A Dance with Dragonsin odotusketju (George R.R. Martin)

[Jussi]

Tämä on odotusketju Martinin A Song of Ice and Fire -sarjan viidennelle osalle. Martin kirjoittaa parhaillaan A Dance with Dragonsia, se ei ole vielä valmis. Ketjuun postataan uutisia kirjan edistymisestä, ja muukin aiheeseen liittyvä keskustelu on sallittua.

Martinin kotisivuilta löytyy uusi päivitys kirjan etenemisestä. Tämä tulee kirjailijan mukaan olemaan viimeinen ennen romaanin valmistumista.

DANCING IN THE DARK

I finally finished A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, but my dog ate the manuscript and there was no copy, so I'm starting over.

What, you don't believe me?

Okay, okay. We don't have a dog at present, and A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is not done.

I'm still writing. Certain storylines are going well. Others, not so much, but that's what rewriting is for, yes?

I have to admit, these updates aren't working the way I hoped they would. I started them in the hopes that they would help stem the flood of emails asking about the next book. They haven't. I get just as many emails, only now they're asking about the next update. Yes, I know I said I'd have an update in "early January," and January came and went and there was no update. I can read a calendar too. The reason there was no update...

Well, the book's not done. And we've had home renovations. And the book's not done. And there's been work on other projects, on comics and The World of Ice & Fire and the games and the new Wild Cards book, Inside Straight. And there was football, and cons to attend, and a signing tour, and the holidays, and did I mention those home renovations?

The truth is, these updates do make me feel like a twelve-year old trying to explain to teacher why he isn't turning in his essay, and knowing she isn't going to buy the "dog ate my homework" ruse any more than you guys do.

The only update that I want to write is the one that says, "A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is done." That's the one you want, and that's the one that I want to write... but when the book isn't done, having to come online and say so every few months becomes a stressful and unpleasant task. I really do appreciate the fact that so many people are so eager to read the next installment in A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE and I wish I could get it to you right now, but you guys read a lot faster than I can write.

When A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is finished, I will post that news here. The moment I finish the book, I will log on and make the announcement. If this message is still here, that means the book is not done yet. Until such time as I can trumpet that news, however, this page will remain the same.

The next update will be the one that announces that the DANCE is done.

—George R.R. Martin, February 15, 2007

[Jussi]

Martin on paljastanut Dance with Dragonsin uuden näkökulmahenkilön:

Spoileri (klikkaa näytä/piilota)

Quentyn Martell

Tämän jälkeen sarjassa ei pitäisi enää tulla uusia kertojahenkilöitä, poislukien esinäytökset ja mahdolliset epilogit.

[Keeper]

Kyllä ADwD vaatii mun osalta ainakin täydellisen uudelleenlukukierroksen noiden edellisten kirjojen kohdalla, tuokaan nimi ei soittanut mitään kelloja , no sukunimestä nyt voi päätellä jotain.

[Jussi]

Martinin uusi blogimerkintä:

21st April 2007
1:07pm: a good day's dancing

I had a good day's work on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS yesterday.

It's one o'clock in the afternoon as I write this, and I'm just working on my morning cup of coffee, still half-conscious. One of the things that happens when I'm writing well is that all my normal schedules go out the window. I vanish into Westeros, and lose all track of time in the real world.

Which is what happened yesterday. I finished an old chapter that had been partially written months ago, did a lot of work on a newer chapter that I'd decided to add to the early part of the book, revised a couple of other sections, made some structural changes to the outline... in other words, I spent the whole day at DANCE. By the time I noticed that it had gotten dark outside, it was already close to ten o'clock at night. I worked a little more, finally signed off, went across the street and had a midnight supper, but I was too wound up to go to sleep... which is also something that happens when the book has me in its grip. So I watched a little television that TIVO had caught for me earlier (oh, I love my TIVO), then read some of the latest Bernard Cornwell (excellent, as always), and finally went to bed around three. And even then I did not go straight to sleep, but tossed and turned for a long while, my mind full of Dany and Jon and Q and so forth and so on.

