[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

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TheAmericanSpirit
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

@benjameenbear

While I'd love to battle a mod on the topic of high fantasy, I think GoT's indefensible season 8 and the lack of a complete novel series to argue as a basis means you win by default.
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Post by Dunharrow » 2 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
@benjameenbear

While I'd love to battle a mod on the topic of high fantasy, I think GoT's indefensible season 8 and the lack of a complete novel series to argue as a basis means you win by default.
At this point I feel like GRRM has completely given up and that the prequel HBO series will flop and put the whole universe to rest in an unmarked grave.

I have not read Wheel of Time but I have the first book. Will start one day. I am slowly getting back into reading after having not finished a book in some 6 years (when I started driving to work instead of taking the bus). I read the Tolkien biography, reading now Sagan's Norse Mythology (a little late for Kaldheim but whatever). Next up will probably be a couple more one-shot books, trying to keep the ball rolling. Eventually, when I am back into my reading groove, I will restart Malazan Book of the Fallen. When I had stopped reading, I had ready 7-8 books out of main series, averaging a book a month. After 6 years I know I will have to restart, and I am looking forward to it!
After that I will most likely start a new series - WoT being high on that list.
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Post by 5colorsrainbow » 2 years ago

I think Got has it highlights, Wheel of Time just hits all my favorite tropes in high fantasy like talking to animals (with wolves being my favorite animal), elemental magic system, a "quirky" minibus squad, the god-ly uses of the one power and most of the characters are just fun. Like I can't wait to see Nynaeve arc being adapted or Min having her readings.
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Post by benjameenbear » 2 years ago

pokken wrote:
2 years ago
I unabashedly love WOT. Man, to this day, one of the best RPGs I ever played was Wheel of Time D20 where the guy running it basically set it up to have us watch Rand, Perrin and Mat all die tragically at various times throughout the game, so we knew out of character that there were no Ta'veren to save us and we had to pick up the slack.

Definitely looking forward to it. The Sanderson books were also magnificent close to the series :)
That actually sounds amazing. I'm curious as to why there hasn't been any recent D&D developments but your GM sounds amazing in developing that series. I too agree that Sanderson did a great job closing the series. That's actually where I first really came to love Sanderson (and he's now my 2nd or 3rd favorite author atm), as I was committed to finishing the W.O.T. series before starting the Mistborn series (ALSO a phenomenal book series). A sincere R.I.P. to the man, the myth, the legend...
TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
@benjameenbear

While I'd love to battle a mod on the topic of high fantasy, I think GoT's indefensible season 8 and the lack of a complete novel series to argue as a basis means you win by default.
Yes! I'll take my free wins, lol. There's a HILARIOUS Epic Rap Battles of Destiny between Tolkien and George RR that is absolutely spot-on on how I feel about G.O.T.. Check it out here. You're welcome, to everyone who checks it out.
Dunharrow wrote:
2 years ago
TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
@benjameenbear

While I'd love to battle a mod on the topic of high fantasy, I think GoT's indefensible season 8 and the lack of a complete novel series to argue as a basis means you win by default.
At this point I feel like GRRM has completely given up and that the prequel HBO series will flop and put the whole universe to rest in an unmarked grave.

I have not read Wheel of Time but I have the first book. Will start one day. I am slowly getting back into reading after having not finished a book in some 6 years (when I started driving to work instead of taking the bus). I read the Tolkien biography, reading now Sagan's Norse Mythology (a little late for Kaldheim but whatever). Next up will probably be a couple more one-shot books, trying to keep the ball rolling. Eventually, when I am back into my reading groove, I will restart Malazan Book of the Fallen. When I had stopped reading, I had ready 7-8 books out of main series, averaging a book a month. After 6 years I know I will have to restart, and I am looking forward to it!
After that I will most likely start a new series - WoT being high on that list.
Highly recommend starting it. It will literally carry your reading interests for the next year (at least) and is single-handedly the most comprehensive High-Fantasy series ever written (although I admit that the Malazan series is in contention for that @toctheyounger lol).
5colorsrainbow wrote:
2 years ago
I think Got has it highlights, Wheel of Time just hits all my favorite tropes in high fantasy like talking to animals (with wolves being my favorite animal), elemental magic system, a "quirky" minibus squad, the god-ly uses of the one power and most of the characters are just fun. Like I can't wait to see Nynaeve arc being adapted or Min having her readings.
So, so agreed. I think one of my favorite character arcs is Mat's semi-redemption arc and to see how people can stumble into greatness is awesome. But hands down, Rand's character arc is absolutely phenomenal. I too can't wait to see Nynaeve pown some noobs with her wit and attitude.

