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A Dance with Dragons-will it be published by Christmas!!

  • 22-07-2009 11:22am
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 724 ✭✭✭


    I have been a huge George rr Martin fan for ten years now since I first read a Game of Thrones.But I have my doubts that the Song of Ice and Fire series will ever be completed.The gaps between the books just seem to be getting longer and longer and progress has slowed to a crawl.I could almost recite the teaser chapters posted on his website by heart now.I know that the TV series is probably going to be taking up a lot of Martins time now and it will probably be excellent but I have to admit I,m getting pretty frustrated waiting for the next installment!!!Anyone else in the same boat!!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 746 ✭✭✭Vim Fuego


    Yep, I agree with you. I can't see Dance of Dragons coming out this year but even if it does, it'll be years until the next.

    George is 61, if it's five years per book, it be will be 2020 and he'll be 72 by the time the series is finished going by his progress since 2000. Not looking good to be honest but hopefully, he will surprise us all.

    A Game of Thrones (1996)
    A Clash of Kings (1998)
    A Storm of Swords (2000)
    A Feast for Crows (2005)
    A Dance with Dragons (2010?)
    The Winds of Winter (2015?)
    A Dream of Spring (2020?)

    Love the series but I've been reading The First Law trilogy recently, and it's nice to know that everything is wrapped up in 3 volumes which are all readily available, though admittedly not as good as GRRM at his best. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Vim Fuego wrote: »
    Yep, I agree with you. I can't see Dance of Dragons coming out this year but even if it does, it'll be years until the next.

    George is 61, if it's five years per book, it be will be 2020 and he'll be 72 by the time the series is finished going by his progress since 2000. Not looking good to be honest but hopefully, he will surprise us all.

    A Game of Thrones (1996)
    A Clash of Kings (1998)
    A Storm of Swords (2000)
    A Feast for Crows (2005)
    A Dance with Dragons (2010?)
    The Winds of Winter (2015?)
    A Dream of Spring (2020?)

    Love the series but I've been reading The First Law trilogy recently, and it's nice to know that everything is wrapped up in 3 volumes which are all readily available, though admittedly not as good as GRRM at his best. :)
    We should get A dance with Dragons ,but the other two no chance,he won't live that long.Seen Mr martin on u tube ,looks to be on his last legs.
    Hopefully he has left notes/book outlines for someone to finish his series,like gemmel did for his troy trilogy.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 166 ✭✭TedB


    Can I just ask why fantasy authors choose such thoroughly awful titles? I've read all the Wheel of Time books and they had names like 'Lord of Chaos', 'the Great Hunt', 'The Path of Daggards', 'The Shadow Rising' etc. All terrible terrible names. This Martin fella seems to be the same, but so do all the main fantasy writers. David Gemmell wrote books like 'Sword in the Storm' (Which was actually pretty good tbh)

    Is it just me or should they really attempt to come up with more imaginative titles?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 741 ✭✭✭Chumpski


    It won't be out this year anyway as it would surely have been announced by now. September/October 2010 maybe?

    I started reading the series about a month ago and am almost finished a feast for crows. Great series. Book 1 of A Storm of Swords was slow going but oh man book 2 was just cliff hanger after cliff hanger! And that ending chapter not to spoil it for anyone but holy f^ck, really did not see that one coming.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Chumpski wrote: »
    It won't be out this year anyway as it would surely have been announced by now. September/October 2010 maybe?

    We might be lucky and get it this year,althought i would'nt hold my breath.
    A Dance With Dragons

    • Feb. 19th, 2009 at 6:11 PM





    7059164

    No, it's not done.

    Yes, I am aware that more than a year has passed since my last update. A lot of you have been emailing me to point that out. Thanks, but really, I did know. Unlike many of you out there, I got my copies of the Song of Ice & Fire calendar, so I knew what date it was.

    No, I'm not planning to update the update, for reasons stated in the update itself. Until such time as I can write, "It's done," it will remain the last update... aside from what I may say here from time to time, on my Not-A-Blog.

