More "Game of Thrones Fun"... unless you're the guy who writes it.

[uberreiniger]

Fascinating article on Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, the fans who are obsessed with him, and the former fans who are also obsessed with him.

My icon is an accurate depiction of what Martin's detractors apparently think he does instead of writing his next novel :) Actually, this article is a little scary to read. An active community has banded together to wage war against an author who writes slowly... because they love him? I haven't visited the anti-Martin sites in question, but just reading this article makes the venom plain to see. 

Then again, Martin's happy fans are on-record as being willing to dumpster dive for barbecue leftovers in the middle of the night in order to appease him so they may not be the most stable bunch either. In that light it's easy to see how the degeneration could happen when one of them feels jilted by his lack of progress.

I agree with the statement that it's an effect of the entitlement culture. And it's also the way our culture looks at celebrities, (or even people who are just celebrities to us.) People think they're entitled to some piece of them and are indignant when they don't get it.

Oh, and apparently everyone thinks it's just okay to refer to an author dying before a work is finished as "pulling a Jordan." Does anyone besides me find that not only insulting to a writer like Martin, but also to Robert Jordan as well? It carries an implication that Jordan somehow chose to die. Or was irresponsible in his career and chose not to make finishing his books a priority before his life ran out. Or even that his death was somehow a great big "fuck you" to everyone eagerly eyeballing the money they have set aside for the day in the future when he finally created and released a "Snakes and Foxes" game for the Nintendo DS. Nevermind the fact that by all accounts Jordan's drive to finish The Wheel of Time was what kept him going through the final years of a truly agonizing and debilitating illness.

Makes me almost glad I'm not a famous writer with a rabid fanbase. I don't even think my readership reaches far into the double digits. And I don't know what I would do if five of them hated the other five.

Comments

[adele87.livejournal.com]

Was good to talk to you last night....I actually have a question for you that I'd like your advice on when you get a chance.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the article yet but I agree that the "pulling a Jordan" business is in bad taste.

I still remember when Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers and the message board I was reading was full of people wishing other authors had contracted it instead. And it really made me furious, among other reasons because I'm sure he wouldn't wish it on anybody else.

Which isn't that relevant except in a "book fans can be assholes too" sort of way but I've been wanting to rant about it for ages.

Anyway, the weird thing about me is that I loved George R. R. Martin back when he wrote science fiction short stories and to be honest I wish he was still doing that. I loved those stories! As for a Song of Ice and Fire I read the first book in the series and my thought process was basically "This was a great book but he's just going to put these characters through more and more hell and there will be a bookshelf full of it and I'm going to stop at one."

But eh, that's me.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

As a Robert Jordan fan I find that offensive.

[para-xylene.livejournal.com]

That article is one of the most fucked up things I have read in weeks. It actually reminded me a little of Misery.

I think there is a need for conversation about this sort of thing. I have seen some incredibly petty readers in fanfiction communities. Most of the time, the fanfic author isn't very good but they are writing what fans want to see. Some readers get increasingly irate and demanding as the fanfic writer caters to ideas or romantic pairings those readers don't like. That's when things get ugly.

Wish I had more time to reply to this post. :< This is a really thought-provoking entry.

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

To provide a little bit of counterpoint, many of us fans who are simply regular readers who enjoy his books feel betrayed by Martin because he outright lied to us. A Feast for Crows contains a forward promising that the next book was basically finished, and we could expect it within months. It's been 6 years.

The hounding he's taken makes little sense, and it's yet another case where the fanatics ruin it for the more reasonable people, but I at least understand why.

As for Jordan, it is unfortunate that his name has taken on that connotation. Sadly, long before he died his name was synonymous with taking a good, unique, and wonderful story and stretching it out completely unnecessarily for money's sake. Maybe this new interpretation will serve him better.

[sravakavarn.livejournal.com]

It makes me glad I am a poet and no one cares.