Honestly, I'm extremely curious as to how the Trollocs will look. It looks like the Myrdraal are exactly on point with what I had imagined, so I have total confidence that the show will be absolutely phenomenal.

Damn, I might have to create a fan-boy/girl thread for the Wheel of Time series...

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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

I got tagged, we bagging on GoT? Let's gooooo. %$#% that series. George gave up after realizing he'd written himself into a corner, and at this point anyone clinging to the dire hope that the series will finish is deluded and that includes the man himself. I will say the prose in the first 3-4 books was great, but past that point I could see the decline in plot points and it became very clear Martin had no clue where he was going.

Malazan - I know @benjameenbear has mentioned trying it and not really gathering enough momentum. Just wanna say thats totally ok and if it's that much work you're not going to reach the end of the series and feel like it was worth it. Erikson does not spoon feed the plot or subplot or anything in between and that turns a lot of people off. Its ok, its a divisive series in that respect; you're either ok enjoying the ride and figuring out whats going on yourself or you want some control over whats happening, and if you're the latter, you're reading the wrong books.

All that said though I firmly believe its one of the most rewarding series of.books to reread. There are layers to virtually every conversation in the and it leads to a depth of content you just don't see on one read through. I've been through it like 5 times and still uncover nuances every time. Again though, love it or hate it. Also @Dunharrow that's a prodigious rate of completion for these books. They're all of them enormous so a month per book is a very solid rate!

I've never read WoT. I started the audio books a little while ago but it kind of petered out. Is it worth picking up? They seem much more traditional high fantasy than my usual fare (Malazan has a grimdark streak a mile wide), but I'm down for whatever. I've seen some of the trailers for the series and it looks like its good quality. I'll be interested to look into it more.
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Post by BeneTleilax » 2 years ago

This a good blog series if you want to see an expert tear apart GoT in detail https://acoup.blog/tag/game-of-thrones/. Dr. Tolkien was a studied medievalist, Martin is an edgelord mistaking obnoxiousness with authenticity. For high or epic fantasy, I'd recommend the Earthsea cycle, Once and Future King, and the Song of Roland (if you can stomach the confident ignorance on Islam).

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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

BeneTleilax wrote:
2 years ago
This a good blog series if you want to see an expert tear apart GoT in detail https://acoup.blog/tag/game-of-thrones/. Dr. Tolkien was a studied medievalist, Martin is an edgelord mistaking obnoxiousness with authenticity. For high or epic fantasy, I'd recommend the Earthsea cycle, Once and Future King, and the Song of Roland (if you can stomach the confident ignorance on Islam).
+1 for Earthsea, those books are beautifully written.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
BeneTleilax wrote:
2 years ago
This a good blog series if you want to see an expert tear apart GoT in detail https://acoup.blog/tag/game-of-thrones/. Dr. Tolkien was a studied medievalist, Martin is an edgelord mistaking obnoxiousness with authenticity. For high or epic fantasy, I'd recommend the Earthsea cycle, Once and Future King, and the Song of Roland (if you can stomach the confident ignorance on Islam).
+1 for Earthsea, those books are beautifully written.
Did someone say Earthsea? +1 to that, again. A great series.
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Post by Dunharrow » 2 years ago

Earthsea is on my list too.

Anyone read The Expanse?
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Post by Dunharrow » 2 years ago

@toctheyounger regarding reading 1 malazan book per month. I was working at a lab tech. I only had one hour on the bus per day, but I had a lot of incubations in my protocol. 12 hour protocol. I probably read about 3 hours per day while working.
The funniest was when I was doing my data acquisition (flow cytometry if anyone knows what that is). I would load a tube into the machine, acquire the sample for 3 minutes, change tubes, repeat. This would last me about 2 hours... so I would do a lot of reading in 3 minute increments.
I don't recommend it, but it did help pas the time.
With a bit of reading at home it made it quite easy to average 1000 pages per month.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

Dunharrow wrote:
2 years ago
Earthsea is on my list too.

