"A Game of Thrones" Spoiler-Ridden Catch-All of Doom - books and HBO show

The funny thing is I enjoyed the ending less on the rewatch, and enjoyed the beginning and *especially* the middle more on the rewatch. If I remember correctly I really liked the ending on first watch, and much less so this time around.

To expand on him writing the rest of the books in a much different culture than he started them in, I wonder if that's got him spinning his wheels: he's writing them post Lost, post X-Files, post Mass Effect (you can ride a Green Dragon, a Blue Dragon, or a Red Dragon!) etc. landscape. The big success was the MCU, an exception that maybe proves the rule.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure people are looking for dense and speculative plots with big payoffs anymore, especially when the central mystery is some kind of 'here is the way the world REALLY works!' story.

I used to rewatch the series each year before the new season began. Usually it was just having it on while folding laundry or something but I've seen:

S1 8x
S2 7x
S3 6x...

I haven't touched it since S8 but maybe I should go back and do a rewatch. It brought me a great deal of joy. Even little things like how it gets so quiet you can hear the leaves rustling in the wind right before Brienne kills the Stark men while she's transporting Jaime.

Let's wish for the hope to hit him like a fried egg. Right now and with a side of buttered toast.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Ooops! Didn't mean to. It's a good thing.

Meant it in the sense that I wonder if, to him, it doesn't feel like he's just getting older and of course changing but he's basically the same person continuing basically the same story he was telling. That it's more like his older self is building a new story on top of the story his younger self already told.

Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Well between Twilight and 50 Shades, it's gotten some bad major publicity.

Stele wrote:
Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Well between Twilight and 50 Shades, it's gotten some bad major publicity.

I'd suggest Googling "fan fiction and feminism" or something similar. That's kind of a crass search but it'll get straight to the point.

Also, "Slow Regard for Silent Things" was awesome!

If Rothfuss doesn't finish Kingkiller and trickles out a couple more of those? I will be a very happy man.

I'm willing to assume that it's a Sturgeon's Law issue where I simply haven't encountered the <10% of fanfiction that's any good.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:
Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Ooops! Didn't mean to. It's a good thing.

Meant it in the sense that I wonder if, to him, it doesn't feel like he's just getting older and of course changing but he's basically the same person continuing basically the same story he was telling. That it's more like his older self is building a new story on top of the story his younger self already told.

That's just living and evolving. I'm not the same writer now than I was fifteen years ago. People grow, evolve, change, and it's a risk you take when you write big, sprawling epics like that (see also Wheel of Time). It has nothing to do with fanfiction.

You all are critical of fanfiction, but to be clear, it's one of the few places where we're guaranteed to find content that actually speaks to us. We as in "not cis straight white men". The difference between fanfiction and "regular" fiction is that it's published and there's a price tag. You're going to find good stuff, and not so great stuff. Honestly, just take a look at the hashtag "men writing women" and a lot of its atrocious, appalling content is from published works. Because it's incredibly hard to get your stuff published when you're not one of the dudebros. Why do you think Frank Herbert, Robert Jordan, and Isaac Asimov are the big names in scifi and fantasy? Why is it that women use their initials (CJ Cherryh and NK Jeminsin)? I've read fanfiction that was glorious. I mean epic reads that rivaled the greatest. I'm thinking in particular of an Elder Scrolls fanfic that was far beyond novel length, nearly 298k words, 111 chapters.
I'm just saying... there's a reason AO3 won a Hugo.
Maybe rethink and reframe how you see fanfiction.

Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:
Eleima wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

At this point, I wonder if GRRM almost feels like he's writing fanfiction.

You say that like fan fiction’s a bad thing.

Ooops! Didn't mean to. It's a good thing.

Meant it in the sense that I wonder if, to him, it doesn't feel like he's just getting older and of course changing but he's basically the same person continuing basically the same story he was telling. That it's more like his older self is building a new story on top of the story his younger self already told.

That's just living and evolving. I'm not the same writer now than I was fifteen years ago. People grow, evolve, change, and it's a risk you take when you write big, sprawling epics like that (see also Wheel of Time).

