I no longer feel obligated to purchase ADWD. Is that wrong?

[hadd]

Are you saying you won't read it or you just won't buy it?

I think he's saying that he won't be buying it before the 6th book is out also and there's a vague image of the 7th coming out in the future, so he wouldn't be buying the book for sort of "nothing".
At least that's how i interpreted his post

Anyways i'm kinda bummed about the fact that George hasn't written anything or given any little clues about ADWD in his blog for a pretty long time now. For a while it seemed to get better already but now again it seems to have fallen completely in the background.

 

[Icemark]

I think (perhaps hope) that all this time spent is actually getting together two complete books plus the outline for the final one, so that there is a definite plan for finishing it all in a reasonable time frame.

I've already decided not to fork out for ADWD until the end is in sight.

I'm way too curious to leave the books alone until the end of the series..call me a sucker for punishment

 

[The Imp]

I think he's saying that he won't be buying it before the 6th book is out also and there's a vague image of the 7th coming out in the future, so he wouldn't be buying the book for sort of "nothing".
At least that's how i interpreted his post

Anyways i'm kinda bummed about the fact that George hasn't written anything or given any little clues about ADWD in his blog for a pretty long time now. For a while it seemed to get better already but now again it seems to have fallen completely in the background.

I understand what he "said", it's what his intentions are that I'm interested in. It's not clear to me whehter or not he wants to stay away from the series until the end is in sight, or if he just isn't willing to spend money on it. If the latter is the case, there are easy enough ways of getting ones hands on ADWD without having to for it.pay.

It really doesn't affect me one way or the other, I was just curious.

 

[TK-421]

Anyways i'm kinda bummed about the fact that George hasn't written anything or given any little clues about ADWD in his blog for a pretty long time now. For a while it seemed to get better already but now again it seems to have fallen completely in the background.

I copy this from Wert's post in another thread about recent news while GRRM was in Balfast last week:

At the Belfast moot, GRRM confirmed he 'currently' has five chapters to finish off. However, he apparently told Bantam in confidence, not expecting them to tell everyone. The reason he hadn't announced this himself is that he was wary after one chapter early this year became two in rewrites and three in final revisions, and it's possible some of these five chapters might be broken up further. He was adamantly against putting any kind of timescale on how long it will take to finish off these chapters.

It's not in his blog, but he still said it and his publisher is go around telling everyone this latest news. We now have a better idea of how many chapters are still left to be completed. And I say completed as they already exist in some draft form.

 

[woodsman]

Ok. I'll post a few of my own thoughts. To the original point: I don't really think the fans are obligated to do anything, you read and buy as and when. I came to ASoIaF as AFFC was released so haven't had too much waiting, that said I didn't read all the way through the series and read other stuff between each book.

I agree with the general points made by the Imp, in that had Martin told us he was just writing a few books in that world, we wouldn't be so worried for the next one.

On the other hand I do find it strange that people that enjoy his works so much appear to want him to rush through and finish it. I don't know how he prefers to write but I say, let him do it his way. His worst stuff is still much better than most other people's best efforts. And if he doesn't finish the series? that doesn't really bother me either, I've invested enough in his world that I can imagine several different endings myself.

Big thank you to Clansman for those recommendations! I'm sure you ARE Janny Wurts and I still can't get hold of that series.

 

[The Imp]

On the other hand I do find it strange that people that enjoy his works so much appear to want him to rush through and finish it. I don't know how he prefers to write but I say, let him do it his way. His worst stuff is still much better than most other people's best efforts. And if he doesn't finish the series? that doesn't really bother me either, I've invested enough in his world that I can imagine several different endings myself.

That's a great point, and I'll raise my hand as being among those guilty of doing this. I want the books NOW I've never been good at waiting, and as i get older I seem to be getting worse at it, rather than better. But it's also about something else. In listening to the latest podcast that GRRM posted a link to, I got a very strong feeling that he's being too much of a perfectionist. Back when I used to work in city government, we used to talk about the rule of 89/20, which essentially says that 80% of a job is done in 20% of the time, and the remaining 20% will take 80%. I think that there's a point at which there is severe diminishing returns, and that GRRM has entered 99/1 territory. Maybe I'm wrong, but right now, I'd trust that ADWD is good enough after 5 years, in whatever state it's in.

 

[Ursa major]

I suspect a true perfectionist (one who's obsessive about it) will complete nothing. But there are two different processes: perfecting the tale and perfecting the telling.

As someone who tampers daily with what I've written (and it doesn't matter whether I've been previously more than satisfied with the particular piece of text**), I'd agree that law of diminishing returns. Apart from anything else, GRRM is writing tomes; he and we cannot expect every sentence to be a wonder and if all GRRM was trying to do was make them so, I'd be a bit miffed if I'd been waiting for the book for five years.

