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GRRM’s latest blog post


Lady Rhodes

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Well, I am still at the stage where I will believe he has finished writing Winds when I have a copy of it in my hands. That said, the recent Not A Blog post was the most detailed update since the summer of 2020 or thereabouts, and he was willing to be somewhat specific about what he was writing on, a Tyrion chapter. So at least he's still writing and sounds optimistic. We'll have to see where we're at in 2023 or 2024 or so. 

It is significant to me that there will be no new pov characters added. You can't read too much into that. Still, I take that as a good sign. Maybe it means he's seriously trying to wind down the number of pov characters for the last stage of the saga. At least George is still working on it.

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Encouraging that he’s given more updates in the last few months than in the last few years. Also stating that the second Fire & Blood won’t be released until after Winds is published.

Still not worth getting excited though until there’s a confirmed release date, if we do ever get one

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My cynical reaction to the blog post was that this was just a way to appease disgruntled fans so that they’d watch HOTD. People always try to say that HBO doesn’t care about what people complain about online, but a lot of them seem to forget that HBO, like every company, has a comms and marketing department. A big part of their job is monitoring consumer discourse and relaying it to the higher ups. (Consider how GRRM and lots of other people connected to the show have been praising the writing on the new show lately. That’s all but certainly not a coincidence). One of the big complaints about HOTD is that it feels pointless since we’ve seen how house Targaryen ends. By assuring everyone that the books are still coming, and that they’re going to be different from the show, then that changes things, since the TV ending wouldn’t be the “real” ending anymore. (Plus let’s be real, if GRRM finishes the series, HBO will likely do a full reboot).

However, George’s podcast interview has me feeling a lot more optimistic. Just hearing that he’s almost finished Tyrion’s chapters is more promising than anything else we’ve heard thus far. He sounds excited about continuing the series right now. I hope he keeps chugging along and that we get the book within a year or two. That said, we’ve been burned so many times now that I’m still hesitant to be too hopeful.

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9 hours ago, Roughspun said:

I found the podcast even more interesting. He seems quite set on continuing to write toward a suitable ending for tWoW and deal with the size of the book afterwards.

He originally wanted to end Dance with the Battle of Ice and the Battle of Fire, but had to cut them because there was no room for them in the book. I guess he doesn't want to make the same compromise again.

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All excellent points. I agree about the podcast as well. I am happy that he is not concerning himself with the length of this volume anymore and letting the publishers deal with that issue. 
 

I often posited prior to the show ending (think between season six and seven) that the reason his writing was taking so long was that he regretted his decision to not make Tyrion and Danearys meet prior to her fleeing Meereen. I justified this by saying that season five, released in 2015, had the meeting and at that time, Martin thought he would be finished by the end of that year (HA!) I thought that this regret (one of the larger departures at that point) had caused him to do some restructuring.

 

HOWEVER, I believe I am erroneously wrong on that point now and would argue that having the meeting prior to her fleeing Meereen and captured by the Dothraki made her “isolation” arc less than and causes the ending (of some version of that ending remains) to not feel authentic.
 

Regardless, if Martin honestly thought in spring 2015 that he could have Winds out by the beginning of 2016, it is fair to say that some major rewriting and restructuring has taken place. He alluded to that in his post as well.  Does anyone have any thoughts on what he may have rethought, rewritten, or restructured?

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On 7/13/2022 at 4:18 AM, The Bard of Banefort said:

My cynical reaction to the blog post was that this was just a way to appease disgruntled fans so that they’d watch HOTD. People always try to say that HBO doesn’t care about what people complain about online, but a lot of them seem to forget that HBO, like every company, has a comms and marketing department. A big part of their job is monitoring consumer discourse and relaying it to the higher ups. (Consider how GRRM and lots of other people connected to the show have been praising the writing on the new show lately. That’s all but certainly not a coincidence). One of the big complaints about HOTD is that it feels pointless since we’ve seen how house Targaryen ends. By assuring everyone that the books are still coming, and that they’re going to be different from the show, then that changes things, since the TV ending wouldn’t be the “real” ending anymore. (Plus let’s be real, if GRRM finishes the series, HBO will likely do a full reboot).

Not sure about any of that.  I thought GRRM has been saying that the books and the TV diverged for years now.  At best, this was just a reminder, which most viewers will never read.  And I don't think HBO would have approved the show if the writing wasn't good.  Given how GoT ended, they knew this couldn't be half-baked.  (The show could still be poor though).