It's two different kinds of evolution and change. Maybe it's me projecting my own experiences onto him, but I feel like I'm in a different relationship with my past self than just being at a different point in an inevitable process. That process doesn't move at a consistent speed--once again, at least in my experience. YMMV.

It has nothing to do with fanfiction.

correct!

Here's an alternate analogy: if I were to write about my younger self, it would feel much closer to a biography than an autobiography, even compared to a couple of years (months?) ago. I wonder if he's in that kind of relationship to his earlier work.

This website is a time capsule. Every time I see something I wrote as little as a few years ago it takes a while to adjust to the fact that I wrote it. Some times it is an immediate "right on!" and a few other times I don't even know what I was trying to say after reading it a handful of times. Of course, context helps a lot so reading the surrounding posts is key. (with the way GWJ moves, often times you have to go back a page or two to find what you were referencing)

fangblackbone wrote:

This website is a time capsule. Every time I see something I wrote as little as a few years ago it takes a while to adjust to the fact that I wrote it. Some times it is an immediate "right on!" and a few other times I don't even know what I was trying to say after reading it a handful of times. Of course, context helps a lot so reading the surrounding posts is key. (with the way GWJ moves, often times you have to go back a page or two to find what you were referencing)

I once read an absolutely brilliant album review on Amazon, complete with a perfect analogy to another album from decades earlier in the same genre. I literally could not have agreed more; it turned out I had written the review.

I can't get excited about this.

And I was ride/die for this series from the moment I read the first chapter until Arya's Surprise Savior moment.

I just have no trust that there is a legit story to tell here about fully formed characters in an interesting world. I'm worried it's just another content vehicle for the content machine. No soul.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

This website is a time capsule. Every time I see something I wrote as little as a few years ago it takes a while to adjust to the fact that I wrote it. Some times it is an immediate "right on!" and a few other times I don't even know what I was trying to say after reading it a handful of times. Of course, context helps a lot so reading the surrounding posts is key. (with the way GWJ moves, often times you have to go back a page or two to find what you were referencing)

I once read an absolutely brilliant album review on Amazon, complete with a perfect analogy to another album from decades earlier in the same genre. I literally could not have agreed more; it turned out I had written the review. :lol:

Lol.

I’m imagining this and it’s making me laugh so hard. “Man, this guys is brilliant. He makes such great points. Good writer too. Oh”

Why is Doctor Who in Westeros?

I’ll give it a try. There are different show runners this time around, and I enjoyed reading Fire & Blood. At the same time, there’s more space for original stories to fill in the blanks left by that book, and it could be fun to see them play around there. I’m ambivalent about a return to everyone obsessing about Westeros again in terms of geek media coverage, but at the end of the day I’m still a fan of the universe and original books, so I hope this is an entertaining, well-made show.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Why is Doctor Who in Westeros?

To stop the Daleks, duh.

I'll repost my comment from the Trailer thread.

Sorry Matt, but you still look like The Doctor to me.

I can't wait for this show. I know some people are bummed out on Game of Thrones since the end was, uh, let's just say below the quality we had come to expect from the show and leave at that, but I still love the world. And more stories in that world (without D&D at the helm) is very exciting.

Ah, again the false hope of a significant book update.

I will consume no additional GoT media until the books are finished.

It's been a good run.

IMAGE(https://i.gifer.com/sCR.gif)

SallyNasty wrote:

I will consume no additional GoT media until the books are finished.

So you're not consuming any additional GoT media. Got it.

SallyNasty wrote:

I will consume no additional GoT media until the books are finished.

ERFY*

*eliminated redundancy for you

trichy wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I will consume no additional GoT media until the books are finished.

So you're not consuming any additional GoT media. Got it.

I hate admitting it, but that's where I'm at now myself.

How can a dragon named TV show claim to be sexy without an automobile in sight is beyond me.

Spoiler:

this joke is old, but then, the show is 200 years before the actual events

iaintgotnopants wrote:
UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Why is Doctor Who in Westeros?

To stop the Daleks, duh.

But why? They have the best story...

oMonarca wrote:

this joke is old, but then, the show is 200 years before the actual events

The boogle dating thread was eleven years ago.

I think I'm gonna be sick.

Has he found a date yet?