GRRM: Says He is late with Winds of

[Birdjaguar]

Truly terrible news:

http://grrm.livejournal.com

George R.R. Martin said in a blog post earlier Saturday that he missed a deadline to deliver the sixth book in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel series, which is the basis of HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” That means the series, which is overseen by producers and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, will officially be taking the story of the battle for the Iron Throne of Westeros into parts unknown when it comes back in April.

“You can blame my travels or my blog posts or the distractions of other projects and [his Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe, N.M.], and whatever, but maybe all that had an impact…you can blame my age, and maybe that had an impact too,” he wrote. “But if truth be told, sometimes the writing goes well and sometimes it doesn’t, and that was true for me even when I was in my 20s.”

Martin added that he has always worked better without deadlines. “No contracts, no deadlines, no one waiting. Write at my own pace and deliver when I’m done. That’s really how I am most comfortable, even now,” he wrote.

This year marks two decades since Martin published “A Game of Thrones,” the first book in “A Song of Ice and Fire.” The second and third books, “A Clash of Kings” and “A Storm of Swords” were released in 1998 and 2000, respectively. The waiting periods grew after that, however. “A Feast for Crows” came out in 2005, and then “A Dance With Dragons,” the most recent entry, hit shelves in 2011.

Some critics and observers have questioned whether Martin would be able to finish the series – expected to run seven, or potentially eight, novels in total – due to his age. He is 67 years old.

Martin, in his blog post, also addressed whether the show will spoil what happens in the books by saying, “Maybe. Yes and no.” He also added that the series had already started to diverge from what is happening in his books, so he expects more of that to occur down the road, too.

Martin said he had intended to submit “The Winds of Winter” to his editors and publishers late last year, with the hope of having it published before the sixth season premiere of “Game of Thrones” in April. His initial deadline was Halloween 2015, but Martin wrote that it became evident in August that he wasn’t going to meet it. Then, he was granted an extension until the end of the year, but he missed that deadline, as well.

It’s unclear when Martin will finish “The Winds of Winter,” but he assured his fans that he’ll keep at it. “Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing. Chapter at a time. Page at a time. Word at a time,” he wrote. “That’s all I know how to do.”

 

[Syno]

I thought it was already known and expected that every GoT season from here on out will significantly stray from the book canon.

 

[Aea]

How terribly surprising.

 

[Birdjaguar]

the link to his blog is worth a read.

 

[Cutlass]

Half his fans expect him to die without finishing the series anyways.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

This isn't news. He was clearly late wrapping that story when he didn't get it done in the third book. A terrific novel, or a fairly good trilogy, stretched into five money making volumes and counting.

 

[Birdjaguar]

He let his fame go to his head and take him away from writing into other worthwhile projects.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Either the fame, or all the cash HBO gave him.

 

[Kyriakos]

I am sure he will have the book ready, and it will be good too.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

At this point I just want him to drop a meteor fall and kill half the peopl. That would instantly resolve the most important storylines.

 

[Kyriakos]

The way the show writers write, makes even GRR look like a good writer

That Arya killing the fat knight sequence was really dumb.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Bad writing will get a worse show adaptation. Naturally.

 

[Samez]

I remember the delays for his book in 2005 and the never ending release of his book in 2011. IIRC the 2011 was announced for 2007 or 08 and should habe been the final book. A nearly infinite number of postponements later he decided to write more than one book so he at least released a dance with dragons.
In any non creative job he would be completely unemployable.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

In any non creative job he would be completely unemployable.

Not really.
He has been a writer for a very long time, and the experienced and established rarely get punished for big screw ups.
Although, stuffing too many subplots into your tory looks to me like a behinners 's mistake.

Btw, what's so bad about his writing ?

 

[Kyriakos]

It is more bland than the Sand snakes

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Bland ? Aren't you a fan of Lovecraft, the guy who gets away with describing things as indescribable ?

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, Lovecraft has many errors, but you can hardly term his writing as bland

They had uncovered what seemed to be the side of a large coloured globule imbedded in the substance. The colour, which resembled some of the bands in the meteor’s strange spectrum, was almost impossible to describe; and it was only by analogy that they called it colour at all. Its texture was glossy, and upon tapping it appeared to promise both brittleness and hollowness. One of the professors gave it a smart blow with a hammer, and it burst with a nervous little pop. Nothing was emitted, and all trace of the thing vanished with the puncturing. It left behind a hollow spherical space about three inches across, and all thought it probable that others would be discovered as the enclosing substance wasted away.

 

[Leoreth]

I'm currently trying to remember what it felt like when I still cared about anything in this series.

 

[Arwon]

Poor guy ):

 

[Kyriakos]

It would be hard for anyone to continue writing something which has a concurrent tv series with more people watching than having read the books.

That said:

It is his own fault, including being so bothered with the tv show he supposedly has/had some control on.

But the tv shows' writers should never again be allowed to write what they like, else season 5's abomination will infest the next season as well. Maybe that is beyond inevitable by now, and Martin seems to be resigned to just soldier on like the show does currently, without much scope or reason to keep existing.