aDwD - Only Five Chapters To Go?

[Radio Changes]

What I'm really dreading is this book coming out soon, me being amazed with it, reading it all in one day or so, then once again waiting for god knows how long.

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

What I'm really dreading is this book coming out soon, me being amazed with it, reading it all in one day or so, then once again waiting for god knows how long.

Hah. That's probably what will happen for me.

[Liadin]

Something that huge in one day? ASOS took me three, and I was doing little else.

[Radio Changes]

Okay, so three days. Regardless, it'll feel like too little of a time.

[Horza]

There's always hyper-forensic re-reads!

[Radio Changes]

Yeah, I've noticed that the ASOIAF community really takes the cake on that account, :P

Oh god, it'll be another mind-wracking three or so years speculating after ADWD, won't it? Cheers, haha.

[Daena the Defiant]

Yeah, I've noticed that the ASOIAF community really takes the cake on that account, :P

Pfft.

The ASOIF community ain't a patch on WoT Fandom back in its day. It generated its own usenet group in the rec.arts. heirarchy... none of the second tier alt.fan groupings either.

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

Pfft.

The ASOIF community ain't a patch on WoT Fandom back in its day. It generated its own usenet group in the rec.arts. heirarchy... none of the second tier alt.fan groupings either.

We win at heart.

[Daena the Defiant]

We win at heart.

Ah yes, but in the persuasive words over at TV Tropes, What Kind of Power is "Heart," Anyway?

:)

WARNING: - do not venture over to that site unless you are prepared to waste hours browsing and reading ;)

edit: speeling ;)

[Radio Changes]

In terms of Fantasy, yeah we win in complete obsessiveness, or are at least top two or three, but overall, I'd say we're at least in the running for top obsessive fan bases. Along with Star Trek, Simpsons and others I can't name off the top of my head.

But this is really off-topic.

So, what's the average length of a chapter in a ASOIF book? Guesstimate, anyone?

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

Curiosity got the better of me ;)

[Daena the Defiant]

Curiosity got the better of me ;)

See ya in a few hours.

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

See ya in a few hours.

I'll have to wait though. Damn eastern time, its getting late =(

[Radio Changes]

Damnit these character types and situations are interesting.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScrappy

That list of annoying characters is varied and dead on:

Popular characters have fandoms. But sometimes, there is a character who has a hatedom. We'll call this guy The Scrappy. While much depends on execution, certain kinds of characters have a much higher probability of being hated:

* The Ace, when used for the wrong situation.

* An Amusing Alien.

* A Bratty Half Pint.

* A Cousin Oliver is very likely to irritate the fans by upsetting the standard character dynamic.

* The Distressed Damsel or Reckless Sidekick, when they never contribute anything but getting themselves captured all the time.

* An Exposition Fairy that tries to be helpful but winds up being annoying.

* A Funny Foreigner.

* A Jerkass, when not Played For Laughs, and even if they are they still can get this by making the main character(s) life a living hell.

* A Karma Houdini

* The Load, who needs the heroes to take care of them without contributing useful in return.

o The Millstone, one step worse than the The Load, who is an active liability to the heroes and still doesn't contribute anything useful.

* A Smug Snake, especially if he/she does something so heinous they stop being "cool", though some are made this way on purpose.

* The Suspiciously Similar Substitute will undoubtedly be hated by fans of the beloved character they replace.

* This Loser Is You. Sometimes an attempt to make an incompetent main character that the audience can relate to ends up in a character that the audience wishes was anyone but the main character.

[OverHill]

This is where the different 'sides' cannot seem to reconcile. Deleting 500 manuscript pages because they are not working and starting over, despite knowing you are going to get criticised for it since you had previously announced that those 500 pages will help you deliver the book faster, suggests a rather high level of motivation. The motivation is simply making the book as good as possible as opposed to getting the book out ASAP no matter its quality.

When did GRRM say he deleted the pages left over from AFFC ? Quote, please

[red snow]

I still find it interesting how people seem to know how long a book takes to write, You can estimate based on their other work but each book is unique. It's the same with the 5 chapters; we can guess how long it takes to write but no-one knows, not even GRRM how long they will actually take.

i agree that it would be madness to delay ADWD to coincide with the show. If anything it mat have caused him to speed up a bit so that he can do promos, watch the show. I still think no harm can come from the 2 things being out with a month of each other.

