a career I do not want

[swan_tower]

Tor.com had a recent piece about George R.R. Martin’s announcement that the sixth book in his series will not be published before the next season of Game of Thrones airs. That means the show’s storyline will officially outpace the novels'; we find out what happens next from HBO, not Martin.

Reading that piece, it occurred to me that I do not want Martin’s career.

His piles of money? Sure. But not, I think, at the cost of everything that has come with it. I could be perfectly happy with a much smaller quantity of money, and the thought of living under the kind of stress he faces is massively unappealing. I think it’s clear, from everything he’s said and the way the series has progressed, that he’s the victim of his own success: so many people are invested in A Song of Ice and Fire, and the resulting pressure is grinding the life out of it for him.

For anybody who makes their living creatively, that’s kind of a horrifying thought. And I honestly feel bad for him with this HBO situation. I mean, he’s made plenty of statements about how HBO is telling their own version of the story, and it doesn’t affect his own, etc etc, and yes, fans will still care about the “real” end of the tale — but it has to feel like somebody else got there before him. Maybe that will make it easier for him to move forward; who knows? It could take some of the pressure off him. But he’s no longer leading the pack, and I have to imagine that stings. I know I wouldn’t want to be in that position myself.

I thought about something else, too. When the TV series started airing, book fans were incredibly disciplined about not spoiling things for people who came to the story via the show. This was, in part, a selfish act: I had a friend who hadn’t read the books, and I couldn’t wait to be there when she reacted to certain major events. Spoiling would have ruined the fun. But it was also courteous — and although I’m not optimistic, I’d like to hope that people watching the show will extend the same courtesy to anyone who is sticking with the books alone. Certainly I will; any posts I make about events on the show will be hidden behind a cut-tag. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I didn’t like A Dance with Dragons much at all and I feel the series has been rolling downhill with increasing speed . . . but I still hope that Martin pulls up out of that dive (to mix my metaphors), and anybody who prefers to go the text route should have that chance.

And I wish Martin the best in finishing off The Winds of Winter, and however many more there may be.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[siduri1959]

You know you are in too deep when they make a cookbook based in your character's kitchens. LOL.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hah, very true!

[sovay]

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I didn’t like A Dance with Dragons much at all and I feel the series has been rolling downhill with increasing speed

Have you liked the TV narrative better?

I very definitely would not want someone to be telling a version of my own story ahead of me (to be honest, the way my brain works, it would probably shut down my ability to write the story: it's already been told), and the additional deadline pressure feels like a subspecies of hell. What were the reasons that HBO didn't hold off on airing the next season until Martin had at least completed the next book?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Have you liked the TV narrative better?

Overall, yes. There are individual moments where they changed the tenor of an event to something I don't like at all (mostly revolving around making a couple of dubious sex scenes into something that reads a lot more like outright assault), but on the whole? Their narrative is vastly more focused, especially as we get into the material that's from books 4 and 5. I feel very strongly that Martin has lost the through-line of his narrative, pursuing side characters we don't care about and bogging down in minutiae instead of getting to the good stuff, and the show -- by dint of having less leeway to sprawl -- is avoiding those pitfalls pretty well.

(Of course, they have benefited by having a road map in front of them. We'll see what happens when they strike off into uncharted territory.)

What were the reasons that HBO didn't hold off on airing the next season until Martin had at least completed the next book?

Publication dates for the novels thus far:

A Game of Thrones -- August 1996
A Clash of Kings -- February 1999
A Storm of Swords -- November 2000
A Feast for Crows -- November 2005
A Dance with Dragons -- July 2011
The Winds of Winter -- four years, six months, and counting

I don't think expecting them to wait is reasonable.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

And the series piloted in 2009, actually came out in April 2011. Clearly he'd slowed down a lot, long before the show was a factor. To be fair, WP says he started writing GoT in 1991, so the early burst of three books may have had some invisible lead time... though it also says his early 90s were interrupted by working on a TV series that never aired.

As I and others pointed out on his LJ, his current situation may be unusual for a Western author but is dime-a-dozen for Japanese manga and light novel authors; having an anime start up based on an ongoing book series isn't at all noteworthy. Sometimes the anime tries to tag along, with filler (Bleach) or delays to stall for time, other times it finds a stopping point for itself in the material (Suzumiya, and I suspect Magical Index or Full Metal Panic) or just makes up an ending (FMA). I assume "ask the author and spoil" has happened too.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I strongly suspect the more rapid early pace was the result of some lead time, yeah.

Good point about Japanese authors.