Anyone read The Expanse?
Yeah I read the expanse, not seen the show. It's a really fun series, but the word that jumps out to me about it is "serviceable." Everything feels very calculated to be interesting and cool and the writing is a bit uninspired, kinda like having two authors lowered the denominator a little. But the story is really dang cool.

Looking forward to book 9 here in a bit :)

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Post by kirkusjones » 2 years ago

Anybody read "The Grace of Kings" by Ken Liu? If you're looking for a better GOT, check it out.

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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

BeneTleilax wrote:
2 years ago
This a good blog series if you want to see an expert tear apart GoT in detail https://acoup.blog/tag/game-of-thrones/. Dr. Tolkien was a studied medievalist, Martin is an edgelord mistaking obnoxiousness with authenticity. For high or epic fantasy, I'd recommend the Earthsea cycle, Once and Future King, and the Song of Roland (if you can stomach the confident ignorance on Islam).
I looked through that blog briefly, but I don't really see anything in the blog that pertains to GRRM - it all seems focused on the show, primarily the later seasons that went past the books?

Can't get behind calling GRRM an edgelord or obnoxious, and I'm curious where you've gotten that impression? Every time I've seen him interviewed, it seems like he puts a lot of thought and research into his setting and characterization. Sure, I doubt that he'll ever achieve Tolkien's influence, but that's a pretty high bar to clear. As far as their contrasting styles, they were writing in different times with different goals and for different tastes. Personally I'm pretty bored of the more classical style of relatively pure heroes and villains, so while I liked LotR as a kid it doesn't appeal to me as much today except as nostalgia. Not a knock against Tolkien, just that styles have changed since then.

EDIT: idk about writing himself into a corner, but he's definitely in a tricky spot because of the show overtaking him. He either has to write the same ending even though it sucks, or write a different ending and invalidate the show (which is probably the best option, but HBO might not be thrilled about it, not to mention fans of the series might not like it either, and ofc anti-fans of the show will assume it'll follow the poor conclusion of the show). No clue if the tv ending is the one he had planned - if so, hopefully he can make it less terrible? Definitely some elements I think are salvageable with more attention, but some stuff is just way too dumb to work no matter how well-written.
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Post by Dunharrow » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago

EDIT: idk about writing himself into a corner, but he's definitely in a tricky spot because of the show overtaking him. He either has to write the same ending even though it sucks, or write a different ending and invalidate the show (which is probably the best option, but HBO might not be thrilled about it, not to mention fans of the series might not like it either, and ofc anti-fans of the show will assume it'll follow the poor conclusion of the show). No clue if the tv ending is the one he had planned - if so, hopefully he can make it less terrible? Definitely some elements I think are salvageable with more attention, but some stuff is just way too dumb to work no matter how well-written.
10 years working on book 6. If anyone thinks book 7 will be released (and actually end the series) they are deluding themselves. He doesn't have it in him to write for another 10 years. He keeps getting side-tracked by other projects and will never finish this series.
Speculating on whether or not he can save the series is moot. We will never know how he wanted to end it, if it made sense.

My guess is that the showrunners may have loosely adapted the intended ending and just done something they felt made more sense.
I used to joke that the series would end with Cersei winning the war and coming out as the unopposed ruler of Westeros, only to be overrun by the army of the dead destroying the world.
And I think it is a better ending than what they did on the show.
GRRM is not that bad of a writer and I have more faith in the ending he would have given us, but alas, we will never know.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago
BeneTleilax wrote:
2 years ago
This a good blog series if you want to see an expert tear apart GoT in detail https://acoup.blog/tag/game-of-thrones/. Dr. Tolkien was a studied medievalist, Martin is an edgelord mistaking obnoxiousness with authenticity. For high or epic fantasy, I'd recommend the Earthsea cycle, Once and Future King, and the Song of Roland (if you can stomach the confident ignorance on Islam).
I looked through that blog briefly, but I don't really see anything in the blog that pertains to GRRM - it all seems focused on the show, primarily the later seasons that went past the books?

