*Originally published on 2/10/11
While I haven't had a chance to read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels yet, I find myself enthralled by the civil war that is raging in his fan base. When the books first came out back in 1996, they came out in two year intervals. Fans were quite content with this as it gave the author enough time to craft a complex tale, but it wasn't so long that they got impatient about the matter.
The bottom fell out, however, when work on the fourth book, called A Dance with Dragons, was being written. Martin's narrative for this volume got so large that a book binding wouldn't hold it. It was decided that the book would be split up into two parts. Rather than just name it "Part 1" and "Part 2", Martin decided to give the book its own title, and thus A Feast For Crows was born.
A Feast For Crows was released in 2005, which irked some fans, but Martin promised that the second half of the volume, which would stick with the title of A Dance with Dragons, would be out soon as he already had large portions of it done.
A Dance with Dragons, to this day, is still waiting a publication date. This has caused a portion of Martin's fan base to turn on him. They accuse of him of either being lazy or putting the series on the back burner. Some even go so far as to say that he's lost interest in the series completely and doesn't want to deal with it.
There was a time when Martin used his blog to give fans updates on his work progress. For some reason, fans didn't approve of this. Martin got so fed up with the complaining that he declared that updates would no longer be given until the book was finished. Of course, now that he's not giving regular updates and using his blog to talk about other things, his detractors see that as a sign that he's not focusing on the books.
I honestly don't get the first mentality. I know, authors don't "owe" their readers updates on their work, but if you're a writer with a blog, it's a nice addition. It helps build the fan-artist connection. In Martin's case, it proves that he's actually working on the book and making progress; something some of the fans have grown skeptical of. It would also give anxious fans an explanation. Say Martin spent a week revising his manuscript, a quick blurb about that will let fans know that he's backtracking a little, or if he got a chapter or two done, or if he's hit a wall and is trying to work around it, they would then know what's going on and it might quell some complaints about the long wait.
There are those who empathize. Fellow author Neil Gaiman even went so far as to say that George R.R. Martin is not our "female dog". This is true, but he does work for a company. One can't help but think that they would want the thing done as well.
Martin has officially said that he doesn't like deadlines and thus, doesn't work with them. I have to admit, this perplexes me as it was my understanding that publishing companies insist on giving deadlines. I've read other authors discuss the process and it was my understanding that they expect writers to stick to deadlines and that the "its done when its done' mentality is nothing more than a pipe dream. If they want to work with the author to come up with a deadline that suits both, that's great, but I didn't think that they took such a laissez-faire approach to things.
In Martin's defense, not all of the delays are due to football and traveling. The man had some health issues that caused some delays.
Still, the traveling and football are issues to fans, who feel that he's become lazy. I can see the traveling being an issue, but its possible to write and watch football at the same time. I'm sure the man has a laptop. I'm not saying that's what he necessarily does, but watching football doesn't necessarily mean "not working".
Some may wonder why the book is taking so long when he had a head start. According to Martin, all of that was pretty much scrapped and he started from square one, which added even more time.
While there are arguments in Martin's favor, the "anti-Martin" side does bring up some good points. Fans are patient, but this has been pushing it. Maybe it was the early 2 year pattern that set a bad precedent, but getting one entry in a decade is pushing it. When you're getting to a point where there's a good chance that Duke Nukem Forever is going to come out before your book, you have a situation on your hands.
I'm not sure I buy the argument that he doesn't care about the series or that he doesn't want to write it anymore. If this were the case, he could have easily just pulled a "rocks fall, everybody dies" ending out and just ended it right there. Some fans might complain, but it would get them off his back about finishing the series and allow him to focus on other things without people asking him when the next Song of Ice and Fire book is out.
On the contrary, the series seems to be getting bigger. Oddly enough, it was originally supposed to be a trilogy, but slowly expanded to what is expected to be seven, maybe even eight books.
Of course, this only raises another fear, that Martin won't live to finish the series. We've seen this sort of thing crop up before. Fans of the Dark Tower books had a scare when Stephen King was hit by a van back in 1999, but it was the tragic death of fantasy writer Robert Jordan that really put fear into the hearts of ASOIAF fans. Martin himself admits that he's getting old, and is rather husky, but still resents the sentiment.
Fan complaints got to the point where Martin doesn't permit comments discussing the series on his blog. He has assistants who filter through all the comments and only post ones that meet his standards.
This was a major strike against fans as they feel like he's shunning them. Things are made worse when the man makes several posts advertising A Song of Ice and Fire merchandise. This, to them, is a major slap in the face as it comes off like Martin taking their dedication for granted. Its easy to understand why. It does seem odd that he would make a point to ban all discussion of the series, and then turn around and push merchandise from that same series. The idea that he's just milking his fans for money is not an unfounded one.
As of now, it is quite possible that the book is done. It was said back in December that Martin is working on the last five chapters, and that even those are well outlined. The author also made mention of two 'major announcements" but health issues forced him to push it back. One of those announcements was recently said to be a comic adaptation of the series, but there is talk that he might actually be done with the novel.
Of course, readers have been down this road before, as it was said the book would be done back in 2008, and yet here we are.
Even if you've never read the books, I suggest browsing blogs and what not. This really is a fascinating conflict. Of course, going through said blogs becomes even funnier as most of them were demanding the book three years ago. Knowing that it's still not out makes reading those old entries that much funnier. Speaking of funny, I admit a preference for the anti-Martin blogs (ironic considering I cut the author quite a bit of slack here), just because they're so snarky. God help me, I love me some good snark.
The Martin defenders see this as having an entitlement complex, but you can easily see where they're coming from. They too, really got into the series, but find themselves cycling through the books repeatedly trying to pass the time. This is often countered with "go read other things", but that seems like a false argument.
Whether they like it or not, fans are forced to wait until the book is done. Many are content to wait patiently, while those who aren't have found a new hobby in taking potshots at the author and cracking jokes about the whole thing. Whatever side you fall on, one can't help but be fascinated by this whole ordeal.
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