It was the most productive day I've had in months, at least where DANCE is concerned (I have had very productive days working on the WILD CARDS, dealing with contracts and subrights, approving artwork and design and giving notes about some of the spinoff projects, and the like, but that's a different thing). One thing that helped that happen was that yesterday, for whatever reason, the world left me alone. The phone never rang. No one came knocking on my doors. None of my friends dropped in unexpectedly. I had no doctor's appointments, no dinner dates, nothing on my calendar but work. I did not even go out for my usual daily walk to get some exercise in.

I need more days like this. Lots more days like this. That's how DANCE will get done. I have lots of writer friends who can turn it off and on at will, who can live their lives and do their work as well, even work on one project in the morning and switch to an entirely different project in the afternoon... but that's never worked for me. When it's going well, my writing tends to swallow me. And when "the world is too much with us," well, that always throws me off my game.

In the past, though, one good day does often lead to another, and another, and another. So you'll have to excuse me, friends. I'm going back to Westeros...

[Jussi]

Jälleen kirjailijan blogista:

27th April 2007
12:53am: this and that and t'other thing

I had a number of good days writing on DANCE after my last post. It felt great to have a solid streak of work like that. It's been a while, with all the stuff that has gone down this last year. I got quite a bit done, including a marriage. Some of it was rewriting, but the book will be much stronger for the changes I made.

Unfortunately, the last two days have been less productive, at least for DANCE. A major crisis erupted on another front, and I had to spend most of my time dealing with it. Wish I could say it was all settled, but no, it drags on, and becomes increasingly unpleasant. You know, there are times when I love writing and there are times when it's agony... but it's the business side of this profession that can really drive you mad.

Ah, well. Sorry to be so vague, but some things I'm not allowed to speak about.

[Jussi]

Uuden blogimerkinnän voi lukea tästä. Lainauksia:

It's been too long since I last posted here, but I have a good excuse. Parris has been off in Ireland since June 6, and I have been trying to take advantage of the (comparative) isolation to get some serious work done on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. I've only been partially successful there. It has been a good few weeks, work wise, but not the great few weeks that I was kinda sorta hoping for. I did manage to finish one especially troublesome chapter that I have been fussing and fretting over since before I split the two books, so that's good. (At least I THINK I finally finished it. Tomorrow I may reread the thing and decide, no, it's no good at all. But I hope not). Finished some other chapters too, and did some more revision, so I've been productive, but still... there's no way around it, DANCE is simply coming more slowly than me, my editors, or my readers would like.

I am trying to deal with that, in a couple of ways. First, I have gone and hired an actual assistant, for the first time in my career.

Also, sad to say, I have begun to question whether or not I can make this year's worldcon in Japan.

A year ago, it would never have dawned on me that DANCE would not be done by the time the Japanese worldcon rolled around, but that's looking like a very real possibility now. Much as I might want to, I just can't take off for a month of Asian travel with the book undone. I have to finish if it kills me... and some days I think it may. So I think my streak is going to have to end.

[Freyja]

Martin ilmoitti elokuun lopulla yhä kirjoittavansa A Dance with Dragonsia. Hyvä niin, että kirja etenee, vaikka alkuperäisestä aikataulusta onkin myöhässä. Jostain syystä Amazon.co.uk on pistänyt jo jonkin aikaa sitten DwD:n julkaisupäivämääräksi 7.4.2008 ja sivumääräkin löytyy. Tuo ei voine pitää paikkaansa, kun Martin vielä kirjoittaa kirjaa, eikä lopullinen sivumäärä voi olla tiedossa. Minua ei yhtään haittaisi jos kirja ilmestyy huhtikuussa, mutta taitaa olla toiveajattelua...?

