(Spoiler Alert) Two books left

[Tywin]

Do we actually think he will do this, or do we just want him to do this?

The prequels/spinoff/novella direction probably wouldn't be marketable to the large audience currently reading his series.

 

[garion77]

Do we actually think he will do this, or do we just want him to do this?

The prequels/spinoff/novella direction probably wouldn't be marketable to the large audience currently reading his series.

None of us know if he will or won't do it... He gave us a lot of characters history to make prequels.

And why wouldn't it be marketable to the large audience? Stand alone books do very well if it's about interesting characters... And GRRM have plenty of those...

Who wouldn't want to read about "Aamon the Dragon Knight", "Sir Author Dayne", Battle of the Bells, Trident, Rhaegar, AA, Aegon the Conqueor, and many more people and events...

GRRM has left us with a ton of history about Westeros...

 

[Tywin]

Who wouldn't want to read about "Aamon the Dragon Knight", "Sir Author Dayne", Battle of the Bells, Trident, Rhaegar, AA, Aegon the Conqueor, and many more people and events...

I'm pretty sure that my wife, my sister, my father, and my next door neighbor wouldn't pick them up even though they have enjoyed the series so far. I myself would think about reading them though. Kind of like spin-off Star Wars or Harry Potter books and movies: the hard-core fans (like those that post on fan forums) will eat it up but the casual reader who enjoys the original story won't care enough to explore the greater depth of the fictional universe.

 

[garion77]

I'm pretty sure that my wife, my sister, my father, and my next door neighbor wouldn't pick them up even though they have enjoyed the series so far. I myself would think about reading them though. Kind of like spin-off Star Wars or Harry Potter books and movies: the hard-core fans (like those that post on fan forums) will eat it up but the casual reader who enjoys the original story won't care enough to explore the greater depth of the fictional universe.

But they would be stand alone books... It's like saying people don't buy the Dragonlance spin offs... They eat those books up... And the Drizzts books... All those books are spinoffs from the original and selling strong...

I know many casual reader who have read the spinoffs but never read the originals... Some people want a one and done book... They don't want to read an entire series... Especially if the series consist of 7 books and each book is over a thousand pages... Just saying...

 

[IWargedYourMother]

I agree, he will wrap up the story with many POVs unfinished, then use those to write side story books and prequels.

GRRM Already said that he will NOT be doing any prequels.

 

[grip junky]

I have read two short storys, that were prequels. One of them I think was in a book called Warriors. I think? But they are out there. What I do know about them is that they were great!

 

[The Imp]

GRRM Already said that he will NOT be doing any prequels.

GRRM has never said that. maybe you're thinking of a different GRRM?

He's written 3 prequel novells to date- The Hedge knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight. He has never said anything that would indicate that he's stopping at the third one.

Just as an fyi, the 3 novellas tell stories about a hedge knight named Duncan the Tall and his squire, a bou named Egg. I recommend reading them, as they give information not found in the main series, and are good stories.

 

[The Imp]

This is from GRRM's most recent posted interview, just link on Not a Blog.

Before that, I need to finish various other things. I have a new Dunk and Egg novella that will appear in an anthology called Dangerous Women. I also have the concordance to do, The World of Ice and Fire, which will be a big glossy coffee-table book about the history and genealogy of Westeros. I'm working on that with Elio Garcia.

 

[garion77]

This is from GRRM's most recent posted interview, just link on Not a Blog.

Before that, I need to finish various other things. I have a new Dunk and Egg novella that will appear in an anthology called Dangerous Women. I also have the concordance to do, The World of Ice and Fire, which will be a big glossy coffee-table book about the history and genealogy of Westeros. I'm working on that with Elio Garcia.

GRRM will die writing about Westeros... He created a world that have a life of it's own...

 

[Tywin]

GRRM will die writing about Westeros...

That sounds like a threat!

Maybe we could channel that threat to get him to work on his main storyline instead of frollicking off to write novellas while we're waiting for the final two in the main series?

 

[viZion]

Just because I haven't said it in awhile, but I still think ADWD is the last book we'll ever see out of GRRM. I really do think he's sick of writing the series and would rather be pursuing his other interests.

 

[The Imp]

Just because I haven't said it in awhile, but I still think ADWD is the last book we'll ever see out of GRRM. I really do think he's sick of writing the series and would rather be pursuing his other interests.

And yet he's 100 pages into TWoW. I think you're wrong, and more importantly, I think you'll be happy if you're wrong, I think

 

[garion77]

That sounds like a threat!

Maybe we could channel that threat to get him to work on his main storyline instead of frollicking off to write novellas while we're waiting for the final two in the main series?

You read his website, you will see he have plans to write a few more novellas... GRRM like to be on the move. I think he get bored just writing about ASOIAF... He is getting old and want to enjoy his life writing about things he enjoy and traveling. He also love football and a big NY Giants fan...

