YoyoDevo t1_iu9skc4 wrote
Reply to comment by JayPtl in ‘House Of The Dragon’ Author George R.R. Martin Muses On The Many Ways The Series Could Have Started by HumanOrAlien
>He doesn't owe anyone anything
The ONLY reason so many people read his books and recommend it to others is because there is an expectation that there will eventually be a complete story with an ending. There is an implicit promise that if you start reading the series, it will be concluded one day. He's one of the richest and most successful authors because of the people reading his books, and therefore owes the readers a satisfying conclusion.
Radix2309 t1_iu9zbe7 wrote
Not to mention he has promised many times over that he will release it.
It's fine (not really) if he wants to give up. But he keeps promising it and that he definitely owes.
He also owes it to the publisher as well. Quite frankly I don't even understand how he hasn't been forced to release something.
YoyoDevo t1_iu9zk8i wrote
>Quite frankly I don't even understand how he hasn't been forced to release something.
There is no way the publisher will release one of the most popular and best selling authors of all time from their contract. Even if there is a 1% chance he finishes it, that's definitely worth the risk. They are hoping he finishes the series as much as the readers are.
speckhuggarn t1_iua3637 wrote
Well he has released, "The Princess Queen", "The Rogue Prince", "The world of Ice and Fire", Tales of Dunk and Egg books, "Sons of the dragon", "Fire and Blood", among other smaller works since Dance of Dragons. So I mean he has published something
Act_of_God t1_iub8m4a wrote
> There is an implicit promise
there is not though, literally there isn't. It's not even that unique for literature to end up unfinished.
Every_Repair973 t1_iua1j8v wrote
He doesn't owe u anything. He wrote the books and he doesnt want to finish them. It's just a book though,not the end of the world.
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iu9y0v9 wrote
> He's one of the richest and most successful authors because of the people reading his books, and therefore owes the readers a satisfying conclusion.
So are you saying that if he finishes the books and the ending sucks, he owes the readers that he rewrite his last book until they like the ending?
YoyoDevo t1_iu9z18t wrote
No but he does owe an ending. Imagine he was honest with readers and said "hey guys you can buy A Game of Thrones but just know, this series will never be finished." Do you think anyone would buy the book? Of course people assume there will be an ending when they start the series. He owes all of his success to the readers so yes, he does owe an ending even if it's a bad one.
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iua0rrq wrote
Reddit owes all its success to its users. Does reddit owe me anything?
The very basic line of reasoning here is just really questionable if you think about it for a bit, and invites everyone to become entitled assholes. Which is, incidentally, how people act towards GRRM.
YoyoDevo t1_iua1p7l wrote
If reddit breaks its promises for what you'll get when you use it, then yes it doesn't deserve any users
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iua21a2 wrote
And it's perfectly fine if you think he doesn't deserve any readers and you be an example of that. That's not what I'm complaining about here.
Nightmare_Pasta t1_iu9x0r7 wrote
Nah. He doesn’t owe you anything, not a satisfying conclusion or even an explanation for that matter. You chose to buy his books and get invested in his story, clinging on to a nonexistent and unspoken social contract that is based on nothing more than your extreme sense of entitlement
That is all this is
YoyoDevo t1_iu9xbtz wrote
Imagine if all authors thought this way. The book industry wouldn't survive. Who wants to start a series and risk never knowing the ending? There HAS to be the expectation of completion or people just simply won't buy book series anymore.
[deleted] t1_iuabdge wrote
[deleted]
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iu9y5kj wrote
> Who wants to start a series and risk never knowing the ending?
Let me introduce you to television shows that get canceled before their story finishes.
Weirdly enough, no one ever holds a 10+ year grudge against television producers who are responsible for that.
BlueTeamRuless t1_iu9z1r0 wrote
Yeah, they just hold them against the companies who produced the content. Not a day goes by where I don’t see “never trusting Netflix again after they cancelled x”
YoyoDevo t1_iu9z6ot wrote
>no one ever holds a 10+ year grudge
You must not be on reddit very often. People here still talk about what a tragedy the cancelation of 10+ year old shows was. Remember Firefly?
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iua0j2i wrote
I definitely don't remember people writing passive aggressive comments whenever the Fox Network comes up, no.
Okavski t1_iuabsjl wrote
I dont know, probably plenty of people disappointed or angry about the cancellation of Firefly still. Additionally when something is cancelled there is a some closure in knowing that it will never be finished. But with ASOIAF there is hope dangling in a thread that it one day will reach a satisfying conclusion, but the longer it takes the more resentment starts to grow from the possibility that it never will. The longer hope exists, the bigger the disappointment if it doesn't pan out.
__Hello_my_name_is__ t1_iuafvfn wrote
Some people, sure, but not enough for a highly upvoted passive aggressive comment about it every single time the Fox Network is mentioned.
The closure argument is fair, though. Honestly, at this point it makes sense to just consider the books cancelled and be positively surprised when they happen after all.
[deleted] t1_iu9ynz9 wrote
Yep.
Thinking Martin is stupid for not finishing his story is a completely valid opinion. And probably true from both a fandom and business POV.
But he doesn't owe anyone anything.
JayPtl t1_iu9stc9 wrote
Thus the 'Unpopular Opinion'
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