I'm not sure that this is the case here, though. He's struggling with the tale, not the telling. Once GRRM has put each part of the plot in the public domain, that's it. With key plot points, he and we are going to have to live with them. They're not just sentences that, on reflection, may be a bit ugly, but can soon be forgotten; one misstep with the plot could be a wrong turn on the road to the book's conclusion. And if a wrong turn were to be published, I suspect even greater delays to the subsequent books, because GRRM will be spending lots of his time and effort trying to recover the situation.

There's worse: With a story as complex as ASoIaF has always been, a recovery of that sort might well scupper the whole project, which I for one would deeply regret.



** - I'm no perfectionist: my prose really needs a good rewrite.

 

[The Imp]

I suspect a true perfectionist (one who's obsessive about it) will complete nothing. But there are two different processes: perfecting the tale and perfecting the telling.

As someone who tampers daily with what I've written (and it doesn't matter whether I've been previously more than satisfied with the particular piece of text**), I'd agree that law of diminishing returns. Apart from anything else, GRRM is writing tomes; he and we cannot expect every sentence to be a wonder and if all GRRM was trying to do was make them so, I'd be a bit miffed if I'd been waiting for the book for five years.

I'm not sure that this is the case here, though. He's struggling with the tale, not the telling. Once GRRM has put each part of the plot in the public domain, that's it. With key plot points, he and we are going to have to live with them. They're not just sentences that, on reflection, may be a bit ugly, but can soon be forgotten; one misstep with the plot could be a wrong turn on the road to the book's conclusion. And if a wrong turn were to be published, I suspect even greater delays to the subsequent books, because GRRM will be spending lots of his time and effort trying to recover the situation.

There's worse: With a story as complex as ASoIaF has always been, a recovery of that sort might well scupper the whole project, which I for one would deeply regret.



** - I'm no perfectionist: my prose really needs a good rewrite.

I'll have to copy down what he said in that podcast, specifically about the Knot. Maybe I misinterpreted, but I remember thinking to myself- :Gearge, for goodness sake, it doesn't have to be perfect".

I'll also disagree and say that althugh the books aren't perfect, they're amazingly consistent. There are virtually no errors, either that could have been caught by editting or in the logic/consistency of the plotlines. I think GRRM puts an amazing ammount of work into the final 1%.

 

[Koopa]

Actually, i've never once thought of pirating books that are available in my region. If need be, you can just get the book at a local library, without any real cost, unlike cd's which you have to lay down 1-2 euro's per use for. Which really sucks, i mean it's a library... You'd suspect that after 10-20 years CD's should be free of charge for lending out as well. But that's just me.

That said i can definitely understand why you'd get frustrated. My advice to you : stop reading his blog. Best remedy at not getting insane. It's easier to live with the book not being here whilst you don't know he's out on some trip for the umptieth time, or spending his time on things which (for fans of Ice and Fire only) you couldn't care less about.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Problem is I really like his blog, even if I do occasionally get a bit frustrated!

 

[The Imp]

Actually, i've never once thought of pirating books that are available in my region. If need be, you can just get the book at a local library, without any real cost, unlike cd's which you have to lay down 1-2 euro's per use for. Which really sucks, i mean it's a library... You'd suspect that after 10-20 years CD's should be free of charge for lending out as well. But that's just me.

That said i can definitely understand why you'd get frustrated. My advice to you : stop reading his blog. Best remedy at not getting insane. It's easier to live with the book not being here whilst you don't know he's out on some trip for the umptieth time, or spending his time on things which (for fans of Ice and Fire only) you couldn't care less about.

I wholeheartedly agree about piratingwhenther it's a book, software, movie, music, etc. I buy all the audiobooks I read, which btw, cost roughly200-300% more than the same hardback would. If I want a piece of software i buy it. I do this because I can afford it, becuase I want to support authors and artists, because pirating is illegal, and becuase doing so is part of "safe computing".

Libraries charging to use CDs might refelct the additional cost of obtaining them. It still sounds well worth the "price"

 

[Young stormlord]

I wholeheartedly agree about piratingwhenther it's a book, software, movie, music, etc. I buy all the audiobooks I read, which btw, cost roughly200-300% more than the same hardback would. If I want a piece of software i buy it. I do this because I can afford it, becuase I want to support authors and artists, because pirating is illegal, and becuase doing so is part of "safe computing".

Libraries charging to use CDs might refelct the additional cost of obtaining them. It still sounds well worth the "price"

I generally don't pirate books. What I do, though, is buy translated book in my country (since there are no English versions here, and if I buy one on the amazon or ebay, etc I'd pay taxes ten times more than the value of the book itself.) then download original version via torrent. Thanks to lucky find in certain, now defunct, shop, I have both translated and "original" ACOK paperback, though, and intend to buy all "English originals" as well if/when they show up.

I wouldn't call that piracy, since I don't download audio books and don't sell, loan or send either downloaded versions or paperbacks. I admit its illegal, but I actually paid once and intend to pay again if opportunity arises... Basically, it's more pirating out of necessity than pirating for profits.

