A Dance with Dragons Release Discussion, Part II

[CelticKevin]

GRRM's latest Not-a-blog post warmed my heart, a little. I appreciate that he is considering dropping the WorldCon to continue working on ADWD. Bravo! I certainly love a good vacation too, so I can feel his pain in missing out... I also feel the pain of withdrawals from my addiction to ASOIAF...

It is good news that GRRM now has a personal assistant. Very nice! I really hope that helps him out. Between the personal assistant and the whip crack of the HBO series we may start seeing a quickening of the pace... We will see!

I wonder if the new personal assistant is anything like Podric Payne???

[Law Lord]

Serves him right for writing so damn slowly!

Just kidding. I honestly think its time he starts cutting his other engagements and started some solid writing of ADWD. He sounds likes hes realised this as well. Its not right for him to focus on other texts/activities when ASOIAF is his epic story. He just can't. This book is just taking too damn long to finish. The splitting of books is pretty ridiculus as well. Should've just been done like ASOS. I hope he finishes for early 2008 release because its angering me the longer i wait.

[direwolf]

Dude, don't go to Japan! Cut the bullshit already man! I'm starting to get super bummed. 90% of the books I read are just to fill in the gap until the next GRRM! He is just given too much opportunity to procrastinate. I'm sure if I were in his situation I'd be f'ing around too, not to mention all the money he gets for it.

That being said, I still have much love for the guy. But put the damn book out. My guesstimate is fall 2008, but 2 months off will probably break his stride and push it back, so I will recalculate if he goes.

[Padraig]

Heh. I didn't expect that news.

I honestly think its time he starts cutting his other engagements and started some solid writing of ADWD.

Lets just hope if he does spend that month at home that it will be very productive. We just don't know. OTOH, sounds like if he believes he will make a lot of progress then he will be very tempted to stay at home.

The splitting of books is pretty ridiculus as well.

I'm not sure how it was "ridiculous". He couldn't wait to release a 1500+ page book.

[mormont]

Lets just hope if he does spend that month at home that it will be very productive.

Well, the gist of the update appears to be that he just spent a month at home, doing exactly what a lot of people insisted was all he really needed to do - sitting down every day and trying to write. And that it was not very productive.

We can hope though.

The bit that pleases me is that he's taken on a PA. I think that's overdue, not solely because of progress on the book (I really don't think it will make a huge difference there, but it certainly can't hurt) but because it relieves some of the stress on himself and Parris.

[Lupigis]

I usually try to maintain a spirit of patience and optimism when thinking about GRRMs progress with the series, but I have to say that this blog entry made that a bit more difficult than usual.

It has been a good few weeks, work wise, but not the great few weeks that I was kinda sorta hoping for. I did manage to finish one especially troublesome chapter that I have been fussing and fretting over since before I split the two books, so that's good. (At least I THINK I finally finished it. Tomorrow I may reread the thing and decide, no, it's no good at all. But I hope not). Finished some other chapters too, and did some more revision, so I've been productive, but still...

My interpretation: Three weeks of hard uninterrupted work did not result in any significant amount of new material being written (as opposed to the revision of previously written material), in spite of GRRM clearly wanting and needing it. The creative difficulties that GRRM had when writing AFFC are still in place!

A year ago, it would never have dawned on me that DANCE would not be done by the time the Japanese worldcon rolled around, but that's looking like a very real possibility now.

My interpretation: Further confirmation that GRRM is utterly unable to estimate how long it will take him to finish the book.

Sigh. This does not bode well!

[Padraig]

My interpretation: Three weeks of hard uninterrupted work did not result in any significant amount of new material being written (as opposed to the revision of previously written material), in spite of GRRM clearly wanting and needing it.

Hmm, I think he wrote a lot (several chapters finished including one very troubling one) but he hoped to write a lot more.

I actually don't think he has a lot left but it sounds like he keeps hoping he will have a burst of real speed to get past the finish line but it doesn't happen.

[Ser Sean]

FFS!!

It will be finished, when its finished!

George lives in a free country and has the liberty to do other things than work occasionally. I'm absolutely positive that he takes ADWD seriously and would like to have it out asap but I for one would like the end product to be perfect and not rushed in any way.

So, stop the fucking childish whining and leave the man to his work.

[The Adequate Jon]

GRRM should have advertised for his PA on this board. I'm sure several posters would have done it for free.

