So, anticipating all the gaslighting on this issue in the next few days, let me just assert: GRRM absolutely did owe his fans an ending to ASOIAF. It is 100% a failure on his part not to do so, and their anger at that is entirely rational and reasonable. Anyone who tells you otherwise is being cruel
I might also add that the author community's constant slalom between "if you wait for a series to conclude before starting it you are personally responsible for the death of the genre" and "how dare you expect an author to finish a story they've started" is perhaps not the most effective messaging.
I'm still pissed at ridley scott for optioning Joe Haldeman's classic "Forever War" and then never making it. Instead, makling bullshit and half ass movies. Happy for Joe. He deserves the cash but that story deserves to be filmed.
that sounds like a licensing problem, which would be a capitalism/copyright/trademark issue, not a creative issue.
That's fair. I just felt this was related and I've never had a chance to bitch publicly about it and so, I did.
It also changes things slightly that the most famous quote on the subject has been taken off the table by what has come out subsequently about the speaker. (Only a passing thought - hopefully not enough to bring the wrath of the internet down about my ears)
Has it been taken off the table? People may not quote it verbatim anymore but the sentiment is alive and well, and I'm not seeing any introspection on the fact that perhaps we shouldn't be taking lessons on entitlement, boundaries, and proper creator-fan relations from that person.
The theory I had heard and thought plausible was that the ending in the TV show wasn't a million miles from the one he was going to do and the fan response has left him stuck for an ending?
he had trouble finishing the *penultimate* book long before the TV show ended, though.
That was happening in conjunction with the TV show too. I suspect he gets bored when the story is told.
I mean I find the last mile harder when I know where it’s all going. I can’t imagine what it’s like a million+ words in.
yeah, but I can also relate to him as someone who's had issues with mental block and not being able to finish some projects on time or at all due to ADHD and other stuff like that, and knew personally a Polish writer who struggled with finishing his series until his death so I'm sad more than mad