As a writer, I’ve made my fair share of excuses for not working on projects. I think most of us have. There is house work that needs doing. Video games that need playing. Children that need feeding.
But it has never crossed my mind that there was an excuse far greater than all of these. One we can break open at a moments notice whenever a friend or family member asks us why we aren’t farther along in this amazing story we’ve told them we’re working on. There is, in fact, fascism.
Well, that’s settled then. I suppose it’s time we all pack it in now. How can any of us continue on with our endeavors now that we know fascism exists? I mean, communism also exists and that kills millions of people also, but nope. Fascism, that’s the real killer of fiction.
No one has ever written novels during a time of immense political and social upheaval. Not to mention novels that have maintained cultural relevance nearly a hundred years after they were written.
In all seriousness, though, I’m sick of Martin’s excuses. I know he’s in a difficult position. I know the ASOIAF universe is extremely intricate and there are over a million different plots he needs to interconnect, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t be finished. No. Reason.
There, I said it.
I wrote a post about two to three years ago regarding the long wait for Winds and how it was frustrating but I still think I showed him much more grace than I feel for him at present.
The more I learn about Tolkien, the less patience I have for Martin. Tolkien literally wrote The Lord of the Rings and its many associated novels during what was arguably the most turbulent time in European history. He was in the trenches of the Somme. His best friends died. He wasn’t exactly poor, but he was at least a three hour car ride and a ten minute walk away from being rich.
He also had multiple children and stayed awake into the wee hours of the morning, tinkering with his tales. That’s after he spent a day working his day job and taking care of his domestic responsibilities.
If anyone had a reason not to write a serious series with deep, deep lore it was Tolkien.
But he did anyway.
Not because he had legions of fans, waiting with bated breath for him to turn in his manuscript.Not because he wanted movie deals or stardom. He did it because he loved stories and language and he wanted to create.
George doesn’t seem like he wants to create anymore.
I don’t know the man, but it appears to me as if he legitimately doesn’t enjoy writing anymore and his stories only matter to him in so far as they are extensions of himself. Perhaps he just remembers when the craft was enjoyable to him and that’s why he keeps leaning so heavily into the production of TV shows based on his work. But the fact is–sigh–he’s never going to finish the ASOIAF.
After this blog post, I can finally say conclusively that I give up.
I do not believe he will ever finish.
If he does, I will be pleasantly surprised (well, maybe, depends if the books are any good or not). But I’m no longer holding my breath.
I can only maintain childish naivety for so long.
You are all just being impatient. I blame the internet and Tik Tok. Everyone wants instant gratification these days. George knows what he’s doing and he’s making sure his story is perfect before sending it out and all of you that think he’s being lazy aren’t real fans and—
Martin is rich.
Martin has the resources to get help if he needs it.
Please stop making excuses for him.
In the time it took me to write this blog post Brandon Sanderson came out with five novels and has set up a Kickstarter campaign for a sixth one.
Whatever.
The only consolation is, in spite of our political differences, we can all join hands in mocking the hell out of Martin for this obscenely bad take.
The Crooked Pen 
I’m guessing that he’s gotten so much wealth and satisfaction from the fruits of his prior labor he no longer really cares about the joy of creative work. That’s sad for him and for his fans. Fortunately I’ve never gotten into that series, as Bernard Cornwell delivers all the sword-fights and politics I need.
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I’ve started reading the Sharpe series! I’ve only read one book (Sharpe’s Escape), but I bought a couple more at a second hand store and I look forward to reading it once I’m done with, like, 5 other books on my tbr list lol.
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They’re almost all fun, and they’re written episodically so you can enjoy them alone even if they’re better together. Cornwell may be my most-read author at this point…haven’t compared his entries against Asimov’s recently.
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Lmao this gave me a chuckle.
In seriousness, though I think he’s lost his inspo because of the backlash from the last season of the show. Everyone hated it so much and that’s the ending he wanted so I imagine he’s lost steam on finishing it because he thinks everyone is going to hate the ending.
Which is a shame because while I was incredibly disappointed in the last season, I think if it had had proper buildup (like giant ass novels worth of buildup) Dany’s descent into madness could have been AMAZING.
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Yeah, that’s what a lot of people are saying. I think that’s part of the reason, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I plan to explore that in future blog posts.
And yeah, most of the things that happened were not terrible ideas, they just suffered from horrible executions. I actually predicted Bran’s ascension to the iron throne and don’t think it’s a bad idea necessarily, but they butchered his character. They butchered everyone’s character, honestly. And all because Dumb and Dumber were megalomaniacal idiots that ended up getting fired from Disney because of the hack job of an ending.
I just wish Martin would tell the truth instead of making up these utterly ridiculous excuses.
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GRRM is a trilogy author at most. If you read his body of work, he does his best stuff in short stories and standalones. He gets bored easily and then like every other entitled wanker, just stops when he is bored.
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Lol I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t explored his other works, nor have I had much interest in doing so. He’s too much of a downer.
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Good choice.
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I’m late, but it’s a neat topic.
The idea that he has lost his desire to create is, I think, just not backed up by evidence. A Song of Ice and Fire is not the only series he is writing. He was writing Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for a while and Fire & Blood, that latter of which is now House of the Dragon and the former is going to be made into a show as well under the same name. Martin already said that he’s going to be keeping a closer hand on these shows to be sure they don’t end up like Game of Thrones, and he’s expressed disappointment publicly about the direction HoD is taking.
I still maintain that the show’s end kept generally faithful to what Martin intended; he was going to make Daenerys bad, Bran become king, Jaime turn away from Brienne to deny the storybook ending. But after seeing the reaction, after working on the show for 8 years and the books for 20, I can’t blame him if he, like the showrunners, burnt out and his interests strayed elsewhere.
I also think George is just stuck on how to end the series. A series that was premised from the very beginning on subverting expectations and turning upside down all your storybook fantasy preconceptions of noble princes fighting dark lords and rescuing pretty princesses simply cannot end with the noble hero beating the dark lord, marrying the pretty princess and bringing peace to the realm. It’s a betrayal of everything George has set up.
The only thematically consistent ending for Asoiaf is the Others to win, kill everyone, turn them into zombies, and take over the world. But George won’t commit to his own theme.
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