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George RR Martin is Not My Bitch
mood: 
contemplative
contemplativeEven if you hate fantasy I recommend you pick up the first book in the series - A Game of Thrones.
The problem is that Martin intends this series to be a seven parter and so far only four books have seen the light of day. But that's ok. I read comics so I'm used to waiting for my stories.
But the longer I wait for the next instalment the further Martin's deadline seems to blow out. Originally the fifth book was going to be published pretty soon after the fourth book in 2005. On Martin's official web site there's a statement saying he hoped to have the fifth book published in autumn (US time) 2008. But that came and went with still no book. According to Amazon the current release date for the novel is September 2009 - but even that date makes me sceptical.
In order to get some insight into the delays of this series I love I "friended" Martin on his Livejournal Blog but instead of updates on his progress all he seems to talk about is his new home renovations and how much he hates the new Star Trek film. Which frustrates me - if the man has time to renovate a room to house his collection of medieval miniatures surely he has time to finish a book that is now 4 years overdue.
Which got me thinking - what obligation or responsibility does an author have to his fans to finish a series of books.
A good authoring question deserves a good authoring answer so I figured I'd seek out the advice of the man I most respect on the interwebs - Mr Neil Gaiman.
The response can be found here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/e
And Neil has a point. George RR Martin is not my bitch. And at the end of the day I would prefer to read a quality book that's late rather than an inferior book that's on time.
But I do have a couple of further thoughts:
- I disagree that as a reader I have no contract with an author. By asking me to invest in his story and his characters (as well as outlaying the cash for the story) I feel the author has an obligation to provide me with the complete story. If I went to McDonalds and only got half a burger, especially if I've been asked to invest in the whole burger, I'd be outraged
- While producing art is a completely different process to any other product, if you're selling your art it is at the end of the day a product. No producer outside of the arts would be allowed to get away with not delivering a product for four years after they said it would
So at the end of the day I will wait for Martin to come through with a quality book, hopefully sometime this year. But I also think Martin should do two things that I am asked to do every day at my work and I'm sure every other person with a "normal" job is also asked to do - Set realistic expectations and deliver on your commitments.
Also, I heart Neil Gaiman.
I'm used to LJ as conversation on personal life issues as that's what a lot of my friends use it for (me included), but you have an inquisitive nature which leads to questions being asked that others might never venture to have answered.
I'm really glad you ask the questions. I'm also glad Neil "he's so awesome I could squee" Gaiman gave you such an open and honest answer. I think that's a quality you bring out in people, open and frank conversation.
Keep up the good work. Oh and I should go and comment on your Master Chef post.
I can't quite roll with your 1/2 a Maccas burger analogy when it comes to writing and am not sure I have the available brain to explain why, but I'll try. I think if a contract exists its for the part of the story you have purchased - the book in your hand. I don't think any book or series of books is truly the 'whole story'. And to expect the contract is for the 'whole story' is just setting authors up to fail. Books tend to give us a small segment of the story, and a series just gives us several segments of the story. And with anything creative - shit happens - inspiration can desert you because its too windy, you have an itchy nose or just because. While there is a certain discipline involved in writing a work of fiction, its not something that you can necessarily 'set a realistic expectation and deliver on' because of the nature of creative thought. You read comics, so you are used to waiting for your stories. The beauty of the creative process lies in letting the story or whatever you are creating evolve and sometimes that takes time, or even going away and doing something else for a period of time (and time is elastic and screams past while you are seatching for inspiration elsewhere). I'd prefer (and I suspect you do too) to wait a while for a good story rather than read crap that has been written just to meet a deadline...
And yes Neil Gaiman is a god and I love him lots too!
Although I am a little worried I'm known as "BEER GUY". Sure, my username is beer related but ... ah, stuff it. I'm beer guy.
So now its "oh it was Gareth (who knows KT)" who emailed Neil - small world...
And yes I am a massive Gaiman fan from way back, I think the one thing I will never forgive my exhusband for is taking his Sandman comics when he left - bastard! Of course I now have the perfect excuse to buy the fabulous Absolute Sandman (along with my Absolute Death which I have ordered).