[sovay]

Sometimes the anime tries to tag along, with filler (Bleach) or delays to stall for time, other times it finds a stopping point for itself in the material (Suzumiya, and I suspect Magical Index or Full Metal Panic) or just makes up an ending (FMA).

I am currently living with two people who are really entertained by the prospect of a Game of Thrones filler arc; their going assumption is ten episodes of sexposition and random character death which no one then ever mentions again.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

. . . so, filming the cut material from books 4 and 5?

(Snark, yes, but not unfounded in reality. One of my favorite punching bags from book 5 is the brand-new character we follow on a journey for three entire chapters, only for him to die when he reaches his destination, without having accomplished anything.)

[sovay]

One of my favorite punching bags from book 5 is the brand-new character we follow on a journey for three entire chapters, only for him to die when he reaches his destination, without having accomplished anything.

That's hilarious, except for how it's not.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Heh! HBO probably wouldn't mind, what with their hints of wanting 10 seasons instead of 7. And there's probably enough material that they wouldn't even have to write their own filler, just steal parts of the books they skipped.

Of course, that's because AIUI much of the last two books feels like filler arc to many fans as it is...

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu is my favorite filler of all time.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like it a lot more than what I've seen of the main FMP. But AFAIK there are more novels than the animated series, which is what I was referring to. Definitely so for Suzumiya or Twelve Kingdoms.

[sovay]

I don't think expecting them to wait is reasonable.

In part I made the assumption that Martin was much closer to publication than he evidently may be; filming a season and then holding off six months on airing it seemed courteous, but I understand that if we're talking another two years, no one's going to do it.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The problem is that nobody knows how long it will be, Martin included. He has a history of blowing his deadlines on a scale that would get any less lucrative author canned with extreme prejudice.

[amysisson.livejournal.com]

HBO would risk losing the momentum they've created, especially for the many viewers they have who have never read the books.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Actors age, actors need to be paid or take other jobs, sets hang around taking up space or needing maintenance... you can't just put the show on hold waiting for him.

[sovay]

Actors age, actors need to be paid or take other jobs, sets hang around taking up space or needing maintenance... you can't just put the show on hold waiting for him.

I asked the question based on just having read this interview with an HBO executive regarding True Detective, expressing the wish in hindsight that the network had given the writer more time rather than making sure not to have a hiatus between seasons of a hit; if the answer is, "They're totally different formats of show," then never mind.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Interesting interview.
I knew nothing about True Detective, but WP says "Each season of the series is structured as a disparate, self-contained narrative, employing new cast ensembles and following various sets of characters and settings."

...which yeah, sounds like *completely* different formats. That's more like producing completely different shows under the same title and theme; wouldn't cost them anything to wait on the writer. GoT is (trying to be) a single narrative over multiple seasons, with a continuous cast. The clock is ticking. Contract renewals are coming.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd say True Detective and Game of Thrones are entirely different beasts. S2 of TD is, from what I know of it, more like "here's another series set in the same cosmos" than any kind of continuation of the S1 story.

I could see delaying for Martin, maybe, if #6 was the final book and they had a reasonable belief that he would finish it in a timely manner. You could even film the final season of the show and just keep it in the can until the book came out (though I'd expect HBO to grumpyface about sitting on the conclusion of their biggest moneymaker). Since it isn't the last book, though, they're going to lap Martin somewhere along the line; there's no sense hamstringing the show to make it happen one book later.

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

It has to be so stressful. I feel for him, it us so hard to be creative under that kind of pressure.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Watching what happened to Martin has made me swear that if I ever write a series, it's going to be Vorkosigan Saga-style with one-off books in the same universe, not a continuous narrative that's going to blow up in my face.

Of course, since I am never going to be as wildly successful as Martin, I don't have to worry about this, but...

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Question: do you think Martin was more enthusiastic about writing _A World of Ice and Fire_ than writing Winds of Winter?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it, so I really couldn't say. It's possible, since that might be a way to remind himself of what he likes about the setting, without the pressure of moving the story forward. But I have no idea.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I did, via the library. It was kind of fun. Also more of a funhouse-mirror version of the real world. Clincher when I started wondering if Asshai was named after/inspired by the Altai mountains, they're very roughly in similar parts of the world.

I imagine he had a lot of fun writing it; I have enough worldbuilder impulse to recognize the signs. But doesn't advance the story people signed on for...

('Subversion': "you thought this story was going to be about the oversized British isles it started out in, but look, not!Eurasia is so much more exotic and fun!")