Can't get behind calling GRRM an edgelord or obnoxious, and I'm curious where you've gotten that impression? Every time I've seen him interviewed, it seems like he puts a lot of thought and research into his setting and characterization. Sure, I doubt that he'll ever achieve Tolkien's influence, but that's a pretty high bar to clear. As far as their contrasting styles, they were writing in different times with different goals and for different tastes. Personally I'm pretty bored of the more classical style of relatively pure heroes and villains, so while I liked LotR as a kid it doesn't appeal to me as much today except as nostalgia. Not a knock against Tolkien, just that styles have changed since then.

EDIT: idk about writing himself into a corner, but he's definitely in a tricky spot because of the show overtaking him. He either has to write the same ending even though it sucks, or write a different ending and invalidate the show (which is probably the best option, but HBO might not be thrilled about it, not to mention fans of the series might not like it either, and ofc anti-fans of the show will assume it'll follow the poor conclusion of the show). No clue if the tv ending is the one he had planned - if so, hopefully he can make it less terrible? Definitely some elements I think are salvageable with more attention, but some stuff is just way too dumb to work no matter how well-written.
I tuned out of the show myself, but partly its because he was already in the corner he'd written himself into. I can't remember the exact time but there's pretty close to a decade between A Feast For Crows and whatever the next one is called. And that was long before the show first aired. If I had spare money I would confidently bet that the books do not get an ending before Martin himself does.
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Post by 5colorsrainbow » 2 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
2 years ago
EDIT: idk about writing himself into a corner, but he's definitely in a tricky spot because of the show overtaking him. He either has to write the same ending even though it sucks, or write a different ending and invalidate the show (which is probably the best option, but HBO might not be thrilled about it, not to mention fans of the series might not like it either, and ofc anti-fans of the show will assume it'll follow the poor conclusion of the show). No clue if the tv ending is the one he had planned - if so, hopefully he can make it less terrible? Definitely some elements I think are salvageable with more attention, but some stuff is just way too dumb to work no matter how well-written.
The tv show went off on its own path a lot by cutting a lot of plot lines, characters, killing off some characters who are still alive at that point in the books and vice versa and adding their own stuff whole sale, so while I could the books (if he ever finishes) having similar beats, the context will likely be different if not something completely different
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Post by DirkGently » 2 years ago

Dunharrow wrote:
2 years ago
10 years working on book 6. If anyone thinks book 7 will be released (and actually end the series) they are deluding themselves. He doesn't have it in him to write for another 10 years. He keeps getting side-tracked by other projects and will never finish this series.
Speculating on whether or not he can save the series is moot. We will never know how he wanted to end it, if it made sense.

My guess is that the showrunners may have loosely adapted the intended ending and just done something they felt made more sense.
I used to joke that the series would end with Cersei winning the war and coming out as the unopposed ruler of Westeros, only to be overrun by the army of the dead destroying the world.
And I think it is a better ending than what they did on the show.
GRRM is not that bad of a writer and I have more faith in the ending he would have given us, but alas, we will never know.
Oh sure, idk that he'll actually finish the series at this point. It certainly seems like he's lost a lot of his passion for the project - tbf it's a pretty massive undertaking, he's probably changed a lot since he started. I wouldn't call that "writing himself into a corner" though - I'd define "writing into a corner" to mean that he wrote the story in a way that makes the rest of it unavoidably unsatisfying or otherwise bad. For example, I think the hunger games series kinda wrote itself into a corner after the first book because there wasn't anywhere that interesting to go. So it invented an extremely contrived way to do the same thing again in book 2, and then in book 3 went...*shrug*...guess we'll overthrow the government? I think there are ways for asoiaf to be satisfyingly wrapped up in theory, but it's definitely dubious if it'll be wrapped up at all. Could always end up in a Hitchhiker's Guide situation and have someone else finish it if he dies, ofc.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

For me its not even the delay, although now that I'm no longer invested its easier to say that. If I were still waiting for a fresh hit of Westeros endorphins that might be a different story. For me its that he actually had the gall to clap back when people started enquiring what the hold up was. Its a bit of a grey area as to who owes what to whom in the situation, but I feel like if you're setting yourself a goal and your fans have made you that much of a household name the onus is on you to come through eventually.

Its understandable with Robert Jordan, the guy was sick. Martin hasn't the same excuse, and for that matter neither does Patrick Rothfuss. That guys even worse, he's too busy just tabletop gaming to bother finishing a story he's barely halfway through telling on book 3 in a trilogy. Seriously that last book better be built like a brick if it ever comes out.

