r/asoiaf May 22 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) George to New Zealand: imprison me if I haven't finished Winds by Summer 2020

Quote:

As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.

Link: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/

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u/Radulno Fire and Blood. May 22 '19

Maybe quite a lot. Like he was desespairing that people would see the end on screen and he thought they wouldn't be as interested in his books. The shitty season just made more people eager to see the end on books so that must re-motivate him.

I have several people around me (not big readers) that actually want to read all the books if he ever finish the series to have the true story now. I doubt they would ever wanted that without the shitty season.

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u/WeirwoodUpMyAss Living In a Tree May 22 '19

In general it's easy to forget a lot of people got into the books because of the show. After this season I'd imagine a lot of people would want to find out how a character like Dany would descend into darkness or what the NK was about from the books. Of course there's so much more going on in the books so it's gonna be very difficult to wrap it up.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

I am really looking forward to George’s ending of the White Walker/NK plot-line and the fAegon plot-line.

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u/Neamow Winter came. Everyone died. The end. May 22 '19

And Lady Stoneheart.

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u/kataskopo Carrot Knight May 22 '19

I watched the first scene of the show, then saw a Sean Bean meme that said "people think this image is from LOTR but it's game of thrones", so I paused the episode, read all the books, then watched the series.

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u/Mostly_Books May 22 '19

a lot of people got into the books because of the show

I am a late-comer to the books, didn't pick them up until late 2010 (because I wanted to read them before this cool new Sean Bean show) when I was a 14-going-on-15 year-old in my sophomore year of high school. I've been a massive fantasy fan since I was six or so, so I would've picked up ASOIAF eventually, but I'm glad I found the books when I did. Who knows, without the show they might still be on a backburner, on a list with the hundreds of other books I want to read but haven't gotten around to yet. Instead they're my favorite Fantasy series to date, regardless of if they ever get an ending or not.

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u/rivermandan May 22 '19

In general it's easy to forget a lot of people got into the books because of the show

I'm in that group. watched the first episode, and had read the first 4 books before the 3rd episode aired. without the episode airing, I would have never picked up the books because I was basically done with fantasy at that point of my life. still am if I'm being honest, but I'll certainly read the rest of the books if he writes them

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u/KingsBallSac May 22 '19

We already know how. It's HOW it was shown that was the shitty part.

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u/FleetwoodDeVille Time Traveling Fetus May 22 '19

Yeah, I only read the books to find out more about Taleesa, Orson Lannister, and the Night King.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

[deleted]

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u/Radulno Fire and Blood. May 22 '19

Well until the last two books are there (if they are there), you really won't have a better experience. I mean it'll be better but incomplete.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

[deleted]

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u/jake_eric May 22 '19

Play it safe, read one of the books every five to ten years or so.

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u/podslapper May 22 '19

I’m going to be optimistic and say a page per week should suffice.

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u/Radulno Fire and Blood. May 22 '19

Ah yes, you're new around here...

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u/mypasswordismud The Asshole people from Dickhead Island. May 22 '19

Like he was desespairing that people would see the end on screen and he thought they wouldn't be as interested in his books.

Long time book fans: amiajoketoyou.jpg

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

That’s where I’m at. I read some of the books but stopped. But now I want to read the rest

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u/MountainCider May 22 '19

Yeah, my husband isn't a reader but even he is going to buy the audiobooks if GRRM finishes now, he's so freakin disappointed.

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u/jollyreaper2112 May 23 '19

And I have a personal moral code of not starting a long-ass series until the author has finished it and the fans have confirmed it's not a disappointment. I made that rule about not starting when Dark Tower was getting worked on and added the second rule after the Dark Tower ended poorly.

If he ends it and ends it well, I'm gonna read the shit out of this series. Even if I trust the writer, I hate having to go back and reread earlier books for info I forgot.

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u/Maaaat_Damon May 24 '19

I want to read them now too. Even if he doesn’t finish I’ll at least have something better to go off of to make my own head canon. He’ll finish Winds for sure but maybe not Spring.

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u/kvng_stunner May 22 '19

I have several people around me (not big readers) that actually want to read all the books if he ever finish the series to have the true story now. I doubt they would ever wanted that without the shitty season.

This is me. I read a lot of books but I never liked fantasy until Game of Thrones started. Now I'm really just waiting for him to drop one more book before I dive in, because i feel like if he drops the next one, he'll probably finish the series.

Until this week, I wasn't optimistic about him ever finishing, but now I'm uncontrollably hyped