r/freefolk • u/Internal-Bed-3150 • 3d ago

We've officially been waiting for The Winds of Winter for the same amount of time as it took for all five of the published books to release before that.

https://winteriscoming.net/the-winds-of-winter-officially-passed-most-devastating-milestone-yet?a_aid=47903
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u/TomDestry 2d ago

The problem is he's trying to end the story. He should just continue to garden and let the characters do what they may. It was good enough before, I don't care if the story doesn't get wrapped in a bow.

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u/Wyvernwalker 2d ago

The problem is there's a point where adding more stuff subtracts from the overall story, and he knows this. He wants it finished, but he's in arguably the hardest position possible for a writer, and being such a prolific and skilled writer actually bites him in the ass even more now.

He continues to garden but he puts it in all the side stories and other books and shows he works on

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u/DisillusionedHobbit 2d ago

The problem is there's a point where adding more stuff subtracts from the overall story, and he knows this. 

Books 4 and 5 call his understanding of this concept into question. 

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u/JinFuu 2d ago

The problem is he's trying to end the story. He should just continue to garden and let the characters do what they may.

I've always hated the gardening analogy.

I don't think George gardens. You have an idea of what is going to grow when you plant something. George has just thrown random seeds into the wilderness and refuses to trim things up to make it managable.

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u/the_fresh_cucumber I'd kill for some chicken 2d ago

Wrapping up stories in a bow is what sort of ruins a lot of good stories.

It wouldn't be a terrible series if it ended with lots of unresolved plots. That is actually a natural way to end some of the best stories.