George R R Martin

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Pilot won't be complete for quite a while yet. Filming is still going, and I imagine the post production process will take some time. If it gets the go ahead I think HBO are targeting September / October 2010 to commence the first season.

The lazy fat **** has still not finished DwD and still decided to take off to Europe for a couple of months to watch filming. The useless prick has only released one book in 10 years, and that book was a far cry from the quality of the first 3.

I fully expect him to die before finishing the series, which really pisses me off considering how much time he has wasted.
 

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I honestly think it is a case of ambition exceeding talent Cap.

He has created a beast of epic proportions and don't think he has the skills to handle the associated complexity as the series has evolved.

Jordan was an exceptionally intelligent man and had a team of people working for him to keep track of everyone and everything. Martin comes across as a lazy and disorganized bloke, and the unfocused waffle he released in Feast really reinforced this for me.

He's a very good descriptive writer, but it sounds like he is making it up as he goes along... which for a story of this size and complexity leads to massive deadline misses and superfluous scope bloat.

The other thing that really pisses me off is all the other projects he's got on the side. He's obviously not getting paid for ASoIaF as it is so fricken late, so he's spending a lot of his time releasing other stuff and associated gimmick collectibles.
 
I finished A G O T a few weeks ago, read the last 300-400 pages straight it was so amazingly good and finished even better. I actually went to bed early (like 10) and was glued in for 5 hours.

Fantasy books to TV need serious time and budget to do them justice. You can't just take the gist of it and write a script. I am pretty interested in the child casting of the show (wait, that didn't come out right) since so much of the book is from their perspective.
 
Martin has most of the cast (with pictures) within the blog on his site, although I think most of the child actors are basically unknown.

The roles of Dany and Tyrion should be the most interesting IMO.

Tamzin Merchant has been cast as Dany...

tamzin-merchant.jpg


Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, although hopefully they make him over to look more repulsively ugly than his portfolio shot...

peter-dinklage1226610415.jpg
 
I honestly think it is a case of ambition exceeding talent Cap.

He has created a beast of epic proportions and don't think he has the skills to handle the associated complexity as the series has evolved.

Jordan was an exceptionally intelligent man and had a team of people working for him to keep track of everyone and everything. Martin comes across as a lazy and disorganized bloke, and the unfocused waffle he released in Feast really reinforced this for me.

He's a very good descriptive writer, but it sounds like he is making it up as he goes along... which for a story of this size and complexity leads to massive deadline misses and superfluous scope bloat.

Dude I know it's stressful times for a grrm fan, wondering if it will be done. However firstly yes his appearance is shabby, but it is simply impossible to write the amount of quality books he has, and be a lazy person. Disorganised maybe, still I would dispute that, you need to be very focused when writing fantasy as it requires maintaining consistency.

As for calling Feat for Crows unfocused waffle, it is personal taste, and I would agree that it is not the best book. But it is really half a book. My hope is that the next book will strengthen Feast. Aside from this I think the series sort of needed a change of pace, it couldn't just keep hurtling along at the pace of the first three.
 
Martin has most of the cast (with pictures) within the blog on his site, although I think most of the child actors are basically unknown.

The roles of Dany and Tyrion should be the most interesting IMO.

Tamzin Merchant has been cast as Dany...

tamzin-merchant.jpg


Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, although hopefully they make him over to look more repulsively ugly than his portfolio shot...

peter-dinklage1226610415.jpg

Dany is the one who gets her cans out yeah? :D


As for Martin himself i'm not sure, I have to admit I have enjoyed all of the books, I got into his series very late so i read them all in a short period of time.

I have never read his other stuff in anticipation for the finishing of this series, I assume from the popularity that he has done some good stuff however.
 
Disorganised maybe, still I would dispute that, you need to be very focused when writing fantasy as it requires maintaining consistency.

This is his first fantasy series, he wrote for TV for a vast majority of his career. I don't think he has much clue what he is doing ATM.

He is a very good writer, but is a limited novelist.

As for calling Feat for Crows unfocused waffle, it is personal taste, and I would agree that it is not the best book. But it is really half a book. My hope is that the next book will strengthen Feast. Aside from this I think the series sort of needed a change of pace, it couldn't just keep hurtling along at the pace of the first three.

