Post by loripetty on Jul 13, 2017 18:44:51 GMT
The latest season of GOT is starting this Sunday, and like last season, it will be comprised of 100% new material beyond the scope of the currently published books. It's made me think about the history of the "Is Winter Coming?" forum, and specifically this post called "To My Detractors" from GRRM's Billboard:
grrm.livejournal.com/75053.html
It was this post, and a companion to it (which I can't find, but is mentioned here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/11/just-write-it ) that spurred Slynt to create the IWC forum, and for Pesci/Liotta to create the "GRRRM" Livejournal site. Everyone on the internet thought we were nuts, and simply being a member of this forum was grounds for banning on many other fantasy or GRRM-related forums. Popular authors even took a stance against "detractors" like us (like Neil Gaiman, in his famous blog post: journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html ). Asking politely about the progress of ADWD was an instant ban (or "screening") at GRRM's Billboard.
But then, the HBO series started. The first season aired a couple months after the fifth book was published, and the series became EXPONENTIALLY more popular. I don't know what the numbers are exactly, but the five ASOIAF books have been on the NYT Bestseller lists for nearly the entire run of the HBO show. It was an insane increase in notoriety for ASOIAF and GRRM.
Since the fifth book came out simultaneously with the show, the new fans ASOIAF gained weren't acquainted with The Wait. I remember some new people joining the IWC forum and seeming confused by us. Why were we so upset? Why did we feel like GRRM owed us the completed series of books? Time would change that, though.
We're entering the seventh season of the HBO show, and the internet climate has changed completely. The ASOIAF subreddit constantly puts GRRM "on blast," as the kids say. Threads like this one on NeoGAF (a popular gaming board) are absolutely merciless as well: www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1405509 More than that, Ran and Linda are considered nutcases by the majority of fans, when before, they were revered as the "faithkeepers" of the series.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting that we are the mainstream now. Personally, I thought the day would never come, because the GRRM Defense Force was SO entrenched. Not just on the internet, either -- he had literal white knights called the Brotherhood Without Banners would follow him to conventions and throw parties for him.
I always saw the IWC forum as fulfilling an important role -- accountability for authors that say "This is book 1 of 3" and don't deliver. I do think that authors have learned a lesson from GRRM and the fan reaction; or at the very least, the fans themselves have learned to be leary of something labeled as a continuing series. Or perhaps nothing has been learned, but my hope still remains that the business of writing fantasy books will change after the "GRRM incident."
The entire internet is saying the same thing we were nearly a decade ago -- Finish the Damn Books, George!
grrm.livejournal.com/75053.html
It was this post, and a companion to it (which I can't find, but is mentioned here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/11/just-write-it ) that spurred Slynt to create the IWC forum, and for Pesci/Liotta to create the "GRRRM" Livejournal site. Everyone on the internet thought we were nuts, and simply being a member of this forum was grounds for banning on many other fantasy or GRRM-related forums. Popular authors even took a stance against "detractors" like us (like Neil Gaiman, in his famous blog post: journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html ). Asking politely about the progress of ADWD was an instant ban (or "screening") at GRRM's Billboard.
But then, the HBO series started. The first season aired a couple months after the fifth book was published, and the series became EXPONENTIALLY more popular. I don't know what the numbers are exactly, but the five ASOIAF books have been on the NYT Bestseller lists for nearly the entire run of the HBO show. It was an insane increase in notoriety for ASOIAF and GRRM.
Since the fifth book came out simultaneously with the show, the new fans ASOIAF gained weren't acquainted with The Wait. I remember some new people joining the IWC forum and seeming confused by us. Why were we so upset? Why did we feel like GRRM owed us the completed series of books? Time would change that, though.
We're entering the seventh season of the HBO show, and the internet climate has changed completely. The ASOIAF subreddit constantly puts GRRM "on blast," as the kids say. Threads like this one on NeoGAF (a popular gaming board) are absolutely merciless as well: www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1405509 More than that, Ran and Linda are considered nutcases by the majority of fans, when before, they were revered as the "faithkeepers" of the series.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting that we are the mainstream now. Personally, I thought the day would never come, because the GRRM Defense Force was SO entrenched. Not just on the internet, either -- he had literal white knights called the Brotherhood Without Banners would follow him to conventions and throw parties for him.
I always saw the IWC forum as fulfilling an important role -- accountability for authors that say "This is book 1 of 3" and don't deliver. I do think that authors have learned a lesson from GRRM and the fan reaction; or at the very least, the fans themselves have learned to be leary of something labeled as a continuing series. Or perhaps nothing has been learned, but my hope still remains that the business of writing fantasy books will change after the "GRRM incident."
The entire internet is saying the same thing we were nearly a decade ago -- Finish the Damn Books, George!