    I made a lot of progress on the book in the first half of 2008. So much so that I was optimistic that I would be done by the end of the year. Unfortunately, I did not make much progress on the book in the second half of 2008. Indeed, I made some regress. (That Sansa chapter I talked about finishing, for instance. It's still finished, but my editor and I decided it belongs in THE WINDS OF WINTER, not A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, so it's been moved into the next book. Sansa will not appear in DANCE.)

    Some of the reasons were literary, arising from problems in the narrative itself. I'm not going to discuss them here, because I really do not like talking about questions I am still wrestling with on a work in progress. It never helps. Art is not a democracy, and these are problems I need to solve myself. Having a few hundred readers weigh in with their thoughts and opinions -- which seems to be what happens whenever I post here about DWD -- does not advance the process. I'm sorry, but that's true. I know that many of you would like to help me, but you can't. I have editors and I have two capable assistants, and that's sufficient. I'm the only one who can dance this dance.

    Some of other reasons for the delay have nothing to do with the book itself. They're extra-literary, arising from other things in my life. I could sketch out some of them here, sure, but what good would it do? Those who are inclined to understand would send me messages of sympathy and support. Those are not so inclined would dismiss them as "excuses," or even "feeble excuses." A few will even go so far as to accuse me of lying.

    That's the part that really bothers me. For the record, I have never lied about anything having to do with A DANCE WITH DRAGONS or the series as a whole. I have been wrong, yes. I have been wrong lots of time, especially when I've tried to predict how long it will take me to complete the book, or when it will be published. Being wrong is not the same as lying. Since the very beginning of this series, I have been guilty of being over-optimistic about how long it would take me to finish the next book, the next chapter, or the series as a whole. I cannot deny that. I have always been bad with deadlines... one reason why I did my best to avoid them for the first fifteen years of my career. That's an option I no longer have, however. Or at least will not have until A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is complete.

    That's the main reason why I no longer want to give any completion dates. I am sick and tired of people jumping down my throat when I miss them.

    This latest flood of emails has worn down my resolve, however. So in hopes of quieting it, once more I will step into the breach --

    s320x240

    I am trying to finish the book by June. I think I can do that. If I do, A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will likely be published in September or October.

    (Yes, I am aware that I have previously said that I hoped to finish by the end of 2008. And before that, I said that I hoped to finish by June 2008, before I went to Spain and Portugal. And before that, I said I hoped to finish by the end of 2007. I know, I know, I know. No, I was not lying. I was wrong. And wrong again. And wrong before that. This time I hope that I am right. But you know, I can't swear that in blood. I write one chapter at a time. One page at a time. One word at a time. And then the next.)

    That's all I have. But it's more than Amazon has, or anyone else.

    The INSTANT that I finish the novel and put it in the mail to Bantam, I will post that fact here, just as I did for SUICIDE KINGS a few days ago. Until and unless you read that announcement here, believe nothing you hear from any other source.

    Thanks for your continued support... and for your patience.
    Guarded Optimism

    * Jun. 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 PM


    I almost hate to say anything here, for fear of jinxing it... but for what it's worth, the last six weeks or so have been the most productive period I've had on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS in... well... a year at least, maybe several. In the last three days I've completed three new chapters. Not from scratch, mind you, these were all chapters that had been partially written, and in some cases rewritten, for months if not years. But they're finally done, and I've just reread them, and I'm almost convinced that they're Not Crap.

    We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

    Anyway, I know I don't talk about DANCE frequently here, and that's not going to change. Sorry, but I'm never going to be one of these writers who blogs daily about how many words they produced today. I don't like to talk about the good days for fear of jinxing myself (all writers are superstitious at heart, just like baseball players), and I don't like to talk about the bad days... well, just because. Writing is like sausage making in my view; you'll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what's gone into it.

    But I am making a small exception now because... well, I'm feeling rather jazzed right now, and for the first time in a very long while, I think I can see a glimmering that might just be a light at the end of the tunnel.