Completely disagree.

Firstly the pacing in the first three books were spot on. There was absolutely no need to slow it down to the point where very little of substance happens.

The entire reason why we only got half a book is because he had no idea what he was doing plot wise. He basically knows the story he wants to tell but has little clue how to structure it... save trial and error. This trial and error approach is exactly why the last books have taken so long, and why Feast was a complete mess.
 
Interesting. I'm not sure if Martin is a hopeless novelist, I really don't know enough to comment about that. (I guess the fact he split a book might show he's hopeless, but then again it might show hes a ****ing genius)

I guess all I can say is I enjoyed Feast for Crows, sure sometimes it was slow, and I kept thinking about Jon/Tyrion etc, but it was still a enjoyable for me.

Another thing about Feast was he clearly wanted to portray Jamie as more likeable. This wouldn't really be effective if all of a sudden he started riding acting compelelty different, needed some time to see him meandering around the place.

Either way this argument will be interesting to revist once Dance has been read, because if he nails it, they should go together very well.
 
Dany is the one who gets her cans out yeah? :D

Being a HBO production I have the feeling there will be quite a few norks on display.

How they handle the twins incestuous relationship and the scene were Bran catches them going at it at Winterfell will be interesting.

Hopefully HBO don't have to over simplified or sanitised it too much... I think it will need the edginess and morality compass of the books to be truly successful.
 
Being a HBO production I have the feeling there will be quite a few norks on display.

How they handle the twins incestuous relationship and the scene were Bran catches them going at it at Winterfell will be interesting.

Hopefully HBO don't have to over simplified or sanitised it too much... I think it will need the edginess and morality compass of the books to be truly successful.

thats true, I also hope they don't soften the dwarf they need to make sure he is properly portrayed to give most of the story meaning.
 
The entire reason why we only got half a book is because he had no idea what he was doing plot wise. He basically knows the story he wants to tell but has little clue how to structure it... save trial and error. This trial and error approach is exactly why the last books have taken so long, and why Feast was a complete mess.

Yep, he started writing it with a huge gap in time from ASOS then realised he'd have to write an intervening book to fill n the gaps. The series has got away from him.

I've recommended it before but if you want big complex fantasy where the author retains control read the Malazan series by Steven Erikson. He said from early on that it would be 10 books and he's stuck to that. Book 9 has just been released and there's no doubt he will finish it in book 10. The books have been released at regular intervals as well.

The series is if anything more complex than ASOIAF with history covering 100,000s of years and lashings of magic and gods.
 

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Haha, well Dwarf casting is just a slightly limited talent pool. Tyrion's character requires a great actor to give the his role justice.
 
Man there are a lot of whingers around here.

Firstly, news that HBO are filming this is I would have thought would have been a positive not a negative. HBO produce quality programmes and I could not imagine a better fit as they will be able to string it out as long as it needs to. So they will not need to shorten it.
I trust them to get it right. Tyrion and Dany look spot on.

Secondly, yes it is frustrating that George is taking ages to complete it, but this is his life work. I'm guessing he will take his sweet time and ensure that it is right. Would you rather he churned them out J.K.Rowling style? I think I will back the man who has produced this work rather than you guys.

Thirdly, Erikson is OK, but he is not a patch on Martin. So he churns out his books at a great rate, well that is convenient but does not really effect the quality of the work.

So you can all complain that he is fat, lazy, has lost his way, has sold out or whatever. But I will wait and see what the next book is like, knowing that even if he dies tomorrow the man has still produced the greatest fantasy series there is. And the fact that we may get to see it on screen is a bonus and reason for cheer not complaints.
 
Secondly, yes it is frustrating that George is taking ages to complete it, but this is his life work. I'm guessing he will take his sweet time and ensure that it is right. Would you rather he churned them out J.K.Rowling style? I think I will back the man who has produced this work rather than you guys.
I'd rather he'd learn the lesson of Robert Jordan's death. That if you are writing an epic fantasy series and get diverted by side projects (New Spring, World of wheel of time for Jordan, various Dunk and Egg and series and tours etc. for Martin), then given your age there's a good risk you won't live to finish your own life work.
 
