credit: George R.R. Martin
It’s incredible that a lot of people still have faith in George R.R. Martin, but it’s not impossible to believe since he did create the base story for House of the Dragon, and he did manage to push Game of Thrones far enough that it became a favored tale of many. But perhaps it’s time for House of the Dragon to leave George behind and let him finish his initial series finally since the final book of the GoT storyline hasn’t even hit the shelves yet. Does anyone remember how many promises and updates have been made about this final book? Martin might have a dozen excuses that can be used, and some of them, such as his bout with COVID, might be valid. But one thing that’s frustrating is to think that in all this time that he hasn’t had the opportunity to finish the book or to keep up with the story that he helped to create. At this point, it might be better to let George do his own thing and allow the current show to move on without him.
credit: House of the Dragon
Martin couldn’t keep up with the pace of Game of Thrones; it’s fair to think that he isn’t able to keep up with his own idea.
That sounds a little vague, doesn’t it? But the point is that Martin hasn’t been keeping up with his writing, whatever the reason, and it’s evident that while people will always keep his name in mind when thinking about anything related to GoT, he’s kind of let the story get away from him. Those in charge of bringing the story to the audience have taken over before. It’s fair to state that it will need to keep happening since the groundwork has been laid, Westeros is a living, breathing place, and Martin’s input is still valuable. Still, he’d be better off as a consultant than a driving force when crafting the story.
He’s a great author, but it feels as though he doesn’t stay on point.
It could be that there’s simply too much for him to do, but it might also be that Martin doesn’t have the time management skills he needs or is taking on too much to create his own stories effectively. The truth is that many of us, even myself, that criticize Martin don’t know everything about his life, and we don’t know what’s going on that might be keeping him from his writing. But the thing is that excuses are just that, excuses. No matter if they’re valid, it stands to reason that he should have been able to take on the task of writing out the story and developing it in a way that would be easy to deliver to the public. As an author working with his own publisher and full life to deal with, it’s not much of an excuse to say that life is too busy to write. A writer takes the time to make something happen because a writer feels the need to write. Otherwise, it’s just for the money.
credit: House of the Dragon
The story has already grown beyond Martin’s reach.
It was proven with Game of Thrones that Martin had exceeded his reach since he didn’t even have the story finished before it was picked up and given a voice that the people enjoyed. When the story made its way forward with the benefit of his writing, it was kind of a shock to many people since they hadn’t seen the final book drop, despite the vast amount of time given to finish things up. Plenty of people will give Martin a pass since Got and HoTD is both fan favorites and are wowing the people in a manner that makes everything else feel trivial. But the fact that he hasn’t kept up, that the written story is bound to be different from what people have seen, is troubling since it tells a lot of us who write that Martin’s dedication to his own creation might not be as strong as others might think.
Is it fair to think that Martin doesn’t need to be a part of his own creation at this point?
That kind of depends on how a person looks at things at this point since, from a writer’s standpoint, not finishing what you start isn’t always an unavoidable hurdle. But when something is a priority, when people want to see the story finished, one would think that a dedicated author would step up and make it happen. Judging Martin at this time isn’t what’s desired, but making him accountable for what hasn’t been finished feels fair.
A writer needs to finish their story, plain and simple.
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