[Jussi]

Lainaus Martinin uusimmasta blogimerkinnästä (22.10.):

Meanwhile, Gardner Dozois (my friend and co-editor) and I have gotten the first stories in on the two big original anthologies we're editing -- WARRIORS and SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH (the Jack Vance tribute anthology). The books won't be out until 2009, of course, but Gardner and I are excited about them both, and it would seem our writers are as well.

And yes, I am trying to finish up the third Dunk & Egg story as my own contribution to WARRIORS. Right now I'm calling it "The Mystery Knight." That's the fourth or fifth title I've slapped on this one. We'll see if it sticks.

DANCE WITH DRAGONS? Yes, working on that too. Lately it's been Tyrion and more Tyrion. When I finish these three chapters, I will need to double back and pick up some of the other POVs lest my devious dwarf get too far ahead.

Vielä kirjailijan kommentti viestin herättämässä keskustelussa:

I haven't lost my enthusiasm for writing A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

I have, however, lost my enthusiasm for answering questions about it.

And I have REALLY lost my enthusiasm for people writing that I am "not a young man" and speculating about my possible death.

I am not working "only sporadically" on DANCE. But it's not simple equation: x many hours does not necessarily produce X many pages. Oh, sure, some writers can do that. Not me.

For me, especially on this book, there's a lot of rewriting (and restructuring) involved. I write a chapter, sometimes several, decide later it isn't working, go back and rewrite and cut it all out.

These are aspects of the creative process that are NOT FOR PUBLIC VIEW. I am wrestling with my story, my characters, and my muse, and that's one wrestling match you won't see on Pay Per View.

Someday I will die, and I hope you're right and it's thirty years from now. When that happens, maybe my heirs will decide to publish a book of fragments and deleted chapters, and you'll all get to read about Tyrion's meeting with the Shrouded Lord. It's a swell, spooky, evocative chapter, but you won't read it in DANCE. It took me down a road I decided I did not want to travel, so I went back and ripped it out. So, unless I change my mind again, it's going the way of the draft of LORD OF THE RINGS where Tolkien has Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin reach the Prancing Pony and meet... a weatherbeaten old hobbit ranger named "Trotter."

And that's about as much as I'm going to say on this subject. Which is probably too much. I guarantee you, I will now get a bunch of letters from those who want to read this deleted chapter. (No. Thank you, but no).

I'm working on it.

It will be done when it's done. When it is, I'll let you know.

Why isn't that enough?

[Keeper]

Melkosta draamaa . Mistä lähtien ensimmäiselläkään kirjailijalla on ollut minkäälaista velvollisuutta kertoa lukijakunnalleen missä vaiheessa työ on, milloin se ilmestyy vai ilmestyykö koskaan. 

[Freyja]

Noista not-a-blogin kommenteista jää joskus paha maku suuhun, sillä ymmärrän täysin, ettei Martin pidä siitä, että hänen epäillään voivan kuolla päivänä minä hyvänsä ja sarja jää kesken. Tämä ajattelu näytti saavan lisäpontta sen jälkeen kun Robert Jordan kuoli. Onneksi suurin osa sarjan faneista osaa kuitenkin säilyttää malttinsa, vaikka odottaakin innokkaasti seuraavaa kirjaa.

Tyrionia, Tyrionia. Hyvä uutinen sinänsä. Tyrion on yksi mielenkiintoisimmista hahmoista sarjassa. Muut kertojahahmot ADWDssa ovat:

Daenerys Targaryen
Jon Nietos
Davos
Bran Stark
Arya Stark
Asha Greyjoy

Spoileri (klikkaa näytä/piilota)

Quentyn Martell (tieto Martinilta Comicon 2007 -tapahtumassa)
Theon Greyjoy (yksi entisistä kertojahahmoista palaa eli Theon)
Varamyr Kuushahmo/Esinäytös (Sixskins) (tieto Martinilta lukutilaisuudessa USAssa)

Mielenkiintoista on Martinin blogimerkinnässä aiemmin mainitsema avioliitto. Martinin merkittävimmät häät tähän mennessä ovat olleet aika tappavia, mutta ehkä nyt ei ole kyse sellaisesta. Mahtaako olla Daenerys joka menee uudelleen naimisiin, vai joku muu - ei-keskeinen hahmo?