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On 7/12/2022 at 9:18 PM, The Bard of Banefort said:

My cynical reaction to the blog post was that this was just a way to appease disgruntled fans so that they’d watch HOTD. People always try to say that HBO doesn’t care about what people complain about online, but a lot of them seem to forget that HBO, like every company, has a comms and marketing department. A big part of their job is monitoring consumer discourse and relaying it to the higher ups. 

 

Yep.  For a moment I felt a bit optimistic, but then remember I’ve been burned by this too many times.  I’m not watching any Game of Thrones related shows until I physically have TWOW, which unfortunately is unlikely to be completed.

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3 hours ago, Rubicante said:

Yep.  For a moment I felt a bit optimistic, but then remember I’ve been burned by this too many times.  I’m not watching any Game of Thrones related shows until I physically have TWOW, which unfortunately is unlikely to be completed.

There seems to be a general feeling of apathy about HOTD. I’ve been trying to find fan content about it, and it’s been surprising just how few people are talking about it online (Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) Even the backlash to Ryan Condal’s quote about not wanting “a bunch of white people” on screen was remarkably short-lived compared to just about every other fandom (Marvel, Star Wars, etc.) Obviously there’s the S8 backlash to consider, but most of all people just seem kind of burned out with GOT.

That said, the premiere will all but certainly be huge. Whether the audience sticks around will depend on a lot of factors, namely quality.

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1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Obviously there’s the S8 backlash to consider, but most of all people just seem kind of burned out with GOT.

There was an article today indicating that Game of Thrones remains the most pirated TV show in the world.

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The number of GoT-watchers and potential HotD-watchers who read GRRM's blog is relatively small and anything he says there is unlikely to shift the needle much on the show's viewership.

His recent updates have been because he feels he has made good progress. 

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25 minutes ago, Werthead said:

The number of GoT-watchers and potential HotD-watchers who read GRRM's blog is relatively small and anything he says there is unlikely to shift the needle much on the show's viewership.

His recent updates have been because he feels he has made good progress. 

that's hopeful :cheers:

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2 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

To be fair, it's impossible to know that for sure without literally being inside his head.

True, or possibly reading his blog entries over the past two years or listening to the podcast interview.

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Like I’ve said before, I’m talking more about the online discourse around HOTD than the viewing numbers. Fandoms are their own animal.

The online discourse around HotD seems reasonable. Looking at the various Reddits, forums, Facebook pages etc, there seems a reasonable degree of engagement, not far off the off-season between seasons of GoT. And of course the overwhelming majority of people who watched GoT and who will watch HotD never really talked about the show online at all.

I suspect HotD will do fine, as long as it's not a total disaster quality-wise.

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On 7/14/2022 at 5:59 PM, Lady Rhodes said:

I am happy that he is not concerning himself with the length of this volume anymore and letting the publishers deal with that issue. 

This is indeed what makes me a little optimistic. But seriously, I never understood why he concerned himself with this issue. Beside why it even was an issue to begin with: I have quite a lot of books which came in multiple volumes within one slipcase, and I also have quite a few paperbacks with more pages than ADwD (up to +/-1500 counted pages), and even more hardcovers.

4 hours ago, Werthead said:

His recent updates have been because he feels he has made good progress. 

This is nice to read/hear, but I wonder whether he can keep the progress up. I certainly hope so, but I will remain sceptical, simply because this isn't the first time he made progress, just to hit the next wall just a few months/pages/chapter-versions later.

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24 minutes ago, Werthead said:

True, or possibly reading his blog entries over the past two years or listening to the podcast interview.

The online discourse around HotD seems reasonable. Looking at the various Reddits, forums, Facebook pages etc, there seems a reasonable degree of engagement, not far off the off-season between seasons of GoT. And of course the overwhelming majority of people who watched GoT and who will watch HotD never really talked about the show online at all.

I suspect HotD will do fine, as long as it's not a total disaster quality-wise.

I think that, after S5-8 of GOT, it’s okay to be a bit bearish about HOTD. We all want the show to be great. I’m still keeping my expectations in check going in.

I don’t really understand the economics of streaming. I don’t see how any show could be successful enough to justify $15 million+ per episode. But then again, Stranger Things pulled it off, so it’s clearly possible.

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I thought the latest blog post and interview on House of Owns was really good energy.  The tone was positive and upbeat.  I like that.  I can wait for GRRM to do what he needs to do.  I especially like that we can expect the unexpected.  Go George!

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19 hours ago, Rubicante said:

Yep.  For a moment I felt a bit optimistic, but then remember I’ve been burned by this too many times.  I’m not watching any Game of Thrones related shows until I physically have TWOW, which unfortunately is unlikely to be completed.

As I've said before, I'd rather be pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised than the other way around.

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