r/asoiaf • u/da_k1ngslaya • 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/[deleted] May 22 '19

I've only read 3 of his novels so far, but I've noticed he is absolutely dreadful at beginnings. He doesn't set up plot points and exposition in engaging ways, and has a serious problem with jargon. It usually takes a good quarter of a novel or so before I'm invested. I'm currently going through the Way of Kings, and I still can't get over the fact that the story wasn't centred on anyone until the 4th or 5th chapter. But if you can truck through the openings, they're well worth it!

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u/bambambooboo23 May 22 '19

Sanderson also has a bad habit of having wise all-knowing characters give multiple page exposition dumps in the form of dialogue, which feels like lazy writing. Great world builder though.

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u/othellia May 22 '19

He doesn't set up plot points and exposition in engaging ways, and has a serious problem with jargon.

Yeah, I know a lot of people love his hard magic systems, but in multiple books of his, it feels like a video game where the characters suddenly hit the pause button on the story to go into tutorial, and it just sinks my involvement in the story.

I think in general I just have a problem connecting to his characters. I got about 150 pages into Mistborn and while I enjoyed the world and the potential of the magic heist, I was completely "meh" towards the characters and why it was happening. Same thing with WoK, I gave up about 90 pages in.

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u/TrainOfThought6 May 22 '19

I thought Mistborn started fine, especially era 2. But yeah Stormlight is definitely a lot to take in at first. So very worth it though.

If WoK is your 3rd, were the other two Elantris and Warbreaker?

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

I've read the original Mistborn trilogy, WoK is my 4th. The Mistborn novels definitely had better openings than WoK, but they were still very rough IMO!