    Now if I can only slash through the Meereenese knot that I've been worrying at since 2005, I may actually start to get excited.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    TedB wrote: »
    Is it just me or should they really attempt to come up with more imaginative titles?

    The Fellowship of the Ring - what a crap title :p


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,001 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    To be quite honest, as good as the series, I'm getting tired of the waiting. I know he's trying his best but the long delays seem to show that he's not really quite sure how to handle the narrative and direction of the story.

    Compare that to Steven Erikson who is knocking out one volume a year - meaning he'll have had a 10-book series in the time Martin has had one and a damn good series at that. The difference being he sat down and planned out the direction from the beginning meaning he didn't get lost half way.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,556 ✭✭✭✭Sir Digby Chicken Caesar


    as much as I love ASOIAF I am just sick of this. I'm not going to read the next one, this is my 'path of daggers' moment. I'm done. Call me when the entire series is finished and I'll start again from scratch but there is now way in hell that I am going to be sitting in my living room at the end of next year after completing DoD and wondering 'when will the next book be out'

    No

    NO martin.

    No.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Maybe the HBO TV adaptation of A game of thrones will give everyone their RR Martin fix while they are waiting on the

    books.http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055629499


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    as much as I love ASOIAF I am just sick of this. I'm not going to read the next one, this is my 'path of daggers' moment. I'm done. Call me when the entire series is finished and I'll start again from scratch but there is now way in hell that I am going to be sitting in my living room at the end of next year after completing DoD and wondering 'when will the next book be out'

    No

    NO martin.

    No.

    +1 I think I'll wait till the end too, better to be full yimmersed than jibbin in an dout like a gaorfer or something.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭Illkillya


    TedB wrote: »
    Can I just ask why fantasy authors choose such thoroughly awful titles? I've read all the Wheel of Time books and they had names like 'Lord of Chaos', 'the Great Hunt', 'The Path of Daggards', 'The Shadow Rising' etc. All terrible terrible names. This Martin fella seems to be the same, but so do all the main fantasy writers. David Gemmell wrote books like 'Sword in the Storm' (Which was actually pretty good tbh)

    Is it just me or should they really attempt to come up with more imaginative titles?

    Generally speaking, I agree... most fantasy books have terrible titles. But I think George Martin's titles are really good. Especially "A Feast for Crows" - thought that was a great title.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    raah! wrote: »
    +1 I think I'll wait till the end too, better to be full yimmersed than jibbin in an dout like a gaorfer or something.

    I don't think there will be an end,just downloaded this up to date picture of Mr Martin.I don't think looking at it he will be around to finish the rest of the series.
    7059164


    But who knows?.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,199 ✭✭✭Shryke


    I can see it being published hopefully in the spring of the new year. I believe he'll finish the series before anything happens him. I hope so. I have not lost patience nor will I. He's a terrific writer, one of the best I've read. It will take him as long as it takes him and I'm thankful that he's simply doing it. I'd rather a great book that took ten years than just another sub par run of the mill fantasy novel that was shovelled out for the cash.

    As far as the Erikson angle goes, different writers work differently. The man is a wiry little coffee drinking machine. He definitely has a plan but when it comes to detail he seems to completely wing it. I'm a pretty big follower of Malazan but even I can say that the finished product we get needs some more attention. Erikson prides himself on not doing re-writes. He bloody well should. It couldn't do anything but improve quality. He should also have a better editor to cut some of the repetitive, dragged out philosophy and generally depressing bouts of woe is me and world weariness you get from just about everyone. Maybe I've read the series too many times. I tend to go over them everytime a new book comes out. I won't be for Dust of Dreams though. I can remember things maybe too well.


