George RR Martin Update on his site

[KenM]

IMO, the reason this book is taking so long is it was not orginally planned. It was planned as two trilogy's. AFFC takes place betwen them.

 

[Aesmael]

Not quite true. It was originally intended to be a trilogy, with the events at the end of A Storm of Swords coming at the end of the first book. Obviously there has been some significant restrcturing along the way.

I hope I find out some day what he spent the past few months rewriting.

 

[SableWyvern]

Hey Sable,

Thanks. By the way, how is your writing going? You ever get that third act written in your military fantasy story? The novel you helpfully critted is now in the slushpile at Tor, with about 3/4 of the swearing removed and after several moderate to drastic changes to the plot.

You know that wide gap I was talking about earlier? I'm on the other side of it.

I think that when (if) I get motivated enough to start writing seriously again, Herald of the Dawn will more than likely sit by the wayside for a while.

I do have plans to rewrite it from the start (thanks in no small part to the feedback I got from you et al) ... when I get around to that remains to be seen.

Good to see you're doing alright, anyway. Herosmith, IMO, is a better story than many other published works similar in style; hope it gets picked eventually. Oh, and "I told you so," re: excessive profanity.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Another difference is that his stuff sells.

Really. Until you've got a few published works under your belt, I don't see how anything you say about the requirements of the craft can be taken seriously.

Uh, I'm calling BS on this.

Would you feel better if he quoted one of several (dozens) writing books that state that you don't sit around waiting for inspiration to write? I agree with what a few others have stated, if he was writing this to feed his kids, it'd be done. Since it's a labor of love for him, we're screwed.

 

[nikolai]

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/nextbook.html

A FEAST FOR CROWS is still not finished. Yes, I have written some more pages since the June update. No, the book is not yet done. My August and September schedule was full of conventions, travel, and speaking appearances, which cut deeply into my writing time during those months. Yes, I could have made more progress on the book if I had stayed at home chained to the desk, but I make these commitments years in advance and I take them very seriously.

Also, some of the writing that I have done since June has actually been rewriting. My goal, as I have said repeatedly in these updates, has always been to produce a book that is a good as it can be, so when I suddenly realize that one of my story threads can be made much more powerful and dramatic with some restructuring, I restructure... even if that means going back, tearing up finished chapters, and reworking them from start to finish.

That's done, anyway. A FEAST FOR CROWS will be much better for it, and now I am back at work on new chapters once again...

Where did this talk of writers block (or even deadlines) come from? I don't see anything to indicate that GRRM is suffering from this! He says he's just been busy from other things. The delay from A STORM OF SWORDS is because he had to virtually restart the book, as the earlier structure didn't work. GRRM is taking his time on it because he wants to get get it right, as he thinks it's his masterwork. There isn't a deadline, and certainly no indication that he's suffering from writers block.

 

[Nellisir]

Uh, I'm calling BS on this.

Would you feel better if he quoted one of several (dozens) writing books that state that you don't sit around waiting for inspiration to write?

"The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair."
~~ Mary Heaton Vorse



Nell.

 

[nakia]

It sounds like some of Martin's delay is just a matter of priorities. If he spends August and September doing other things (speaking and traveling), then not much is going to get done on the novel. I certainly can't fault him for honoring other obligations, even as I wish he would do those things less and write more (out of a selfish desire to read the next book). Although all those folks who got to see him at a con or some other event were probably glad he was there.

It is sort of like Stephen King and The Dark Tower series. That took forever to finish, but in the meantime he wrote lots of other novels. That didn't stop me from being disappointed every time one of those new books came out that wasn't a Dark Tower book.

And, as someone who is finishing his dissertation (which is not a novel, of course, but a mammoth project nonetheless), let me add to the chorus of folks who note that writing is really as much about hard work and discipline as it is about inspiration and the muse.

 

[takyris]

Sable: Very cool! Can't wait to see some of the next stuff you write! And hermph on the strong language... just because people were saying, "It was a lot of fun, but man, that language was sometimes beyond me," when I'd taken out 3/4 of the swearwords from the draft that you read... In the one I'm currently editing, I kept it to PG-13 (in violence and in language) just to play with the style a bit more.

Oh, and the one you read is now called "Gilding the Apocalypse", since everyone told me "This needs a goofy title -- otherwise, people will think you're serious."

Having gotten the critique from She Who Must Be Obeyed, I can now get the next one (the PG-13 swashbuckling romantic-comedy fantasy... thing) polished up and out into slushland (possibly for the Wizards open call) and get to work on the next 'un. That one is setting up to be a fantasy version of Ocean's Eleven -- a caper job to steal an ancient elven manuscript from one of the most powerful men in the floating city that rules the rest of the kingdom. We'll see how that goes...

And, to bring this back on topic... what I find worrisome as a fan is the fact that so many of GRRM's announcements have said, "I'm taking longer so that it can be perfect. I'm slowing down so that it can be perfect. I want to get it just right." After five years, though, it's possible that his writing style will be different (I dunno if I'm the only one reading Robert Aspirin, but after his multiple years of "writer's block", his next Myth novel came back with a completely different style and a lot of instances of people telling the hero that he drinks too much...). It's also possible that however good it is, even if it hits us all in our happy place, there's going to be a feeling of "Well, he didn't do this as well as he could have -- I mean, he did spend five-plus years on it."

For me, at least, it's becoming one of those unpleasant deals where I know that as a reader, I'm going to have trouble forgetting that the writer spent five years writing and rewriting -- so it's going to be a kind of conscious presence for me there, the idea of the author choosing to do each thing that's happening. I am likely overanalyzing this in a huge way, and if the book is anything like the last ones, I'll be pulled in within the first twenty pages and will completely forget all that other stuff. That's the hope, anyway.

I'd hold onto that "Never read a fantasy series until it's done" rule that some of my friends have, but then I couldn't talk about the new stuff with folks like you...

 

[Sarigar]

And here I thought George was Canadian!

Turns out he graduated from the same college as my dad (My dad is older and graduated years before GRRM).

I find inspiration in writing when I actually sit there and start putting ideas on paper (OK, computer). More ideas come to me as I write than when I sit around thinking up ideas to write about.

 

[LeapingShark]

GRRM:
I could have finished the book by now, but I prefer to travel, make appearances, and languish in the limelight; I take all these leisurely activities very seriously.

Ya George, but what about your commitment to writing my damn book! I want it yesterday!