of anything Jordan had planned, essentially because he wanted to use that character to more in depth “explore” WoT’s magic system (Sanderson really likes exploring the nitty gritty of how magic systems work in books.) While many like that new character, he gets a significant amount of point of view pages in the final volumes and that was totally outside of Jordan’s vision. Additionally, Sanderson struggled and ultimately failed to capture the spirit / tone of one of the series primary characters and most fans dislike how he is handled in the final books.
TLDR - I’m glad we got some kind of ending, Sanderson was in a rough situation that most authors probably could not have written themselves out of, and I’m glad he did what he did. But I would have much preferred Robert Jordan lived to finish the series, we did not get anything like what Jordan would have given us–and that ties into GoT, if GRRM croaks before it is finished I have low expectations for anyone finishing it remotely well even if the explicitly stated desires of Martin himself to not let anyone else finish it if he dies are somehow circumvented.
It should also be noted that in the case of Robert Jordan, he knew he was dying and that is the only reason he did not finish his series. He actually was working on the next one, or at least that is what he said at during a book signing tour for the latest novel in the wheel of time, which ended prematurely because he was ill. In general there was about a 2 year gap between novels and there was no expectation that he would not finish the series, and he likely would have if had he not died.
At this point I have little confidence George R. R. Martin is really working on the next book of the series. So if anyone finishes it after he dies, unless there is some stipulation as to who should in his estate, it probably will be whoever is available.
//i\\
Seem as if old Georgie boy doesn’t understand why people hate Game of thrones now.
Yet here’s Damon Lindelof having a feud with him over hating the Lost ending 11 years ago, with Damon quipping “I’ve just been informed George is working on his feud response. I’ll have it in FIVE YEARS!”. Ouchie. Seems as if that’s about six more years late…