Back Fence Ramblings

• 13:43 Must go digging for old drabble prompts. Feel very rut-stuck about book 2 and need a shake-up. #
• 16:14 *ahem* DENTISTRY AT THE SIDE WAYS MARKET! That is all. Thank you. #
• 22:12 Got some BRILLIANT drabble prompts and already have an idea for "the lamp post Narnia didn't want". *glee* #

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Clarion

So according to nutmeg3, George RR Martin is going to be an instructor at the Clarion writer's conference next summer. This annoys me. No, it's not because it's six weeks he could be working on his long-delayed next installment to A Song of Ice and Fire. It's because I don't think he's a good role model for aspiring writers anywhere. I really long to attend Clarion one year ... but not that year. No. Just ... no.

For a start, however much I like the story and the characters, the actual writing ... well, it has its moments. However, he relies too heavily on descriptive passages, he tells instead of showing (particularly in the fourth book, where almost everything of any interest happens off-stage and we spend most of the book watching a notably unattractive woman wander through the landscape showing The Horrors of War and picking up rumours; I'm sorry, but I really feel that having everything exciting happen off-stage is a cheap way to make sure that you never really write yourself into a corner because all you have to do in order to change things is say "The person who told you that was mistaken/lying/whatever". Cheeeeap) and he focuses too much on petty detail for my taste. There's only so much about slashed velvet doublets and cloth-of-gold one needs to hear about, really; I prefer it when an author saves the description of clothing for when it actually matters or might add something rather than trying to guide every single element of the mental image forming in the reader's head. As for the descriptions of banquets and feasts, I kept having Jean M Auel flashbacks because it really felt like a passion cry of "See?!? I did my research on the eating habits of this time period in the real world, and am using my knowledge! Look at me use my knowledge!" Seriously, if you're going to tell the world what someone's eating, show them eating it, don't just write a two-page paragraph outlining the menu. Seriously, if that man was going to come and nit-pick my stories, I'd want to do the same to his, and I don't think I'd be allowed somehow. He doesn't strike me as the sort of person who takes criticism well, from my admittedly limited knowledge. Then again, I've seen how he's reacted to anything like criticism of the delays on A Dance with Dragons...

Yeah, about that. Look, I know that George RR Martin is not my bitch. I know I have no right to nag, berate or abuse him over his activities or demand that he spend every waking moment working on ADWD. I know that if I mind how long it's taking him to write the book that I am anticipating (with less and less interest as time goes on, but still), that's my problem. However, I am not going to join the scores of people who insist that "It's okay, George! Take all the time you need, George! I know it'll be the best book ever, and you can't rush genius, George!" Know why? Because whatever my feelings on the matter, it is not okay. This has nothing to do with fannish expectation; this has to do with being a professional and meeting your deadlines. Blowing off or otherwise missing a deadline is not okay. Sure, it happens, but it's still not okay. His publishers sure as hell must not think it's okay; they're the ones who paid the advance for a book that still hasn't turned up, with a fanbase becoming more and more disillusioned as Mr Martin refuses to discuss how it's doing. Man, if I were as far behind as he is on something for which I'd taken advance money, I'd be a gibbering wreck. Maybe he is, behind all the talk of American football and trying to sell his various bits of tat. Maybe his deleting comments from anyone even remotely asking when ADWD will be finished is just his way of sticking his head in the sand so he doesn't have to think about it. Maybe he's just playing the denial game, sticking his fingers in his ears and hoping that if he ignores the deadline, it will go away. Yeah, that's the mature and professional way to handle a problem that does, in fact, happen to the best of us.

Seriously - not touching Clarion that year. Don't want to meet that man. Am a little bit afraid of what I'd say. I wouldn't get in his face about how much I want ADWD; that's not his problem. However, Clarion is supposed to be a conference and workshop, where everyone can learn. I think I'd probably try to teach him a few things while he was teaching me. And then I'd probably get thrown out.