Failed Writer's Journey: Yes, GRRM Does Owe Fans; or Mutual Obligations

This was a scene in a movie from 2017. (Logan Lucky. Very good movie, by the way.)

Apparently, an asshole came up to George R. R. Martin at Worldcon and told him that he should hand the Game of Thrones (Yes, it’s actually called a Song of Ice and Fire, but most people would know it by the name the TV show gave it)series over to Brandon Sanderson to finish (for those who do not know, Sanderson finished the Wheel of Time series after the author passed away). Now, that person, as noted, is an asshole. You should never be n asshole, and GRRM has no obligation to hand over his work to someone else just because he is having a hard time finishing it. But the fan is not wrong to be disappointed.

After what happened at Worldcon got out, pretty much every professional writer I follow on social media said some version of GRRM doesn’t owe fans anything. That writing is hard and that it comes when it comes, and that you should not have expectations of authors. That is really, really, really wrong. When you publish books in a series, you have made a promise to your readers that you will finish the books. They gave you their time, attention, and money. They are right to be disappointed with you, especially when the time between books in an unfinished series gets longer and longer.

Yes, writing is hard. I am a failed writer, I know all about hard. Yes, you sometimes write your way into corners or get lost or run out of ideas for a particular story. yes, sometimes life gets in the way. But in the case of GRRM, he had enough of an outline to allow the TV show to finish with roughly his approved ending. He has worked on other projects outside of the series and the TV show. And he is a professional writer — it is literally what he is paid to do, and he is one of the rare authors who makes enough from it that he does not need another job. It is not unfair for people to be disappointed he is breaking his promise to them.

And it is a promise. If you start something people give you attention and money for, you are making the promise that you will do everything you can to finish it within a reasonable amount of time. And when you fail to live up to that promise, as GRRM has, it is not unreasonable for people to be disappointed in you. And it bothers me a bit that other authors do not see this.

I am probably reading too much into this, but it seems that we generally think less of our obligations to others. It is okay to admit that someone has not lived up to their obligations, even if they are your friend, even if you are concerned that you might fail in the same way, as some of these other authors might. Failure is not the end of the world — apologize and try to do better. I don’t think it a good sign, however, that we recoil at even the simplest of obligations to others. I think it is a sign of the kind of coarsening of society that has helped, not by itself, of course, but helped, the world turn into the dumpster fire we see around us.

I genuinely believe that most fans would be in a far more comfortable place with GRRM if he would just admit that he has let them down, and that he is trying to do better. I genuinely believe that we as a society would be better off if admitted to more of our mutual obligations and were both more willing to apologize for error and willing to accept those apologies. Not everyone, of course. I doubt there is much hope for the asshole at Worldcon. But most people are reasonable — and if we remember that, if we cat on that, I think things would be at least a little better.

Weekly Word Count

Not much — only about 2900, all in the Encyclopedia Brick book. God help me, too — I am starting to really like that name. Life and other pursuits got in the way. Maybe I should let Brandon Sanderson finish it?

Have a great weekend, everyone.