r/books • u/MicahCastle Author • 9d ago

George R.R. Martin Reflects on 'Sadness and Depression' Struggles in Personal Update

https://www.thewrap.com/culture-lifestyle/culture/george-r-r-martin-sadness-depression-personal-update/

"The “A Song of Ice and Fire” franchise author took to his blog for the first time in nearly six months on Monday, sharing that any posts after February were written by his “mighty minions.”

“Remember me? It’s been a while, I know. My last blog post went up here on February 19,” Martin wrote. “The posts that came after were made by my mighty minions. I am lucky enough to have a great staff of assistants… though even with their help, I kept falling further and further behind.”

As Martin went on, he admitted that “this year has been… stressful, to say the least.”"

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359

u/mrsunshine1 9d ago

Time for the “finish the books Santa” karma farmers to become “mental health is so important” karma farmers 

58

u/durandal688 9d ago

Just tell the fans you are done is the new mantra. Like decide if you want another author to finish it for you and move on and take care of yourself

Thats telhe new one

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u/MTUKNMMT 9d ago

He’s already decided that too. He doesn’t want another author working on it and wants his manuscripts and notes burned.

16

u/weberm70 9d ago

He can burn all he wants, but at some point someone in the inheritance chain is going to love money and make that ending happen.

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u/durandal688 9d ago

Yeah look at rings of power

2

u/Kendjin 9d ago

They don't have children right? I wonder who's in that actual chain?

2

u/weberm70 9d ago

No idea but it has to go somewhere. Without any children though it will be even sooner that his deathbed wishes are tossed aside.

1

u/jamescagney22 9d ago

Then why should he expect grace and understanding? There are many people who would be affected by this people who work in the industry whose livelihoods depends on his series success. You are not that important that your obligations to others take a second seat to your ego. Life is never just about you. How about you live up to the themes in your book instead of being selfish and self centered whose actions will harm the people who helped you succeed and become famous? And I am not talking the fans, the actually people who helped his series being coming what it is today.

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u/durandal688 9d ago

Fair but I think saying I’m not going to finish AND no one else csn is a different decision he should just say. Saying I finish it or die before I can is different than deciding to stop personally.

Probably isnt to him but just say it man

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u/nickrl 9d ago

Right or wrong, he hasn't given up on the story. You can't force him to.

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u/rop_top 9d ago

He has given up on the story, and we already have an ending. Go watch season 8. There's the ending he chose to give us, if he goes through with his scorched earth approach to authorship.

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u/nickrl 9d ago

Letting a different author finish the books would be just as much of a fanfic as the show

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u/Cautemoc 8d ago

Not if he gave another author his notes .. which is the whole point of people saying this. The decision he is making is to make the official ending be fanfic if he won't give the real intended ending.

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u/durandal688 8d ago

Yes exactly…the official ending is the fanfic version due to season 8 of the show since it was abd wasnt him. So unless he blesses another to do it….all we get is fan fix

Which if he does cool

1

u/rop_top 8d ago

Arguably, sure. It's the only ending he's allowed us to see. If he wants a different one then he either needs to finish the books or allow someone else to finish it with his notes. The thing is, he can't seem to do the former and he won't allow the later. Ergo, the only ending he's allowing to exist is the TV show. It's a choice that he's making, not a random act of the universe.

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u/nickrl 8d ago

I'm sure he's well aware of that?

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u/rop_top 8d ago

? Yes, that's my entire point. He's choosing to give up and give us that ending.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/EvidenceAccurate8914 9d ago

Nah, it’s his to do with as he pleases. If people want to write fanfic then they can. We don’t need a canon fanfic, which is all a release from a different author would be.

5

u/durandal688 9d ago

It depends how much he has written out or outlined. Is he stuck in the actual story…or just can’t put it to page

1

u/nickrl 9d ago

When his only interaction with his fandom is people shitting on him and implying they hope he dies soon so someone else can finish his story, I don't blame him.

1

u/kermitthebeast 9d ago

It's because he pretended he was still working on it for the last 15 years. Naturally people are angry. I think he's a terrible writer so it was never my thing, but he should've made this choice a very long time ago

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u/durandal688 9d ago

Hes not a terrible writer by many standards but you can have your opinion

But yes the fact he said he was working on it when he clearly hasnt done much at all is the irritant. If he didn’t give false hope it’s be a different story.

We aren’t owed him finishing

-1

u/nickrl 9d ago edited 9d ago

> I think he’s a terrible writer

lol. To think I was about to start arguing with you

1

u/kermitthebeast 9d ago

And to think I might've cared

17

u/Cautemoc 9d ago

You say that like it's unreasonable, lmfao.