I guess its a little harsh to judge, I'm no author. But damn - Frank Herbert smashed out some of the most complex sci fi about proficiently, Steven Erikson did a ten book series (all of which knock on 100 pages or more) in a little over the times its taken Martin to go between book 6 and 7. Abercrombie finishes series, Sanderson has done several too. What's the holdup?

To me writing oneself into a corner isn't starting well and finishing poorly, that just happens sometimes. To me its having no idea where you want to finish up, no idea how to get there, or just removing enough pieces from the board that yiu simply don't have the ability to do so. Martin is stuck somewhere between the three.
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Post by materpillar » 2 years ago

I'm more on the write himself into a corner page. Except I think he wrote himself into not enough of a corner. The story got too vast, too sprawling with too much going on. It's too much to juggle into an efficient narrative. The story escaped from him and took its own path and he's too old and doesn't care enough to get it back. The books are never getting finished. That much is obvious. The man isn't interested anymore and that's fine. Neither is anyone else anymore.

I can see the story beats for his ending in the show. Danny burning down kings landing after going insane (probably with Tyrion prompting her towards the dark side) sounds like something he could have written very satisfyingly. I can see Bran ending up king and John in the north. That's my head cannon at least.

Interesting question for myself. If the next book is released will I actually bother reading it? I might not even bother which is a shame because I really loved this series when I was younger.

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Post by Dunharrow » 2 years ago

materpillar wrote:
2 years ago
I'm more on the write himself into a corner page. Except I think he wrote himself into not enough of a corner. The story got too vast, too sprawling with too much going on. It's too much to juggle into an efficient narrative. The story escaped from him and took its own path and he's too old and doesn't care enough to get it back. The books are never getting finished. That much is obvious. The man isn't interested anymore and that's fine. Neither is anyone else anymore.

I can see the story beats for his ending in the show. Danny burning down kings landing after going insane (probably with Tyrion prompting her towards the dark side) sounds like something he could have written very satisfyingly. I can see Bran ending up king and John in the north. That's my head cannon at least.

Interesting question for myself. If the next book is released will I actually bother reading it? I might not even bother which is a shame because I really loved this series when I was younger.
^This
I don't know that he wrote himself into a corner, except that he has too many plotlines to wrap up and the need to wrap them up makes it seem like he's got not way out of his mess.
In retrospect, he should have cut plotlines that lead nowhere - Martells, Gryff, Victarion Greyjoy and so may other plot lines that probably do not need to be resolved, and thus should not have been included in the first place.
He wants to wrap up in 2 books, but he should have planned 4 more books. If he had done that, we might have gotten book 6 and 7 by now.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

I really can't blame the dude for deciding he'd rather travel the country enjoying his ridiculous fame and wealth than waste what remains of his life doing a thankless task :)

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

pokken wrote:
2 years ago
I really can't blame the dude for deciding he'd rather travel the country enjoying his ridiculous fame and wealth than waste what remains of his life doing a thankless task :)
This x a billion. I know I wouldn't do it if I were him. Screw the rabid, insatiable fans, their money is already spent. On the other hand, I'm not sure anyone else here has read Silverhand and Silverlight, but that trilogy never finished and it is a literary crime that it didn't. Long story short, the two authors got romantically involved while collaborating on it, and when that ramshackle romance imploded, it killed the third book. Also, publishers and copyright further muddled the stupid mess.

Anyway, don't read Silverhand and Silverlight. They're really good books that will never have a proper ending because of a mass of twits and beancounting.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
pokken wrote:
2 years ago
I really can't blame the dude for deciding he'd rather travel the country enjoying his ridiculous fame and wealth than waste what remains of his life doing a thankless task :)
This x a billion. I know I wouldn't do it if I were him. Screw the rabid, insatiable fans, their money is already spent. On the other hand, I'm not sure anyone else here has read Silverhand and Silverlight, but that trilogy never finished and it is a literary crime that it didn't. Long story short, the two authors got romantically involved while collaborating on it, and when that ramshackle romance imploded, it killed the third book. Also, publishers and copyright further muddled the stupid mess.

Anyway, don't read Silverhand and Silverlight. They're really good books that will never have a proper ending because of a mass of twits and beancounting.
I get it, but how would you rather be remembered? Idk, realistically no author really owes the fans anything tangibly, but that does cut both ways. A reader owes no author their money, and while its good for him that he's done well for himself if he were in any other normal job he'd have been fired long ago. You don't stop halfway through processing someone's home loan because you don't feel like it. You don't change 3 out of 4 tires on a car.