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,001 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    Shryke wrote: »
    He should also have a better editor to cut some of the repetitive, dragged out philosophy and generally depressing bouts of woe is me and world weariness you get from just about everyone. Maybe I've read the series too many times. I tend to go over them everytime a new book comes out. I won't be for Dust of Dreams though. I can remember things maybe too well.
    That's a fair point - there's a reason that he can knock out a 900 page volume in a year, and that's because he's not going over the process of refinement. So there's plenty of moments in the series where it can get bogged down, especially with some of the endless conversations between the many characters that don't go anywhere. It's not to say that I don't enjoy it but it can detract from the main pace.

    It's also interesting in light of someone like George R.R. Martin who is a perfectionist. I think there's a balance to be struck between these two extremes. I'm wary of Patrick Rothfuss (who produced the superb debut "The Name of the Wind") as, watching a video interview, he too seems an excellent fantasy writer who goes through multiple re-writes and refinements and gets caught up in the details of phrases and flow. The very reason they could be excellent may be precisely because of this loving attention, but when you're writing epic series you've got to remember that your audience has expectations of wanting to seeing it all the way through in a reasonable time frame.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,199 ✭✭✭Shryke


    ixoy wrote: »
    ..he too seems an excellent fantasy writer who goes through multiple re-writes and refinements and gets caught up in the details of phrases and flow. The very reason they could be excellent may be precisely because of this loving attention, but when you're writing epic series you've got to remember that your audience has expectations of wanting to seeing it all the way through in a reasonable time frame.

    I can understand that but I would lean toward a writer with refinement issues rather than one who simply wants to get things done. Rothfuss is an interesting example, I actually have In the Name of the Wind sitting near me waiting to be read. I would call to attention then Scott Lynch.
    The Lies of Locke Lamora was a jewel of a book. It was exceptionally entertaining and refined and carried a great sense of mischief and originality. The sequel had neither. It was clearly a rushed product. I even remember spotting a number of typos as I read it that seemed to stick out. When Lynch was writing his first novel he had all the time in the world to get it done but with the second he had deadlines to deal with.
    Even so Lynchs' second novel had a couple of delays. Personally I would have much rather preferred a longer wait and a superior product. Because of what we got my want for the next installment has deminished a lot. It's my view that a book will take as long as it takes the author to finish it and to be happy with it.
    I'm curious as to what a reasonable time frame might be? Maybe you mean that books in a series would be released in whatever amount of time but at least in regular intervals. Still, I think the points I raise would still apply.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    as much as I love ASOIAF I am just sick of this. I'm not going to read the next one, this is my 'path of daggers' moment. I'm done. Call me when the entire series is finished and I'll start again from scratch but there is now way in hell that I am going to be sitting in my living room at the end of next year after completing DoD and wondering 'when will the next book be out'
    -1

    I don't care how long it takes I'm totally going to be picking my copy up the morning it's released. I can find other things to occupy my mind (such as his other projects) in the interim periods. :)

    GRRM laughs on his (not a) blog about people who are worried he's going to do a Robert Jordan on them.


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,001 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    Shryke wrote: »
    I would call to attention then Scott Lynch.
    The Lies of Locke Lamora was a jewel of a book. It was exceptionally entertaining and refined and carried a great sense of mischief and originality. The sequel had neither. It was clearly a rushed product. I even remember spotting a number of typos as I read it that seemed to stick out. When Lynch was writing his first novel he had all the time in the world to get it done but with the second he had deadlines to deal with.
    Even so Lynchs' second novel had a couple of delays. Personally I would have much rather preferred a longer wait and a superior product. Because of what we got my want for the next installment has deminished a lot. It's my view that a book will take as long as it takes the author to finish it and to be happy with it.
    I'll agree that "Red Seas Under Red Skies" was not nearly as good as "The Lies of..". For me it was that I wasn't interested in the nautical aspect - in fact I felt it intruded on the flow of the story, made it feel more disjointed. The humour that was there, didn't flow as freely as the wit of the first and I'd agree that this is the process of a tighter deadline - but that's something that's often going to happen (many people still believe that "Magician" is Feist's best novel, despite the 20+ Midkemia novels that have followed).
    I'm curious as to what a reasonable time frame might be? Maybe you mean that books in a series would be released in whatever amount of time but at least in regular intervals. Still, I think the points I raise would still apply.
    Yes I'm thinking more that we should have a reasonable expectation of when it would arrive. My issue is that if we're waiting for so long it's not that the writer such as GRRM is constantly refining it, it's that the delay signifies that they've become mired down. Now maybe it's fussing over the correct adjective, but there's a sense that it could be they don't know where the story is going and that's a worrying sign. If there's a plot structure in place, I would like to think the intervals could be regular.