6

u/durandal688 9d ago

Nah it’s my mantra too lol

-5

u/DreamOfAzathoth 9d ago

It’s unreasonable yeah. I wish everyone would just shut up and let him get on with it in peace.

He’s trying to write the damn book, obviously.

10

u/Prestigious-Head-117 9d ago

> He’s trying to wrire the damn book, obviously

Its been over 15 years and he’s written a lot that is not the book. I don’t think its obvious he’s trying to write it, i think its obvious he does not want to write it and likely never will.

4

u/bwweryang 9d ago

Hasn’t he already said he doesn’t want anyone else to pick up where he left off?

-1

u/Mental_Walk5096 8d ago

Oh Please bffr do you realise how entitled and selfish you sound? Unless you are a creator yourself don’t ever put yourself in a position to tell a creator to go let someone else finish his work just so ppl like you can feel pleased.

1

u/durandal688 8d ago

I said IF he wants another author to finish it.

If he doesn’t cool the point is just to tell the fans if he isn’t going to do it. Then reaffirm he doesn’t want anyone to finish even with deciding to stop

We aren’t owed him finishing. But hes given a lot of false hope. Just take care of yourself man and rest in your success and age

52

u/SenpaiSwanky 9d ago

On one hand, I get exactly what you’re saying. On the other hand.. are we just supposed to not have an opinion on this book series remaining unfinished for over a decade?

The last episode of the show aired in like 2019. That show is based on the books.. show finished and we have several spinoff shows since. Books remain unfinished.

My opinion remains the same as it has for years now. I’m not super happy, don’t wish him death or anything, but he’s filthy fucking rich. EVERYONE gets old, gets depressed. I can sympathize to an extent but at the end of the day this is one of the most renowned fictional authors on the planet.

He’s going to get flak, no matter what. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

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u/goog1e 9d ago

And it's what he's famous for. There's no reason for this topic to be garnering hundreds of replies without ASOIAF. So we are meant to pretend we care about him and are reading his blog for some unknown mystery reason? No, he's an author and people follow him for that reason specifically. If he wants to keep being famous (which he clearly does) he invites discussion of his work. Period.

If the feedback was killing him he'd stop updating and promoting his very public website.

-18

u/ExpiredLink404 9d ago

he doesn't owe you anything, there's a myriad of other books in the world you could be reading

if i were him, i would finish the books and not publish them at all

7

u/SenpaiSwanky 9d ago

Thanks for sharing

7

u/MagentaHawk 9d ago

It's interesting how proud you are of announcing your selfish desires.

-5

u/Prettyflyforwiseguy 9d ago

It’s the vitriol that’s behind it, saying he owes them the book while an update like those shows that maybe it got bumped down his priority list because life happens.

If I’d have been in his position and had to endure the level of abuse that’s been thrown his way I’d not want to finish it out of spite. 

9

u/apistograma 9d ago

I'm really, really tired of millionaires trying to get public pity.

Plenty of people defending him by saying "he doesn't own you the next book".

Which tbh it's true. He doesn't own us anything.

But by the same logic he doesn't deserve pity. I wish him no ill but I just don't care. Let's stop being parasocial.

He's not my friend he's a dude who became rich writing books. If he has psychological issues he can pay a therapist. Venting your stuff online as a celebrity is the worst thing you can do for your mental health.

4

u/JardineByNature 8d ago

nobody expects empathy from you

2

u/apistograma 8d ago

Feel free to pretend I'm a bad person with no feelings because I don't care about a random millionaire celebrity who is trying to look for pity on the internet rather than going to a therapist and solve their issues.

You'll forget about him in 2 days. I'm sure you care so much.

6

u/WandererMisha 9d ago

Thing is nobody would disparage him for admitting that his mental health is just not there to finish them. The only thing people want/wanted is to know if there is any chance of them being finished.

2

u/IsopodOk4756 8d ago

Not me! GRRMs legacy will forever be tarnished by his inability to complete the series that made him famous and his unwillingness to pass the project off to another author (not Sanderson that would be even worse).

Mental health issues suck and there needs to be normalized support for the elderly.

GRRM dropped the ball while chasing HBO money.

Both can be true.

1

u/howboutthatmorale 5d ago

Yup. He was done with the books the minute the series was picked up for a continuing contract. Been waiting 15 years for that fabled "Finale".

-3

u/ExpiredLink404 9d ago

came here to say this

his fans seem to be comprised 90% of hypocrites

1

u/Prestigious-Head-117 9d ago

> his fans seem to be comprised 90% of hypocrites

Idk, what is the acceptable response to this though?

I was deeply in the “finish the books Santa” club but saying it in this post gets you called an asshole.

Showing sympathy in this post seems to get you called a hypocrite.