"GoT Book behind schedule" Topic

Evidently way behind as in it maybe out this year. Of course it was supposed to be last year and I think maybe even the year before that.

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Here's the question, since the HBO show will undoubtedly end first, and since Martin and HBO have agreed to have the same ending, will this hurt book sales, especially if we're talking about the book series ending years after the TV show? After all the TV show will end sometime next year, we're not even sure if "Wind's of Winter" will be out then, if it is it will still probably be years before a final book. Can even the most dedicated fans avoid spoilers for years?

I suppose it depends on what you are a fan of. Do you like the book or the show better?

Didn't the novel of Jaws for example sell more after the movie came out?

I know a lot of people who have read the books, loved them, but had no interest in the series at all. I know a number of others that are exactly the reverse so it's impossible to say. Regardless, I don't think Mr. Martin cares off of which he makes boatloads of money. 8)=

I had read that the show and novels are not sharing the same exact universe, and that the show runners were given explicit authority to go their own direction a year or two ago. Martin remains heavily involved in the writing, but it is GoT 1 and GoT 1A.

However HBO and the books will have the same ending, HBO may follow a different path to get there but that end will be the same so at the end whoever sits on the throne in the books will be the same person who sits the throne on HBO. And there is the conundrum. We have already seen characters killed in the series so we know that they won't be in at the end. We have seen some characters left out entirely as well. But for fans the ultimate question is what happens in the end, who wins? Another question of course is will the last book simply be a novelization of the last season? And that's the big question. Yes, "Jaws" the movie spurred an interest in "Jaws" the book, as did "The Natural" and "Band of Brothers" and others but the difference is that in those cases the book existed first. Here we will have a case where the visual presentation appears first. And novelizations of visual media typically don't do as well. Now some people will undoubtedly read the books anyway but I think that a fair amount might not.

Oh, so the sky is blue then?
Fire is hot?
The Pope is Catholic?
The latest GoT book is late?

No doubt a good breakfast or two disrupted things. The chap is a literary genius so who are we to question his writing process?

A GOT book is never late nor early. It arrives precisely when GRRM intends it to. (please forgive the cross usage from Lord of the Rings)

Martin never had this pressure before.
It's a rather unique situation.

I like both the books and the show.

My hope is that Martin is one of those writers who extensively story-boards and outlines in advance. If that is true at all, he may very well know and has known for a long time who "wins" in the end. The difficulty is merely deciding exactly how to get there and what all the minor characters do or end end up. We have heard how Martin has shown all his cards to the show runners, so they would presumably know all of Martin's drafts and plans for a long while now.

I had thought that the show was eliminating "useless" diversions like the Sand Snakes, Euron and Young Griff. Sadly, only the latter is being thrown under the bus.

GoT is the tv show.
ASoIaF is the book series.
They are not the same.

GRRM has said that he has shared his ending with the writers of the TV series so that they will be the same. As for Martin bringing this stuff out precisely when he intends t too well, that's not what he said this time.

So apparently the Stark motto is a permanent state, not a prediction of future events.

Indeed Parzival indeed!

> As for Martin bringing this stuff out precisely when he intends t too well, that's not what he said this time.

If what he said were true he would have gotten off his butt and started SERIOUSLY writing this book a LOT sooner. He knew before he started he was not going to finish on time.

have read the books. Have not seen a single minute of the show. Waiting on finishing the books, then I will watch the show. How else can I pick apart the inconsistencies?

But it won't be an inconsistency!
By the time Book 7 is out, the HBO series will be canon, and the book will be a cranky afterthought.
I would estimate that the viewing fans outnumber the book readers 10:1. Or more.
Six years from now, the show will have been over for three or four years. What difference will the book taking a different path to the same end make?
Let's hope Martin kills off "fake Aegon" in book 6 so as to save him a ton of wasted time.

Let's also hope he makes backup copies in case his hard drive crashes.

Presuming – as seems likely – that the series concludes before the books, I may just take that as the final canon word for both and not bother with the books. I read Miles Camerons stuff as it hits the shelves year by year and would have done so with GRRM but somehow the timing and the infuriating endings have made me less committed to the books

Goonfighter, I think that its gone beyond likely to "certain" that the series will end first. From what Martin wrote in his end of year wrap up he isn't close to finishing "Winds of Winter". And this is with considerable pressure for him to do it, in fact that's probably part of the problem. GRRM never had a deadline until this book. And now he does.

And I agree with you, we'll know the ending long before GRRM writes it. And so you also have to wonder how much he himself will be affected by the TV series, how he'll be influenced by what they write. And I have to think that a lot of readers, especially casual ones will simply accept the HBO ending and move on to whatever the next Sopranos/GoT/OITNB is and when the final book comes out this "well, that's nice but since I already know how it ends"… Don't get me wrong I'm sure that GRRM has made a boatload of cash off this already.

And Winston, I wonder if we'll ever see a Book 7 or whether he'll just let the series be the end? My guess is that you're underestimating the time it will take for him to crank it out, with that pressure no longer on the series will probably be over for more like 5 or 6 years after the series ends in 2017 or longer.

I think you're right.
The series has already passed the books.
The only pressure he had was to get 6 out before 6.
He now has a max of 2 years to get out 7. Nobody expects that, so he can go back to going to conventions and writing scripts.
He can write 7 at his own pace. No pressure after 6 comes out. Which is a pity as I rather like the books.

Surprisingly he saw no issue when he signed up. Classic procrastinater behavior. I should know. I'm one myself.

My fault Jowady, I was being a bit too understated.

I started liking the books and at the end of 1 was mildly surprised but gradually I found I was reading them with no real expectation of any kind of resolution and no finale in sight. Plus several plot lines that left me utterly disinterested. I'm happier watching the series and if George does bestir himself from a good lunch or two to finish, perhaps one more book in the series as opposed to vol3 of "heraldry and recipes of Westeros", I may just buy it, if I see it in a charity shop for say 75p

Vol 3 has all the good goat recipes.