[Padraig]

GRRM should have advertised for his PA on this board. I'm sure several posters would have done it for free.

Would you trust somebody from this board?

[Lupigis]

I actually don't think he has a lot left but it sounds like he keeps hoping he will have a burst of real speed to get past the finish line but it doesn't happen.

I honestly think that GRRM honestly thinks that he doesn't have a lot left. However, it seems as if the bits that are needed to finish ADWD are causing him great difficulties.

A small piece of book*very slow progress = a long wait

[Padraig]

A small piece of book*very slow progress = a long wait

True. And that's what makes him so frustrated.

While I hope it will be done soon, I don't let it bother me.

[Worthy Dane]

I honestly think that GRRM honestly thinks that he doesn't have a lot left.

You may be right. But that doesn’t necessarily help us. It is pretty clear from the author’s note at the end of AFFC that Martin didn’t think he had a lot left to write even then. I am starting to agree with those who feel that ADWD will not be published this year. There is no doubt that he is having trouble with this one, as he did with AFFC. That does not necessarily mean that ADWD will seem unfocused (as AFFC did, at least to me) but it could be taken as an unfortunate sign. I would like for the book to be more focused, with plenty of forward progress, like AGOT, but I’m sure it is going to be interesting and well worth reading either way. It may be that the splitting of the books, paradoxically, causes them to seem less focused, in which case, we may have to wait for TWOW for the series to start really moving again.

And Ser Sean, I haven’t seen anyone whine in this thread. Just people speculating about the release date of ADWD, as the title of the thread suggests.

[Myrddin]

Sometimes, the rewriting is far harder than the initial draft. To hear that he has finished a chapter that has plagued him for years is great news! And that he has finshed several others. That sounds like a month well spent.

Writer's diligence and all that.

I've said this before, but I'll repeat it here: ASoIaF is Martin's first multi book series. Even with his decades of writing experience (short stories, single novels, TV, and editing), this is still a new experience for him. With this in mind, it shouldn't be that surprising that he's having trouble managing the middle act of an opus of this size.

No, I'm not an apologist. I was one of the people saying "sit down and write" a while ago. But his update was encouraging. Spring '08 is looking like a possibility.

[Myrddin]

Would you trust somebody from this board?

Well, it would make the DwD sub-forum more interesting...

[Padraig]

I am starting to agree with those who feel that ADWD will not be published this year.

ADwD will not be published this year. It would have to be finished already (or at worst, this month, which it clearly wouldn't be).

It may be that the splitting of the books, paradoxically, causes them to seem less focused, in which case, we may have to wait for TWOW for the series to start really moving again.

Not sure about this. It should be very focused on a smaller set of POVs compared to aSoS.

[Tediz]

Something else I gathered from his blog: He may have to skip WorldCon whether he wants to or not, because his fans aren't the only people putting pressure on him. He did mention his editors, and it wouldn't do to have them badgering him while he's trying to take a vacation.

[Angalin]

His editors might, indeed, get a little tetchy if he takes several weeks off to travel and promote other books. C'est la vie; that's their job.

Setting aside the issue of how well (or not) ADwD is progressing, I think it's very good news that GRRM has finally hired a PA. Clearly he loves the personal contact with fans, but he can't do everything; and as MMM said in his guide for managers over in GC, the #1 thing to do is delegate.

ETA link. Dunno who else he can blame, though.

[Be'lal]

I'm absolutely positive that he takes ADWD seriously and would like to have it out asap but I for one would like the end product to be perfect and not rushed in any way.

Excellent point. If he put out ADWD tomorrow we'd spend the next three years whining about how we spent three years waiting for a book that felt rushed.

[Guest Ser Jaime]

Surely WorldCon doesn't last 2 months?

Why can't he go to Japan for a week or two to attend the convention, then when he finishes writing ADWD he can go back for a longer vacation?

I agree with others who have said that at some point you just have to hunker down and get the job done. Conventions are nice, but writing is his job, and when you have a job to do you have to do it even though it isn't always fun and easy.

But it's encouraging that he seems to have finished a difficult chapter. If I had to guess, I'd say a Spring 2008 release is within the realm of possibility. If not, then Fall 2008 for sure (his editors will probably be going nuts by then, so it will push him even harder to finish the book by early 2008 at the latest).