    As to a length, I don't believe an author should have to churn out a book in a year. It works for some - Erikson, Feist, Pratchett - but if they can churn out a superior project (especially in an epic series that's got as much detail as the Malazan) by taking two years, then fine. I can wait 2 to 3 years. It's when there seems to be no deadline that I feel the author can't see the forest for the trees.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,199 ✭✭✭Shryke


    I can see your point of view but it isn't one I share when it comes to authors. Martin was half way through writing A Feast for Crows when he had to scrap it all and start again because he didn't think what he was doing with the story was feasable, (setting it four years after the events of the previous novel). Given that then, his plans for the series clearly aren't concrete. There is a danger of being mired down in the writing process but I think we'll see some refinement in Dance. As for being worried about the release of Dance evidence points toward the novel being mostly completed. That doesn't give us a definitive date but at least it lets us know he knows what he's doing, however long it may take him to do it.

    As far as Red Seas goes, the naval aspect didn't thrill me either. I could have had the interest but it wasn't there because it was poorly done. It was an idea that didn't seem to have been fully conceptualised when it was put on paper and that goes to my earlier points. The entire novel felt more like fan fic and it sickens me to say it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 494 ✭✭trio


    I've just finished A Song of Swords and I'm pretty much obsessed. Best series I've ever read.

    But I can't imagine that it'll finish in the next ten years, I really can't.

    Yep, AFFC took yonks because he had this whole 5-year leap planned to age up the young 'uns and it didn't work and he had to scrap it and start again.

    But he had no such issues with ADWD and it's still taken him years. He's past the 1000 page mark this summer, so he hasn't too much left to do, but that gives no real indication of when it might be published.

    Now the HBO series is starting to be filmed in October and if they do a book a year that means that they're going to be needing Book 6 in 2014. That's do-able, it's five years......but the big problem is that they're going to need the final book the year after, and that ain't gonna happen, lets face it.

    GRRM has said that he hopes to have the series finished in seven years, to keep it in line with HBO's needs. But he really doesn't do well with deadlines, so I'm sceptical.

    But this is one series that if it doesn't finish I'll be really gutted. It's rare that I've loved characters so much as Tyrion and the rest. I really want to see what happens to them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Dance, Dance, Dance
    • Oct. 6th, 2009 at 9:04 PM




    7059164

    Finished a Jon Snow chapter, and have just passed the 1100 page (manuscript pages, the page count in the final printed book will be different) mark on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. That's counting only finished chapters in something close to final form. I have considerably more in partials, fragments, and roughs.

    s320x240

    Even with just the finished portions, DANCE is now longer than A FEAST FOR CROWS and A GAME OF THRONES, and I'm closing in on A CLASH OF KINGS. I do hope I can wrap things up before I approach the 1521 page length of A STORM OF SWORDS.

    Making a new run at the Meereenese knot, but maybe not tomorrow. I think I'll hang around at the Wall a bit longer, and maybe visit Winterfell.

    Looks like no hope of a christmas release now,unless its christmas 2010.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Latest updates from his blog
    Feb. 14th, 2010 at 6:53 PM
    But today was a good, productive day. Only problem is that the chapter I finished just now is going to require that I go back and rewrite one of the chapters I finished last week. Minor stuff, though. Shouldn't take more than a day. (Famous last words, I know)

    One step forward ,two steps back...or is it the other way round?.
    Feb. 15th, 2010 at 8:17 PM
    But I've left the Isle of Cedars behind, at least. 1261 pages and counting.

