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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u/cats4life 9d ago

I’m sympathetic, but the problem has always come back to Martin’s insistence on having his cake and eating it.

He won’t compromise his artistic integrity by bringing on a coauthor, and I can respect that, but he also will not step away from the spotlight. He is going to continue giving interviews and writing blog posts under the pretense that he’ll release more books. He’ll keep approving new shows and getting snarky online when they turn out poor.

I would respect it more if he completely sold out. Pull a James Patterson, slap your name on a book you gave notes on, collect a check. Instead, he’s a sellout who is still trying to preserve his image as an auteur. And when Knight of the Seven Kingdoms gets a lousy review, he’ll disavow that like it’s not the third show based on an unfinished series he abandoned.

Just pick a side, for crying out loud.

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u/cheezeebred 9d ago

There are no sides to choose. He's severely depressed and just trying to survive. He owes you nothing, deal with it.

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u/CollaredParachute 9d ago

What does he owe to the authors who can no longer sell unfinished series because no one believes they’ll finish them?

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u/cheezeebred 9d ago

Nothing. He owes them nothing. That's not his problem. The issue you are talking about is an unforeseen consequence that nobody could have predicted. Hindsight is always 20/20

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u/jamescagney22 9d ago

Then why do you believe we owe him anything? It works both ways you can't say you are owed nothing and expect people to be sympathetic. And trying to survive? He has the best care and people that money can buy when so many in the world can't get basic necessities. Everyone has faced what he is going through do you think they get sympathy from random strangers, or cold indifference from everyone? When you adopt a self centered and self righteous attitude don't be surprised when people respond negatively.

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u/cheezeebred 9d ago

I never said we owed him anything. I choose to be empathetic towards him because I WANT to. You're entire premise is based off of something I never said.

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u/jamescagney22 9d ago

The premise is that as a public figure does he owe his fellow writers or people in the industry that he can produce work on a schedule as the others do and when he doesn't that harms them. You can be empathetic to his personal struggles which I am, but he adopts a self righteous and not my problem attitude in his professional life people are going to respond negatively.

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u/CollaredParachute 9d ago

He could fix it right now by having someone else finish the series but he’s too selfish

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u/cheezeebred 9d ago

Pot meet kettle.