[Werthead]

When did GRRM say he deleted the pages left over from AFFC ? Quote, please

GRRM told Suvudu that he estimates less than 2% of the material he had left over from AFFC in 2005 has survived into the current book (I don't think this is a mathmatically precise formula, more of a rough estimate). The rest has been thoroughly rewritten and re-edited during that time.

He originally had a great deal of Dance finished when Feast published but then either destroyed much of that work or had to do some serious rewriting on the rest of it. I think he told me once that only 2% of those chapters escaped unscathed. I can’t imagine what it is like to write the same book three or four different times.

[OverHill]

GRRM told Suvudu that he estimates less than 2% of the material he had left over from AFFC in 2005 has survived into the current book (I don't think this is a mathmatically precise formula, more of a rough estimate). The rest has been thoroughly rewritten and re-edited during that time.

What Shawn writes is "I think he told me once that only 2% of those chapters escaped unscathed". I actually remembers the first time Shawn posted his e-mail reply from George. Free from memory:

"Q:How many pages remain unchanged ?

GRRM: Less than 2 %. Of course,some chapters have only a few word changed.Others are totally rewritten"

This is a far cry from claiming that all pages left over from Feast is deleted.

[Rockroi]

I still find it interesting how people seem to know how long a book takes to write, You can estimate based on their other work but each book is unique. It's the same with the 5 chapters; we can guess how long it takes to write but no-one knows, not even GRRM how long they will actually take.

We all know how long it takes to write a book. Every. Last. One. Of. Us. The answer is that the time "varies depending on multiple factors." However, lets not pretend that the author has absolutely no control over those factors. Some he does, some he clearly does not (ie: one of his pets died between books).

i agree that it would be madness to delay ADWD to coincide with the show.

For starters, its not madness at all from a business POV; having the new book come out JUST before the series will get more people involved in the series AND the books, both to the benefit of Martin and the publishers. That's not madness at all; its good business sense. And I don't know WHEN the "delays" started, or even if I would call this strategy a "delay." I mean, if Martin had been only 5 chapters away from completion in 2007, I sincerely doubt he would have delayed regardless of the pot o' gold at the end of the HBO rainbow. But if its mid to late 2009... and you have some chapters to write... but, you know, if you could release the book in 2011... to coincide right with the series opener...

Part of my hypothesis is that Martin - because he was tied up in the HBO project - which Ran attempted to say wasn't THAT much; you know he was only involved in negotiations, traveling to Ireland, script consulting and, of course, writing a whole episode; but other than THAT he was only involved a little - pushed back ADwD. And once the HBO series looked like it was a "go" (which was pretty early on; all signs pointed to "yes" very quickly) ... well... the book could now, LEGITIMATELY, wait; everyone knew that at that point. Releasing the book in March with the series coming out in April would be a huge boon to the publishers and to Martin.

Again, I think that's just smart business. Some on these boards say that because I don't live in Martin's house that I cannot even make these comments, but the reality is, this all seems as if it was planned at some point. Certainly not as far back as pre-HBO series etc. But once it looked like a possibility, I can see everyone -Martin, the publishers -having a collective realization and everyone moving on from there.

If anything it mat have caused him to speed up a bit so that he can do promos, watch the show.

This is also a legitimate possibility, spun more favorably to Martin. This goes to the "motivation" idea that I have; I think that there may very well have been more impetus to finish the books. Again, this makes perfect sense to me; makes no sense to others.

I still think no harm can come from the 2 things being out with a month of each other.

I think it will be very positive all around.

[Songlian]

2011 will be a fine year with drooling at Sean Bean in a big shaggy cloak and reading ADWD.

I'm now going back to my shitty 2010 existence.

LOL. So true.

I'm not getting terribly excited about these 5 chapters. I'm willing to bet they'll take more time than we expect them to. Heck, if I were writing the last five chapters of a book millions* of people have been waiting for 5.5 years, I'd take all the time in the world.

But it's coming, so that's good news.

*I'm deducting that from the number of volumes sold. I have no idea how many readers Mr. Martin actually has.