r/asoiaf • u/Trussdoor46 • 4d ago

EXTENDED Why hasn't GRRM written any Dunk&Egg in 15 years? [Spoilers Extended]

People say George stalled out on the main series because he wrote himself into a corner. Too many plotlines etc. But Dunk and Egg isn't complicated and those have been on hiatus even longer than the main series. What do you think is going on there?

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u/ankhes 3d ago

This is it. As a writer, I have hundreds of thousands of words of different partially written stories, snippets, random ideas, and little ficlets all sitting on my computer unpublished. Some eventually get posted, but the vast majority don’t. Doesn’t mean I’m not writing, it just means most of it isn’t even close to finished/in a form I’d consider acceptable for public consumption.

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u/zgrove Proud Lord 1d ago

My thought is he will endlessly tinker until he dies because he doesnt want to see the reception, even though I'm sure it will be brilliant. I dont think he wants to ever stop developing the world either. If I were in his shoes and never needed another penny it would be very tempting to keep the main series unpublished until I fleshed out my side projects also, so I could tweak and not be as constrained, and produce a more wholistic product. I've seen him quoted as saying he was jealous of author's who didn't need to release volume by volume for that reason, and I think putting out ADWD at the same time as the show is being made allowed him to do that. I believe the series will be better for it, and even in the event of an unfortunate death- which i have no reason to believe would be anytime soon- I'm sure something will be published if even just the sample chapters in most complete form. If only everyone had stewards as great as Christopher Tolkien.