    The timeline of this monster is going to drive me mad. I know perfectly well that as soon as DANCE is published, some of you out there are going to attempt to correlate its chronology with that of A FEAST FOR CROWS, fit all the parts together to suggest an appropriate chapter order for a (hypothetical, and largely impossible) combined book, something like what the "Big Feast" might have been, before the split.

    Well, good luck with that. I'm glad you're doing it, not me. With all these characters scattered over my entire world, some chapters that span hours and others many months, various journeys and voyages to account for, not to mention the demands of the dramatic chronology, an entirely different matter than the literal chronology... well, it may well make your head explode. It did mine. The DANCE timeline alone is a bitch and a half.

    Just musing aloud here, so don't anyone get all hysterical... but depending on how long the book comes out, moving some of these finished chapters into WINDS OF WINTER may make sense. Structurally you could make a good case for making DANCE a perfect parallel to FEAST; different cast of characters, but exactly the same time frame, so both books end on the same approximate date. Then WINDS could pick up the action for both sets of characters the following day.

    That's not the way I have been doing it, however. As written, I've covered the FEAST time frame in the first 800 pages (manuscript pages, the printed book pages will be different) of DANCE. Everything that follows is post-FEAST, so that's where some of the cast from the last book start popping up again. Not the most elegant structure, I admit... but given how late this one is, I wanted to resolve at least a few of the cliffhangers from FEAST... (if only to set up the new cliffhangers). So...

    These are the kinds of things I grapple with. No comments necessary, really. I am not looking for advice, and in fact I seldom talk about such issues precisely to AVOID unsolicited advice. These sorts of things are best resolved by me and my muse, sometimes assisted by my editors. Just felt like rambling a little.

    Anyway, there we are. Back to the grindstone tomorrow

    Looks like George might be writing 2 books ,might explain why it's taking so long.Wouldn't mind waiting all this time if he finished two volumes......some hope.

    Feast?...Dance?....post Feast?.."DANCE a perfect parallel to FEAST".... so dance is not continuing from feast????..........my head hurts. Sounds to me that George is finding it all a bit too confusing,too many characters, timelines etc,etc. Trying to figure it all out must be a bitch.

    So we might have to wait for "Winds of Winter" to find out what happens after "A Feast of Crows" ???????. Another 5 years??? till we know what happened to tyrion.

    Long time since i read the series might need to reread them to prepare for the big day in 2015.....eh 2020,make it 2025 to be on the safe side.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 746 ✭✭✭Vim Fuego


    Yeah, Dance was always meant to be the mirror for Feast - events happening at the same time etc. It could indeed be another number of years until we find out what happens after Feast.

    It would be quite a triumphant return for George if he actually did announce that two books were coming out at the same time. I don't believe there's a snowball's chance in hell mind you, but I'll happily settle for getting Dance out this year.

    I don't think I would be bothered with re-reading the whole series, a quick scan on wikipedia will do me, and residual memory should do the rest :)

    COME ON GEORGE FFS SORT IT OUT!!!!! :p


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 115 ✭✭Dr. Feelgood


    i think ill start re-reading now. hopefully adwd will be ready by the time i finish.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    Yesssssssss! nearly finished.........Eh no wait.Two chapters to go,but four chapters taken out.This is a bit like a dance........eh in a way.Come on George just finish the damn book.
    Good news is he has some of Winds of Winter completed........eh maybe.

    At this rate he will finish Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring before Dance with Dragons.:D
    Dancing in Circles?
    • Jun. 27th, 2010 at 1:32 PM


    7059164

    ((Some of what follows may be vaguely spoilerish. Don't read if you hate spoilers).

    A DANCE WITH DRAGONS just got a little shorter.