Its not an entirely equal exchange in that sort of comparison but the similarities are there. And honestly as someone who tapped out long ago while I can acknowledge that the writing in some of the books was good the fact that I know they'll never be finished, not because he's sick but just because he's given up forces me to think that he really just isn't as talented as his popularity would suggest. At this point he's riding the coat tails of a series based on his own books, and frankly that's pretty embarrassing.
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 2 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
I get it, but how would you rather be remembered? Idk, realistically no author really owes the fans anything tangibly, but that does cut both ways. A reader owes no author their money, and while its good for him that he's done well for himself if he were in any other normal job he'd have been fired long ago. You don't stop halfway through processing someone's home loan because you don't feel like it. You don't change 3 out of 4 tires on a car.

Its not an entirely equal exchange in that sort of comparison but the similarities are there. And honestly as someone who tapped out long ago while I can acknowledge that the writing in some of the books was good the fact that I know they'll never be finished, not because he's sick but just because he's given up forces me to think that he really just isn't as talented as his popularity would suggest. At this point he's riding the coat tails of a series based on his own books, and frankly that's pretty embarrassing.
There's a nonzero amount of evidence that GRRM doesn't really define his legacy by GoT storming the literary scene for a decade. The dude runs a wolf sanctuary and an art museum in New Mexico, not to mention having his fingers in all sorts of strange pies. If anything, I'd argue that writing was more of means to an end for GRRM, a vehicle to achieve his desired life. Who cares if the TV series made him most of the money and then exploded at the finish line? He still gets to facilitate the creation of art and personally contribute to saving a species for which he cares deeply. That might mean more to him than finishing a series which doesn't inspire him anymore and won't please his most intense fans/critics either. And it's his life, at the end of the day.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
2 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
I get it, but how would you rather be remembered? Idk, realistically no author really owes the fans anything tangibly, but that does cut both ways. A reader owes no author their money, and while its good for him that he's done well for himself if he were in any other normal job he'd have been fired long ago. You don't stop halfway through processing someone's home loan because you don't feel like it. You don't change 3 out of 4 tires on a car.

Its not an entirely equal exchange in that sort of comparison but the similarities are there. And honestly as someone who tapped out long ago while I can acknowledge that the writing in some of the books was good the fact that I know they'll never be finished, not because he's sick but just because he's given up forces me to think that he really just isn't as talented as his popularity would suggest. At this point he's riding the coat tails of a series based on his own books, and frankly that's pretty embarrassing.
There's a nonzero amount of evidence that GRRM doesn't really define his legacy by GoT storming the literary scene for a decade. The dude runs a wolf sanctuary and an art museum in New Mexico, not to mention having his fingers in all sorts of strange pies. If anything, I'd argue that writing was more of means to an end for GRRM, a vehicle to achieve his desired life. Who cares if the TV series made him most of the money and then exploded at the finish line? He still gets to facilitate the creation of art and personally contribute to saving a species for which he cares deeply. That might mean more to him than finishing a series which doesn't inspire him anymore and won't please his most intense fans/critics either. And it's his life, at the end of the day.
That is fair. I can totally understand not defining your life by the job you've got, its a decision I came to long ago. At some point pretending to be passionate about medical administration just sounds a little contrived anywhere outside of a job interview, and I severely dislike being defined by the desk I'm shackled to. I'm more than a job and so is everyone else. I guess it just comes down to the assumption that with fiction writing its hard game to be in, so presumably most of the people in it are there because they love it. Evidently not always so.

I guess it's pretty common that readers presume the author has the same level of passion for books written as they do and thats sometimes just not the case. Which is fine, people can think what they want I guess and the author owes nothing of his personal life over and above what he writes down. It is a shame to see what some consider a magnum opus go unfinished, but thats the creators prerogative, and for every Beethovens 9th there's the latest top 40 candy pop garbage, so leaving it unfinished could potentially be for the better or the worse.

Certainly in the post Star Wars prequel era I can understand walking away from the hype for things you're more passionate about. If its not a hill you want to die on theres no point putting yourself under the sort of pressure GoT fans would submit him to.
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