[Freyja]

Ser George vastailee Entertainment weeklyn artikkelissa lukijoiden lähettämiin kysymyksiin mm. A Dance w/ Dragonsin kirjoitusprosessista, hahmojen tappamisesta ja HBO:n tv-sarjan tilanteesta. Ei mitään uutta sinänsä, mutta on mukana muutama ihan hauskakin kysymys ja vastaus. Itseäni kutkuttaa kohta:

Will Arya get her wolf back? —E
You'll have to keep reading and find out!

Niinpä.

 

[Freyja]

Martinin kotisivulla on linkki lyhyeen Blood, Blade and Thrusterin haastatteluun (pdf-tiedosto, s. 75-78), jossa Martin jälleen vastailee kysymyksiin A Dance with Dragonsin ja yleensä sarjan kirjoitusprosessista sekä HBOn tv-sarjan tilanteesta sekä hahmojen roolituksista. Pientä ajanvietettä ADwDin odottelun jatkuessa.

[Jussi]

Lainaus Martinin uudesta blogimerkinnästä (12.12.):

Finished a Tyrion chapter yesterday, one I've been struggling with for months. Made a major change to the end of the chapter, one I think works much better than what I had before.

Also tackled another Tyrion chapter that had been giving me trouble, mainly by ripping Tyrion out of the scene entirely and rewriting the whole damn thing from another point of view. Not quite done with that one yet, but I think it will work better as well. However, I am keeping the old Tyrion POV version of the same events on my computer, just in case I change my mind later and decide to go back.

[Seregil of Rhiminee]

Odotan innokkaasti George R.R. Martinin A Dance with Dragons -kirjaa.

Olen lukenut kaikki neljä muuta osaa ja pidin niistä todella paljon. Mielestäni Martinin tuotanto on laadukasta fantasiaa aikuiseen makuun. Toivottavasti tämä viides kirja on yhtä kuin muut kirjat.

On mielenkiintoista nähdä milloin A Dance with Dragons on valmis ja milloin sen voi tilata.

[Jussi]

Lainaus Georgen puolison Parrisin viestistä Westeros-keskustelufoorumilla:

I do have a small Boxing day gift for you all though -

Hisself has been working well the past few weeks, and although I do sometimes suspect that these rages of creativity that often coincide with midwinter madness and all that entails might have something to do with avoiding shopping, decorating, and being social for days if not weeks on end, it's often true that his patterns of decades indicate that he can get deeply into the project for weeks on end in these dark winter months.

Tämä on siis lähetetty tapaninpäivänä.

[Seregil of Rhiminee]

Tuo oli mielenkiintoinen uutinen. Toivottavasti George R.R. Martin keskittyy rauhassa kirjoittamiseen talven aikana.

[visutossu]

Törmäsin tälläiseen sivuun 
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/lofiversion/index.php/f14.html
Mitäs ihmeitä nuo spoileriluvut ovat, ja mistä ne ovat tulleet? Ovatko ne vuotaneet jostain vai ovatko pelkkää fanien keksimiä?

[Freyja]

Nuo spoileriluvut ovat käsittääkseni lukutilaisuuksista, joissa GRRM on lukenut tekeillä olevia lukuja tulevasta kirjasta (tarkemmin tietävä korjatkoon, jos näin ei ole). Fanit ovat olleet paikalla kuuntelemassa ja tehneet muistiinpanoja. Käsittääkseni noissa keskusteluketjuissa on useiden eri fanien kirjoittamia versioita kuulemastaan, mutta koskapa en ole lukenut spoilereita - ainakaan vielä - niin en osaa varmaksi sanoa. Muutamia kohtia olen silmäillyt ja mielenkiintoista tekstiä on tulossa. Tuolta ASoIaF-foorumiltahan näitä on ollut luettavissa kaiken aikaa, jos on halunnut spoilaantua.