I'd rather he'd learn the lesson of Robert Jordan's death. That if you are writing an epic fantasy series and get diverted by side projects (New Spring, World of wheel of time for Jordan, various Dunk and Egg and series and tours etc. for Martin), then given your age there's a good risk you won't live to finish your own life work.

Robert Jordan died of some sort of illness didn't he? George might be fat, but he is not that old. We can't expect him to live his life like he may die any day now and therefore drop everything and finish the book. He would have a good 20 years of writing left in him, surely.

Yes I would like him to finish the series a bit faster, but who's to say he did not take even longer working on the story for the first three books? He is obviously a little distracted with a few side projects, but we should let the master finish the masterpiece at the rate he is happy with. I'm sure there were a few nuff-nuffs who were telling Michelangelo to "hurry up and finish the damn ceiling already".

PS. I like the Dunk and Egg series, i would have no problem if he did some more of those. They are basically a prequel to the series. I think one character may have even appeared in both?
 
I agree with you Kaiser, my only issue was the apparent "finshedness" of the next book which originally was "done bar some minor alterations" but this long later its still going except twice the size of the original book which was cut in two?

for me its more about the communication that the actualy time frame.
 
Robert Jordan died of some sort of illness didn't he? George might be fat, but he is not that old. We can't expect him to live his life like he may die any day now and therefore drop everything and finish the book. He would have a good 20 years of writing left in him, surely.

Martin was born on September 20, 1948, Jordan was born on October 17, 1948... so Jordan was actually younger and healthier than Martin prior to being diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis.


Martin is 61 and has lived a fat and sedentary lifestyle for a very long time, thus is at greater risk of developing some sort of life threatening condition than most. Personally I think he'll drop dead of a heart attack before he reaches 70.

Martin has also had great troubles writing Feast and Dragons, thus has only published a single book in the last 10 years. Compared to the first 3 this book was poor.

If those factors are not enough to shove a rocket up your arse then I don't know what is.
 
Martin was born on September 20, 1948, Jordan was born on October 17, 1948... so Jordan was actually younger and healthier than Martin prior to being diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis.


Martin is 61 and has lived a fat and sedentary lifestyle for a very long time, thus is at greater risk of developing some sort of life threatening condition than most. Personally I think he'll drop dead of a heart attack before he reaches 70.

Martin has also had great troubles writing Feast and Dragons, thus has only published a single book in the last 10 years. Compared to the first 3 this book was poor.

If those factors are not enough to shove a rocket up your arse then I don't know what is.
Bingo. Any one fat and sedentary and over 60 is living on luck. Your numbers may not come up soon, but there's a good chance they could. What's the latest on how many after A Dance with Dragons? 2 more isn't it? At 5 years a book it's a 50-50 bet he'll finish his series at the current rate.
 
Martin was born on September 20, 1948, Jordan was born on October 17, 1948... so Jordan was actually younger and healthier than Martin prior to being diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis.


Martin is 61 and has lived a fat and sedentary lifestyle for a very long time, thus is at greater risk of developing some sort of life threatening condition than most. Personally I think he'll drop dead of a heart attack before he reaches 70.

Martin has also had great troubles writing Feast and Dragons, thus has only published a single book in the last 10 years. Compared to the first 3 this book was poor.

If those factors are not enough to shove a rocket up your arse then I don't know what is.

Let's not split hairs, but Dance is supposedly all over bar the shouting. So he has finished two books in the last 10 years. So he should be finished the series by 70, which coincides nicely with the lifespan you have given him.

I would far rather he took his time and got the whole vision out than rushed it and butcher it.

I suppose we just have different levels of expectations.

My view is take your time and get it right. Prove that Feast is more of a lull in the story than a decline in talent/interest. Hopefully Dragons kicks arse and puts the doubters/knockers back in their holes.
 
Let's not split hairs, but Dance is supposedly all over bar the shouting. So he has finished two books in the last 10 years. So he should be finished the series by 70, which coincides nicely with the lifespan you have given him.

I would far rather he took his time and got the whole vision out than rushed it and butcher it.

I suppose we just have different levels of expectations.

My view is take your time and get it right. Prove that Feast is more of a lull in the story than a decline in talent/interest. Hopefully Dragons kicks arse and puts the doubters/knockers back in their holes.

I agree with you Kaiser. :thumbsu:
 

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George R R Martin

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