New GRRM Update on ADWD

Just as an aside, fans of Steven King's epic series The Dark Tower series waited longer, and in far more agony, than we are waiting for ASOIAF to unfold. We waited while King wrote other books, made appearances, got hit by a van while walking on a country road, lay in a hopsital recovering, and then ultimately for him be be able to write again. By the way, he was never the same after the accident. This is tame in comparison
 
The Imp said:
Just as an aside, fans of Steven King's epic series The Dark Tower series waited longer, and in far more agony, than we are waiting for ASOIAF to unfold. We waited while King wrote other books, made appearances, got hit by a van while walking on a country road, lay in a hopsital recovering, and then ultimately for him be be able to write again. By the way, he was never the same after the accident. This is tame in comparison
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Wasn't much of that prior to the internet though? When did book 4 come out? I think cyberspace has kind of increased our culture's demands for instant gratification. We have access to so many things instantaneously: real time updates from authors, etc. People can get together and talk and fan the flames... By the time the internet was up and running and got to the point where it supported places like this, hadn't it already been well over a decade for Dark Tower fans?
 
soulsinging said:
Wasn't much of that prior to the internet though? When did book 4 come out? I think cyberspace has kind of increased our culture's demands for instant gratification. We have access to so many things instantaneously: real time updates from authors, etc. People can get together and talk and fan the flames... By the time the internet was up and running and got to the point where it supported places like this, hadn't it already been well over a decade for Dark Tower fans?
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the chronology of the Dark Tower
  1. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
  2. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
  3. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
  4. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
  5. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
  6. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
  7. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
note that The gunsliger was written in the late 70s and published as a novel in 82

call the series really starting when The Drawing of the Three was published. 4 years to The Wastelands. 6 more to Wizard and Glass 9best of the series IMO). WAG was on the NY Times best seller list as i remember it/ The series was very popular. Then 6 years to Wolves and 1 year to the last two.

I guarantee that the wait between Wizard and Glass and Wolves was as panful as the wait for ADWD is. At one point it wasn't clear that king would ever write again. "The Internet" as you call it :) existed. People talked, on message boards,etc.

I agree that we've reached a pojnt where the need for gratification has exceeded the speed at which the "engines of gratification" can produce what's needed.
 
The Imp said:
the chronology of the Dark Tower
  1. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
  2. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
  3. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
  4. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
  5. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
  6. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
  7. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
note that The gunsliger was written in the late 70s and published as a novel in 82

call the series really starting when The Drawing of the Three was published. 4 years to The Wastelands. 6 more to Wizard and Glass 9best of the series IMO). WAG was on the NY Times best seller list as i remember it/ The series was very popular. Then 6 years to Wolves and 1 year to the last two.

I guarantee that the wait between Wizard and Glass and Wolves was as panful as the wait for ADWD is. At one point it wasn't clear that king would ever write again. "The Internet" as you call it :) existed. People talked, on message boards,etc.

I agree that we've reached a pojnt where the need for gratification has exceeded the speed at which the "engines of gratification" can produce what's needed.
Click to expand...

Ah, for some reason I was under the impression that the first 4 books were all done very rapidly and finished by the end of the 80s, with a 15 year wait until the series got finished just a few years ago. The situations are pretty comparable then. Actually, Martin might be progressing faster. Though not fast enough for his rabid fans it seems!
 
is there such a thing as fast enough?

Just Joking... but seriously
 
I read the first books a long time ago, then reread the lot when AFFC came out. At present my books are in storage. :0 Anyway that's how I forget stuff, I'm a piker. Now I know that I'd better reread this year.

I don't know how this guy writes such a complicated set of novels. No wonder he needs breaks and gets brain freeze and has to rewrite. Doing the other things probably unlocks him.

What a story behind the Dark Tower series! Steven Kings book On Writing (not sure of the title) is an interesting non fiction read. Life is fragile.
 
GRRM's update states that the INSTANT he finishes and puts it in the mail to Bantam he will post that he has finished on his website.

MAILS it ??? I feel this is far too risky, as it may get lost in the postal system !!!

I therefore volunteer my services to collect the manuscript from him and deliver it by hand. (much safer) If Bantum complain that the pages look somewhat well thumbed, I will just say it was like that when I was given it.
 
And I'll help hold him down......;)

Having said that GRRM is one of the great cross-genre authors I've come across, so fingers crossed ADWD comes out this year.

Does anyone know how many more books in the series are mooted??
 
I have a lot of sympathy for GRRM. You can tell he's incredibly frustrated and worn down by the constant bitching from "fans." Some of the stuff we've talked about before, like that blog I won't mention anymore, but still...its a lot of pressure on what should be an artistic process and thus can't be rushed. I'm content (mostly) to wait for a quality book.
 
That was a depressing update.

Not in the sense of the time frame, but how he's feeling about a small minority of his fans.

That sucks.
 
Bazza said:
Honestly, that blog entry was very anti-climactic for me. I We'll get Dance, but will it be worth it? I hope he's not rushing it...
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How can he ever be accused of rushing it!
 
Ï'm serious! His post kinda worried me with his heavy dose of cynicism. It was like he was saying "here, fine, I'll finish it. But don't complain if it sucks, you're the ones who wanted a 'finished product' ." You gotta figure his books are twice as long as most books, so 3 years in between isn't that bad at all if you divide it by two.
 
I just get the feeling he's perhaps lost his momentum and inspiration. I think we'll possibly see the frustraion come out in the new book. It maybe getting a little unweildy and to many sub plots to tie up may be giving him serious problems! Although an absolute fantastic read I just hope it doesn't become a "Wheel of Time" situation, I personally am not holding my breath and when read do I really have to wait another 3 or 4 years for the next!! This reiterates my usual way, which is to buy a series when it is complete. I mean Erikson writes as equally inticate novels and are of a similar size with his Malazan books, yet the quality remains and he fires them out at a good pace!! I think he may have had his head turned with the "T.V. models, role play games etc" pulling his attention away and cheating his loyal and avid followers of an acceptably paced conclusion to his series.
 
We all our theories why he hasn't finished the book or what is actually happening in his creative process...but I only trust the one theory from GRRM. The rest is blah, blah.
 
The problem is we have writers like Steven Erikson who seem to be able to sit down and write a book, then get up and go make dinner. However like George has said "art is not a democracy" and for him to take his time and get it the way he wants it can only bode well for all of us fans.

Sure that is a bit of an overstatement about Erickson's Malazan books but comparing the speed with which both authors write, you can see where my comment comes from hopefully.

I would love to have A Dance With Dragons in my hands right now and I am sure many others would say the same, however I don't want it unless George feels its finished and ready for print and I am sure most of you would echo those sentiments.
 
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