[Freyja]

GRRM Not a Blogissa tänään:

I had hoped to be able to finish A DANCE WITH DRAGONS during 2007. Way back around this time last year, I had even hoped that the book might be published during 2007. Neither of those happened, and to that extent the year was a disappointment... for me, as well as for my fans....

Still, the new year looms. I am not a big believer in New Year resolutions, but I do have some goals for 2008, both personal and professional, and the most urgent of those remains A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. For more about DANCE, see the Update page of my website, which I intend to update in the next day or so. See also the Samples page. I've been alternating the first Tyrion chapter and the first Dany chapter there for the past year, but as a holiday gift to my readers, and a thanks for all their patience, I'm going to put up a new sample soon.

(It may take a few days to get the update and the sample up, be warned).

Päivitystä siis tulossa. Update-sivun viimeisessä lauseessa lukee tällä hetkellä:

"The next update will be the one that announces that the DANCE is done."

Tarkoittaakohan tuleva päivitys sitä, että A Dance with Dragons on valmis (melkein valmis), vaikka GRRM ei sitä tuossa blogitekstissä sanokaan? Parin päivän sisällä se selviää ja saamme myös uuden näyteluvun luettavaksi. 2008 alkaa meille ASoIaF-faneille erinomaisesti :)

EDIT//

"(And no, the book's not done. Didn't I just say that in yesterday's post?)"

Tuo viesti ainakin varmisti, ettei Dance ole vielä valmis, mutta päivitykset ovat tulossa joka tapauksessa.

[Jussi]

Päivitys ADwD:n tilanteesta löytyy nyt sivuilta: linkki. Samoin Jon-näyteluku.

Lainauksia päivityksestä:

It is now 2008. I'm still working. There are no short cuts. It's a chapter at a time, a page at a time, a word at a time. I'm further along than I was, but not as far as I would like. During the last year, I had some good days (and months), some bad days (and months), and some days (and months) that I thought were good that turned out to be bad. The book is getting longer, and more importantly, the book is getting better. I've changed my mind about some of the things I said in earlier updates and on my Live Journal, and I reserve the right to change my mind again, though I am hoping I won't have to. Believe me, no one wants to finish this book more than me.

Sorry, I won't give you chapter and verse about the details of what I've been doing and undoing. I've never liked to talk much about a work-in-progress. Too much can and does change. Seeing as how I made you wait so long between updates, however, I'll throw out one small teaser, and mention I'm adding some chapters from the point of view of one of the characters featured in the first lot of Ice & Fire miniatures from Dark Sword, a character who has never had a POV in any of the earlier books.

This summer I am scheduled to travel to Spain to speak at Semana Negra in Gijon, make some appearances in Madrid and Barcelona, and then head over to Portugal to visit with my publishers and readers there. I want to have A DANCE WITH DRAGONS done and delivered before I leave. If that happens, the book will likely be published in the fall of 2008 in the U.S, and somewhat earlier in the U.K. I am pleased with the way the writing is going at the moment, and I think these projections are realistic ones... but as you all know, I've been wrong before. So I am not swearing any blood oaths here.

And if it's more epic fantasy that you're yearning for, there's never been more good fantasies being published than there are right now. Try Daniel Abraham, try Scott Lynch, try S.L. Farrell and David Anthony Durham and Peter S. Beagle, try Lisa Tuttle and Robin Hobb and Ellen Kushner, or any of myriad other authors whose work is making fantasy such an exciting genre to be a part of... and if you want a change of pace, hop over to historical fiction and sample some Bernard Cornwell, some Cecilia Holland, some Steven Pressfield, some David W. Ball. You'll be glad you did.