 

[Mesanna]

Just because I haven't said it in awhile, but I still think ADWD is the last book we'll ever see out of GRRM. I really do think he's sick of writing the series and would rather be pursuing his other interests.

He stated around the time Dance with Dragons came out that he wouldn't really get much - or any - writing done for the rest of this year, due to his book tours and other commitments. However it is his plan, as I understand it, to buckle down from early next year and get to work on Winds of Winter.

I agree with Imp that GRRM is committed to finishing the series if he possibly can. I also think the next book is going to be awesome. So there!

 

[Tywin]

100 pages into TWoW does not give me much hope. I still remember the message written at the end of AFFC where he said that ADWD was already written and would just take another year to edit and straighten up. That was published in 2005.

 

[The Imp]

100 pages into TWoW does not give me much hope. I still remember the message written at the end of AFFC where he said that ADWD was already written and would just take another year to edit and straighten up. That was published in 2005.

And when asked "what is the one thing you have written wish you didn't" he emphatically answered that very paragraph that you mentioned. Also, my repsone that you quoted was about him continuing to work on the series or not. Vizion seems pessimistic about GRRM continuing. I disagree, as I think the majority of his fan base would. Greed, if nothing else, will drive him to finish. I think the real question is what will the quality of the rest of the series be? I for one am still really disappointed in how little he really got done with ADWD. Dany is still on Essos. We haven't seen the Others. The STark children are still separated and seem to have even less hope of being reunited than they did before ADWD was published. There are multiple plotlines still to be resolved. I question if he can pull it off in two books, but not that he will try.

 

[viZion]

I'll definitely be happy if I'm wrong! I didn't know he was already 100 pages into the next book. I don't read his blog so I guess I don't get the latest news unless you guys post it here. How much of that 100 pages is leftover from ADWD? Not that it matters, but I'm just curious. That's about a tenth of the way done!

I think he can wrap it up in two books if he can get back to the tight(er) writing he had going in the first three books. Less Tyrion (or anyone) traveling around aimlessly chapters and more action chapters. Less descriptions of food and buildings and clothes and more action chapters. Less history lessons on out of the way places (save it for an almanac) and more action chapters. The question is, can his editors rein him in?

 

[Tywin]

In the first three books he also kept the pace going by not writing action chapters. For instance, we heard about most of Robb's battles as second-hand rumors.

I think that also helped to build a sense of depth and realism to the story when you read it. The world is bigger than any one person's perception of it.

 

[garion77]

I'll definitely be happy if I'm wrong! I didn't know he was already 100 pages into the next book. I don't read his blog so I guess I don't get the latest news unless you guys post it here. How much of that 100 pages is leftover from ADWD? Not that it matters, but I'm just curious. That's about a tenth of the way done!

I think he can wrap it up in two books if he can get back to the tight(er) writing he had going in the first three books. Less Tyrion (or anyone) traveling around aimlessly chapters and more action chapters. Less descriptions of food and buildings and clothes and more action chapters. Less history lessons on out of the way places (save it for an almanac) and more action chapters. The question is, can his editors rein him in?

I am glad I am not the only one who felt like this! Half of ADWD was about food, descriptions of surrondings, clothes, old wives tales, and aimless travel... Then a majority of the other chapters was about repeated words like "dark wings dark word", "you know nothing Jon snow", and on and on... He said it so much in ADWD that it took the effectiveness out those words...

I think GRRM was on a diet when he wrote ADWD.... It almost was a cook book... I almost wanted some spiced snales or roast duck... The story went know where. He could have done that book in 200 pages or less if he took out all the meaningless stuff...

 

[The Imp]

I'll definitely be happy if I'm wrong! I didn't know he was already 100 pages into the next book. I don't read his blog so I guess I don't get the latest news unless you guys post it here. How much of that 100 pages is leftover from ADWD? Not that it matters, but I'm just curious. That's about a tenth of the way done!

I think he can wrap it up in two books if he can get back to the tight(er) writing he had going in the first three books. Less Tyrion (or anyone) traveling around aimlessly chapters and more action chapters. Less descriptions of food and buildings and clothes and more action chapters. Less history lessons on out of the way places (save it for an almanac) and more action chapters. The question is, can his editors rein him in?

The 100 pages is mostly material he moved from ADWD. He said that he's planning on starting the real work on TWOW in January. I hope he can wrap it up in two books, but I'm now skeptical. He has close to 30 open plotlines to deal with. Maybe a war with The Others or a greyscale epidemic courtesy of Cniington will thin the herd a bit. It actually might not be a bad idea for him to go back to his original plan of a time gap between books. A couple of years would do it, maybe even just 1.