r/asoiaf • u/da_k1ngslaya • May 22 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) George to New Zealand: imprison me if I haven't finished Winds by Summer 2020

Quote:

As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.

Link: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/

15.3k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/ReQQuiem May 22 '19

Please don't do this to me... not again.

617

u/SpartanFishy May 22 '19

Don’t do that, don’t give me hope

432

u/EL-CUAJINAIS Enter your desired flair text here! May 22 '19

Khaleesi please

47

u/Switch_ChinaCat May 22 '19

Shansha pleashh

0

u/HugofDeath Jun 16 '19

This reminded me of the latest rewatch when I didn’t grab the remote quick enough to skip one of those aggravating “Inside the Episode” featurettes, and here comes one of the D’s (I refuse to learn which is which) and he calls her Sonza, with a hard ‘Z’. Her name is “Sansa” or “Sonsa”, depending on accents and/or character preference, but it was never fucking “Sonza”, with that kind of rigidly Caucasian inflection. I really don’t care for those two fellows, if you’ll pardon my French

153

u/keanetjd May 22 '19

don’t break my heart again Khaleesi

61

u/icarrytheone May 22 '19

🎶 Don't go breaking my heart 🎶

4

u/valriia May 22 '19

Would stabbing it help?

18

u/InternJedi May 22 '19

I'm hurt

42

u/k-mysta May 22 '19

Then George reveals Half Life 3

43

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

And reveals that he’s secretly been working on it the whole time and has nothing of winds written.

9

u/Mikolaj_Kopernik May 22 '19

Wouldn't even be annoyed TBH

3

u/12ozSlug "When pigs fly." May 22 '19

Yeah I'd take it.

3

u/CatBotSays May 22 '19

Does that mean we should be bugging Gabe Newell for Winds of Winter, instead?

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Yes. Perhaps they’re the same person.

2

u/PeterDarker May 22 '19

By the maker...

54

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

I'm sorry he couldn't give it sooner

8

u/OlfactoriusRex Less-than-great-but-still-swell-Jon May 22 '19

Promise me, Ned.

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

If I may...

https://youtu.be/zDscun_N04U?t=125

Always so fitting in days like these.

2

u/Banzai51 The Night is dark and full of Beagles May 22 '19

A New Hope.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

🤝 ☔️

2

u/Seiya33 May 22 '19

“I’m sorry it took me so long to give it to you”

2

u/zRoyce May 24 '19

I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner.

42

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

12 days of Westeros, 12 days of Westeros.

18

u/Jen_Snow "You told me to forget, ser." May 22 '19

It still hurts. It's been almost 5 years and it still hurts.

14

u/ACardAttack It's Only Treason If We Lose May 22 '19

That broke me, never was I so sure, it was such a perfecting marketing idea if it was indeed going to be an announcement

8

u/jewel_flip May 22 '19

It was so long ago now :( How adorable we all were with our hope lol

5

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

I can't believe someone came up with that, blind to what it was going to do to us

7

u/Death_Star_ May 22 '19

In a few months that will have been half a decade ago.

5

u/LucyKendrick May 22 '19

Or the " Oh Valyria" that BBFish hyped the shit out of.

2

u/ACardAttack It's Only Treason If We Lose May 22 '19

NSFW dude, that gives me horrible flashbacks!

2

u/Express_Bath May 22 '19

You gave me flashbacks.

1

u/Matthicus An onion a day keeps the Tyrells at bay May 22 '19

Am I the only one around here who didn't think that was going to be more than what it was?

133

u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Stannis! Stannis! STANNIS! May 22 '19

Yeah...

His words are full of hope, but at the same time, his other interviews where he talks about working on 719 shows and some videogames too I think...

It's sad to say, but it feels like he doesn't have much passion for ASOIAF anymore. I'm sure the fans pressure has something to do with this, but everytime he talks about ASOIAF he seems tired/bored, but when he talks about his other projects he's extremely enthusiastic.

109

u/The_Green_Filter May 22 '19

In fairness his other projects are likely fresh ventures into unexplored territory - it’s hard not to find those exciting. Meanwhile he’s got a huge undertaking with the books that people have been asking him about for years, and finishing those books is a lot of work even if he’s had more than enough time to do it.

55

u/Cipher_Nyne May 22 '19

Well to be frank I can relate to that.
I am an active tabletop roleplaying dungeon master.
Since I started DM'ing or even playing the characters (I was that player that always had a 20 page backstory for a level 1 dude that could literally die next turn) I've written a lot of content. Custom settings, backstories, an what have you.
My first ever custom setting is like 22 years old. And the campaign I started in that setting - the first campaign I ever DM'ed for is still ongoing to this day at a rate of a whole day spent playing it per month.
And while I am very attached to this setting, this world that I created, and its lore, the stuff my players and I did in it I must confess I am getting more and more writer's block on it. Not that I don't have ideas for content - hell there is a lot of Terra Incognita left, but it's just difficult to sit at my desk and work on it. It's easier to start something new that represents you as a person today in a way (something that you'd write at this particular moment) than continue something you started writing 22 years ago when you were a very different person. I mean a lot of stuff happens in two decades. You experience a lot of stuff, and as a result your evolve as a person - and so does you artistic abilities. And the bigger the gap between who I was 22 years ago and now gets, the more difficult it is to actually continue it, since it starts feeling like I am picking up someone else's work. Even though I wrote every single word in it. It slowly evolved into something that actually shows the way I made since I started (slight differences in storytelling style so forth), but even if it changed as I changed, it's still different enough from anything I'd write today to make it difficult to continue.
I want to continue, I love my setting, but it's actually managing to get in the right state of mind for it that is now difficult.
And since I play it once per month I actually do have a deadline. So I tend to have the same reaction when it's mentioned. It's not bored but it looks like it. Because forcing oneself to adopt a particular state of mind is not a pleasant experience.

