credit: House of the Dragon
It feels like drumming on the dead, decayed, and dried-out corpse of a horse when one continually wonders if the face of procrastination, George R.R. Martin, is ever going to be done with the initial Game of Thrones series, but when the guy decides to give an update that suggests that people should be hopeful, it’s easy to find that rhythm once again. The fact that many are willing to make allowances for the author when it comes to finishing the series that turned him into an uncertain celebrity is enough to make a lot of authors tear their hair out, whether they’re famous or not since it indicates that so long as an author is famous, they don’t have to respect the craft. Yes, there are plenty of people who will fall back on the idea that he’s famous, he’s successful, and that Martin has done more in a few years than many authors will do in their lives. But the fact is that he still hasn’t finished the series that people fell in love with and has gone on to leave it to languish as he ‘tries’ to complete it. But the current update, that he has only 500 pages left until he’s done, is another teeth-grinding moment that makes it tough to consider him a serious author any longer. At this point, it does feel as though the House of the Dragon spinoff will end before Winds of Winter finally hits the shelves, and while it’s a desire to laugh and say ‘just kidding’, it’s easier to say that this might be entirely accurate.
credit: House of the Dragon
Martin’s idea of finishing a story appears to be going so far and then letting the producers and directors take over.
Seriously, people were taken aback when it was announced that Martin’s stories had reached an end in the Song of Ice and Fire since, at one point, the creators of the live-action series had to take over and continue the story in a manner that might have occurred naturally had Martin written the entire series out in the first place. Now it sounds as though Winds of Winter will be more than a little different than the story that was actually filmed, which isn’t surprising but is a serious pain in the backside since one can imagine that plenty of fans will take up the call to reshoot the final season of GoT, again, in order to create a sense of accuracy that they can live with. Good luck getting several of the actors to return since it’s not bound to happen with Maisie Williams unless the price is too much to ignore.
There is such a thing as having too much detail in a story and a series.
People will likely argue about this over and over, all day and all night, since a lot of folks love as much detail as they can get and aren’t going to be satisfied with gaping plot holes (which still exist) and half-finished stories (that also exist) that plague a franchise. But going into detail with such a fine-tipped brush is also a bad idea since focusing so intently on the detail narrows the vision of the tale and ends up losing sight of the bigger picture at times. The balance that’s needed for a great story exists within the use of detail, dialogue, setting, and many other elements that come together to form the story that’s being told. Those that have read the books that preceded GoT, no doubt, have seen that Martin does love to add detail, but when writing a story, one needs to weigh that with actually telling the tale. Otherwise, they might get hung up on a garment or a piece of the scenery instead of telling the audience what’s actually happening.
credit: House of the Dragon
Getting down on Martin isn’t as easy as people think since trying to respect him as an author tends to get in the way.
What’s easy about ridiculing Martin is that he doesn’t appear to have a single inclination to finish this series quickly and apparently can’t just sit down and write, as authors tend to do. But instead, trying to defend him as a fellow author kind of gets in the way since trying to be critical of someone that was lucky enough to be graced with the level of fame he’s received is kind of tough, especially since many authors tend to want this type of attention. But there is that need for Martin to finally be accountable for his own work.
500 pages isn’t that big of an impediment, as long as one sits down to write the pages.
Believe it or not, 500 pages isn’t that hard to accomplish. Even 500 professionally edited and finished pages aren’t that hard, but without sitting down and actually writing the pages, it becomes increasingly difficult since, as Martin has shown, making up excuses is a little too easy and gets easier by the day.