Comments on: Progress For GRRM

By: Shawn Speakman

Shawn Speakman — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:23:30 +0000

Grantly: It is a planned trilogy, but I knew early on that each book would be able to be read — and understood — without additional reading involved.
That, of course, can’t be said of, say… A Dance With Dragons, which if someone just picked that book up and read it alone, they wouldn’t know what the hellfire was going on.
The Dark Thorn has a beginning, a middle, and an end. That way when someone finishes it, they will feel satisfied.
Of course, that’s if I’ve done my work right, they will be.
I still have a long way to go though. I have 10 more chapters to rewrite. Then I have to give it to the agent. If he likes it, I’m sure I’ll have to rewrite some of it again. Then the pitch to the publishers. Etc. Etc. It is never ending, I swear!
If the agent doesn’t like it, then I query another agent. And the process starts all over again.
But that’s what makes the publishing industry so challenging, I guess. And why I love it. Each step feels like a win.

By: grantly

grantly — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:33:39 +0000

Keep rollin’ indeed! I saw the update on his blog the other day as well and it made me pretty excited, but I agree that guarded optimism is the best approach
Shawn – I feel like I read that The Dark Thorn was part of a planned trilogy – am I way off base in that?

By: Shawn Speakman

Shawn Speakman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:08:03 +0000

A very wise word of caution, Adam. I am optimistic but it is guarded. Some people are optimistic, then get let down, then vent.
I do find the “math” at least interesting. For some writers, it can be formula-ed but not George. Not for freewriters. Since I am an outliner I usually know right around how many chapters a book is going to be. It takes me a week to complete a chapter. And since The Dark Thorn is a stand alone, I don’t have to worry about future storylines like George does.

By: Adam Whitehead

Adam Whitehead — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:52:43 +0000

Although it is tempting, I would very strongly resist using any kind of mathmatical formulae to attempt to divine how long it will take to complete the book, since writing is very much not a mechanical process.
In addition, GRRM wrote 100 MS pages in two months (then another 220 MS pages in about four months leading up to the May 2005 completion announcement) during the latter part of the writing process of AFFC. Depending on the circumstances, it’s possible the book could be as long (or almost as long) as ASoS and still finished a lot more quickly than nine months from now, as GRRM’s writing speed does seem to quicken noticeably as he approaches the end of the book and gets some wind in his sails.