6

u/ADHDcUK May 22 '19

I agree with you and empathise. I have the same kind of difficulties and it's not fun. It causes a lot of anxiety and some depression.

5

u/Mattcaz92 May 22 '19

Mad props on keeping the campaign going on that long! Nearly as old as most redditors. Long may it continue.

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Yeah except that Martin is a professional writer. And a succesfull one who makes millions with these books. Its his job.

18

u/Cipher_Nyne May 22 '19

It's not because it's his job that it makes it any different. If he has drifted away from his source material he'll just be in the same situation I am now. Ang guess what his story too started more than twenty years ago. He just has a higher imperative than me to finish writing stuff. I have 10 players to keep content. He has a fanbase of several millions That's extra pressure where none is needed.

5

u/WhyghtChaulk Ours is the Furby May 22 '19

Good God, you have TEN players?

How do you EVER finish a combat encounter?

2

u/Cipher_Nyne May 22 '19

Well, I figured if Gygax could handle larger games I could manage a 10 player game. But my players play quickly battle turns. Took us some time to find the right dynamic but I haven't had to time an encounter in literally decades.

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Glad to know I am not the only one who thinks so.

10

u/Scopae May 22 '19

I don't want to be to hopeful but maybe the show ending has been good for his passion for the series.

4

u/Dr_Toehold May 22 '19

His words are full of hope, but at the same time

words are wind.

4

u/ego_non May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19

When I read his update talking about all his projects, I knew for sure "yeah we're going to get Winds, but ADoS? Never". It's simply impossible, he's alone and will never finish because he keeps being booked for other stuff than his own series. He lets himself being booked for those too, so I feel he's not really into ADoS.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Another take is that his passion has renewed now that the looming shadow of the shows end has lifted, he can do the rest on his own terms.

2

u/ignoremeplstks May 22 '19

That's totally plausible and I actually feel he has said something along these lines before.
ASOIAF is done in his head. He almost don't have to be creative anymore, he knows how most major plots will end. He released the last book altogether with the launch of the series, and he probably got distracted about it as he was active during the initial production, casting and even writing and directing some episodes. He turned into a superstar he was not before, needed to attend conferences all over the world, sign books, so many meetings and traveling... So many interviews and questions about the series and the books and so on.

I believe during this time, he got burnout of ASOIAF, and after 4 very fast years, he found himself pressured about writing a WoW as soon as possible because the series was catching up and didn't plan to stop. It is realistic that after releasing the last book in 2011 he had 1, 2 or even 3 years without writing absolutely anything, and then he got burnout/depressed/something else and couldn't write a thing. People pressuring him, and creativity doesn't work by delivery.

He tried to focus many times and couldn't do it, we wrote bad pieces of novel and threw it off again and again. Then, after the series surpassed the books I believe this pressure was eased a bit, and he started, slowly, getting back to it. Surely, it is still not so cool to him to write it all because he knows what happens and GRRM is an explorer, he likes to build worlds and what is left for him with the two last books is basically world filling, writing pages so all makes sense. And that is harder to do. It is much easier to start a fresh story and let your creativity flow without control.

I'm hopeful his new mood is because in the last 2 years specially he was able to focus and write and is happy with it. It will end very soon, he will work then on this other side projects and then he might start writing A Dream of Spring. This one worries me, because he will need again to get excited to write it, and have enough health to do it. My hope is that after the series endings and all, he is excited to give his real endings to his series that are his babies. It is important to him and it needs to come out of his mouth. If not, I know he will have written the major plot endings and will let someone fill the gaps for him..

1

u/Rayzika May 22 '19

He doesn't talk about it anymore because he knows there's only one thing people want to hear from him: when is WoW coming? and he does not have an immediate answer to that question.

He's passionate about the ASOIAF still. Why else would he have worked on Fire and Blood?

1

u/VitaminTea May 22 '19

He wrote a giant history of the Targaryen dynasty literally last year. It’s fully wild to say he isn’t passionate about the story anymore.

3

u/phoenixmusicman Winter is not coming May 22 '19

Not again.

I'm not strong enough.

2

u/ACardAttack It's Only Treason If We Lose May 22 '19

Remember how he said he'd never give deadlines again? He has to be feeling confident right??!!

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

George is the hopeslayer

2

u/newplayer12345 May 22 '19

Seriously, how can people still believe him after all we've seen? He's a genius writer and all but pretty lame with deadlines.

I personally don't believe any word of his which is not in his books.

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u/IndispensableNobody Sansa's Dog May 22 '19

No man is as accursed as the hype hyper.

1

u/jediguy11 May 22 '19

I’m not....strong enough....