    What's happened is, I've decided to move two completed chapters, from Arianne's POV, out of the present volume and into THE WINDS OF WINTER. This is something I've gone back and forth on. Arianne wasn't originally supposed to have any viewpoint chapters in DANCE at all, but there's this... hmmm, how vague do I want be? VERY vague, I think... there's this event that would of necessity provoke a Dornish reaction. The event was originally going to occur near the end of the book, but in one of my forty-seven restructures I moved it to the late middle instead. And the timeline then required that the Dornish reaction happen in this book and not the next one, so I wrote the two Arianne chapters and was going to write a third... and a chapter from another POV that would be a necessary complement to them, and...

    But no, I've restructured again, and put the original precipitating event back close to the end of the book. Which means the Arianne chapters can be returned to WINDS, where I had 'em originally. It also means that I don't have to write that third Arianne chapter and the complementary chapter from the other POV... not yet, anyway... which moves DANCE two chapters closer to completion. (The move did mean I had to revise two chapters from another POV, which took place after the event in last week's draft, but now take place before said event, but fortunately that was just a matter of tweaking a couple of lines).

    I suppose this is a good news/ bad news situation.

    Bad news for those who want DANCE to be really, really, really long, as long as STORMS OF SWORDS or longer. This move makes DANCE four chapters (two written, one partly written, one entirely unwritten) shorter.

    But it's good news for DANCE, since I'm now two chapters (the ones I hadn't finished) closer to completion. And hey, it's even good news for WINDS OF WINTER, since I now have four chapters done for that one (an Arya, a Sansa, and two Ariannes).

    This, of course, is assuming that I don't change my mind again tomorrow and put everything back the way it was last week.

    I am dancing, boys and girls, I'm dancing as fast as I can. But some days it does feel as if I am dancing in circles.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 23,556 ✭✭✭✭Sir Digby Chicken Caesar


    I don't remember who Arianne is or why her POV matters

    is she important?
    the book's about cricket right? I think I remember something about cricket


  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,382 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    Meh to be honest i'm sick of his updates and won't be reading any of his books til he has finished them all or at least has started work on the last one. I also think he gives away alot by mentioning what characters he's working on. You have a fair idea that Arya, a Sansa, and Ariannes are all alive in the following book. Which sucks in a way as i dislike all three of these or did when i read the books first.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 112 ✭✭H. Flashman


    I can't imagine how difficult it is for him to write something so complex hats off to the guy for the previous books in the series but unfortunately i can't help thinking its going to be another robert Jordan situation


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    lordgoat wrote: »
    Meh to be honest i'm sick of his updates and won't be reading any of his books til he has finished them all or at least has started work on the last one.

    IMO he won't live long enough to finish them all ,so chances are you won't get to read them.I can only hope he has notes /plot details etc written down,for someone to finish them all.Kind of like gemmel ,were his wife finished his troy trilogy.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,759 ✭✭✭sxt


    IMO he won't live long enough to finish them all ,so chances are you won't get to read them.I can only hope he has notes /plot details etc written down,for someone to finish them all.Kind of like gemmel ,were his wife finished his troy trilogy.

    He is only 61 :p


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  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,382 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    I can't imagine how difficult it is for him to write something so complex hats off to the guy for the previous books in the series but unfortunately i can't help thinking its going to be another robert Jordan situation

    Don't mention him in the same breath as Jordan. It's like comparing the sun with the guardian. Jordan is boring and one dimensional to me. Martin has a fantastic mind with an awesome plot and well developed believable characters.


    sxt wrote: »
    He is only 61 :p

    True but he has been very sick over the last few years, granted he does seem in better health and i secretly hope the next two books at lease will be alot quicker than this one.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,199 ✭✭✭Shryke


    lordgoat wrote: »
    and I secretly hope that the next two books at least will be a lot quicker than this one.