I also buy all my software and/or wait for it to be 7-10 years old (games) until it either goes free or gets heavily discounted. Software manufacturers need to eat too!

 

[The Imp]

I generally don't pirate books. What I do, though, is buy translated book in my country (since there are no English versions here, and if I buy one on the amazon or ebay, etc I'd pay taxes ten times more than the value of the book itself.) then download original version via torrent. Thanks to lucky find in certain, now defunct, shop, I have both translated and "original" ACOK paperback, though, and intend to buy all "English originals" as well if/when they show up.

I wouldn't call that piracy, since I don't download audio books and don't sell, loan or send either downloaded versions or paperbacks. I admit its illegal, but I actually paid once and intend to pay again if opportunity arises... Basically, it's more pirating out of necessity than pirating for profits.

I also buy all my software and/or wait for it to be 7-10 years old (games) until it either goes free or gets heavily discounted. Software manufacturers need to eat too!

Up until very recently, I was forced to watch illegal live streams of the professional basketball team that I follow. My cable company's policy made it impossible for me to see them "legally'. They've since corrected the situation and I just paid 190 dollars to get NBA League pass. In this case, I was willing to pay but wasn't allowed to, so I had no problem with taking advatage of shadier methods.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Well as long as we're all making confessions, I regularly drive over the speed limit.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

In answer to the original question:

Who cares about your feelings?

I have other stuff to do in my life, like earn a degree, and while I'd love for ADWD to have come out two years ago, it's not like it's absence is some huge burning hole in my life. So, really not that fussed about it.

 

[woodsman]

Well as long as we're all making confessions, I regularly drive over the speed limit.

I'm a huge Robbie Williams fan

In answer to the original question:

Who cares about your feelings?

I have other stuff to do in my life, like earn a degree, and while I'd love for ADWD to have come out two years ago, it's not like it's absence is some huge burning hole in my life. So, really not that fussed about it.

Yeah, I tend to agree. Although to be 100% honest drinking my way to a degree is not such a bind on my time

I wonder actually, would we have enjoyed the series as much had it been promptly released? Lets say G.R.R.M released 7 books with a year between each one. The series would have been finished before I started reading it. No speculation, no arguing if R+L=J etc. I'm sure the trivia threads would be going strong but how much would this community have lost? I think perhaps we live too much in a world of instant gratification and fail to realise how taking things slowly can be an advantage, sometimes. This doesn't mean I'd rather G.R.R.M was galivanting rather than writing, maybe I'm just reaching for that silvery lining.

 

[ratsy]

I am just happy that there have been so many great books coming out in the past few years. Abercrombie, Sanderson, Lynch to name a few, have pumped some great reads out so I really dont feel like I am sitting around waiting for GRRM and his "masterpiece" when I have read some really strong books. I will admit now that I am looking forward to Sandersons follow up to The Way of Kings more than I am ADWD. And I am sure that Sanderson will not take 5+ years to write it even while juggling the immense task of finishing the WOT books.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I wonder actually, would we have enjoyed the series as much had it been promptly released? Lets say G.R.R.M released 7 books with a year between each one. The series would have been finished before I started reading it. No speculation, no arguing if R+L=J etc. I'm sure the trivia threads would be going strong but how much would this community have lost? I think perhaps we live too much in a world of instant gratification and fail to realise how taking things slowly can be an advantage, sometimes. This doesn't mean I'd rather G.R.R.M was galivanting rather than writing, maybe I'm just reaching for that silvery lining.

Shiny!

I think this is a fair point.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

I used to regularly read GRRM's notablog and now I simply can't be bothered and I even forgot about it for a while. There's not been a mention of ADWD since about August so if he can't be arsed to update his loyal fans with a simple line or two about how he's getting on why should I be bothered about what he's got to say? I mean let's be honest - a little update once a month isn't asking for much is it? He's updating notablog regularly about all sorts of other stuff yet not about what it is probably the single reason 99.9% of people are actually reading it.

Rant over. I'm now going to carry on with Gardens of the Moon which is amazing, a longer series than ASOIAF and almost finished!

 

[The Imp]

I used to regularly read GRRM's notablog and now I simply can't be bothered and I even forgot about it for a while. There's not been a mention of ADWD since about August so if he can't be arsed to update his loyal fans with a simple line or two about how he's getting on why should I be bothered about what he's got to say? I mean let's be honest - a little update once a month isn't asking for much is it? He's updating notablog regularly about all sorts of other stuff yet not about what it is probably the single reason 99.9% of people are actually reading it.

Rant over. I'm now going to carry on with Gardens of the Moon which is amazing, a longer series than ASOIAF and almost finished!

He has regularly talked about ADWD, but youi wouldn't know that becuase you haven't been reading the blog

but then, why the rant?