    I'm with ya dude. (fyp).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,584 ✭✭✭c - 13


    I don't remember who Arianne is or why her POV matters

    Good question - I seriously can't remember who she is :confused:


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,001 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    Problem for me too is that I'm forgetting a lot of the characters and plots as it's been so long between installments and I've read a lot, watched a lot, etc. in that time. As good as the series is, I'm no longer convinced that it's worth the wait.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    I don't remember who Arianne is or why her POV matters
    I thought the same thing! (That's why I'm in the middle of the first four on MP3 audiobook in advance of Dance :))


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 188 ✭✭filmfan


    Hopefully the epic wait will be worth it, that's the most important thing!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,129 ✭✭✭pljudge321


    c - 13 wrote: »
    Good question - I seriously can't remember who she is :confused:
    Princess of Dorne, tried to crown Myrcella and start another civil war between Dorne and the Iron Throne, was secretly betrothed to Viserys by her father as part of his plan to get vengeance for the death of princess Elia.
    - The two pages or so when this is revealed would would up there as my favourite part of the series.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,584 ✭✭✭c - 13


    pljudge321 wrote: »
    Princess of Dorne, tried to crown Myrcella and start another civil war between Dorne and the Iron Throne, was secretly betrothed to Viserys by her father as part of his plan to get vengeance for the death of princess Elia.
    - The two pages or so when this is revealed would would up there as my favourite part of the series.

    Nice one thanks, its all coming back now :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    LOL .........Looks like i could be right.At this rate he will finish the Winds of Winter first.:rolleyes:

    Dancing
    • Jul. 31st, 2010 at 1:22 PM




    7059164

    No, this is not the promised post about Charles Dance. Later.

    Just kicked Aeron Damphair's scraggly arse out of DANCE WITH DRAGONS. He only had the only chapter, and it will work better early in the next book than late in this one. (That's how it looks to me today, anyway. I reserve the right to change my mind).

    So DANCE has gotten a smidge shorter. But is still not done.

    The good news is that I seem to have written more than a hundred pages of THE WINDS OF WINTER already.


    • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭me-skywalker


      I dunno if no news is good news or what but I want this in my christams stocking PLEASE!!!


    • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,001 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


      I dunno if no news is good news or what but I want this in my christams stocking PLEASE!!!
      Not a chance of that. Even if he finished now, it would have to go to his editors and there'd be a whole cycle there. Then it's off to the printers, proof readers, distributors, etc.


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    • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,737 ✭✭✭✭kylith


      So, next Christmas then. Maybe.


    • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


      Drum roll please!.
      At long last an official release date.:D

      Its been a long wait.


      Good News for Old Blighty
      • Mar. 4th, 2011 at 8:35 AM




      7059164

      My friends at Harper Collins Voyager have confirmed that the British edition of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will also be released on July 12 of this year, simultaneously with the American edition.

      (Please ignore what it says on Amazon.UK. I am sure they will get it right eventually)

      Here's the British cover:

      s640x480

      Publication dates in other countries will, of course, be dependent on the speed of the translations. Which cannot begin until I turn in the final manuscript. So I had best get back to that right now.

      Cheers.


    • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,199 ✭✭✭Shryke


      I saw that earlier today Paddy. My jaw hit the floor. I got sick of following Georges blog for news of Dance 4 years ago! Now to plan timing my re-read to he release date. Don't want to finish Feast a week before I can get the next. I've lived that frustration already!


    • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,382 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


      Shryke wrote: »
      I saw that earlier today Paddy. My jaw hit the floor. I got sick of following Georges blog for news of Dance 4 years ago! Now to plan timing my re-read to he release date. Don't want to finish Feast a week before I can get the next. I've lived that frustration already!

      i'll be skipping this. And waiting til he's publishing the final book of the series, then i'll re-read em all.

      Game of thrones starts in April too. Can't wait for that.


    • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,025 ✭✭✭smallerthanyou


      lordgoat wrote: »
      i'll be skipping this. And waiting til he's publishing the final book of the series, then i'll re-read em all.

      Game of thrones starts in April too. Can't wait for that.

      I'd love to do that but just too weak! Will definitely end up reading it. Probably start rereading the others soon to be ready.
      Hopefully the tv show is good too.


    • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,382 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


      Kong is dead, book on course to be published on the 12 July.


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