Current Events > Did you know that some ASoIaF fans are writing The Winds of Winter themselves?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Preston Jacobs, who is widely known in the A Song of Ice and Fire community for his theory-crafting, has been crowd-sourcing a fan-fiction version of the next book for the past couple of years. He gives an outline for each chapter, people send in their submissions, and he and a team of editors take the best parts and amalgamate them into a finished chapter. It's all 100% legal because no one is making money off it.

They've done around 20 chapters so far, and are incorporating the sample chapters written by GRR Martin. Here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCsx_OFEYH6sosqM6P4zrwHbScfFGlR0M

Man that's embarrassing for George.

Ulfar posted...

Man that's embarrassing for George.

It is kind of funny, I mean these are like his most hardcore fans and even they got sick of waiting.

That's what fanfiction is, yes.

Gotta be better than the show and its better than nothing. Thanks for posting

bfslick50 posted...

Gotta be better than the show

Hard to say. Fanfic is a contender with shonen for the lowest form of art.

vigorm0rtis posted...

Hard to say. Fanfic is a contender with shonen for the lowest form of art.

The show ending is fanfic from 2 fans. As professionals theyre probably still better than the average amateur fan but theyre definitely on lower end of professionals. Im confident theres amateurs better than them.

bfslick50 posted...

Gotta be better than the show and its better than nothing. Thanks for posting

No problem, let me know what you think if you end up checking it out.

I will say there are people involved in this who are professional writers and editors. No one famous, but still they put a lot of effort into emulating George's style and making sure to only use language he would use, things like that. I'm iffy about fan-fiction like anyone but this stuff seems to be at least a notch above.

I hope they're writing it in Wordstar 4.0 for maximum authenticity.

yes! i've been subscribed to Preston Jacobs for years, and what he is doing with TWoW fan project is pretty great so far tbh.

i'm pretty sure i've posted about this here before and it didn't get much traction. glad it's getting thrown out there one more time.

Idk why he doesn't use AI at this point. I'm sure every novel written from this point on will have some AI assistance.

Cool.

Yeah, but I read fan fiction in general. I got into it during a year I couldnt afford to buy books.

DoesntMatter posted...

yes! i've been subscribed to Preston Jacobs for years, and what he is doing with TWoW fan project is pretty great so far tbh.

i'm pretty sure i've posted about this here before and it didn't get much traction. glad it's getting thrown out there one more time.

Nice, right on! Yeah it's definitely worth checking out imo

lilORANG posted...

Idk why he doesn't use AI at this point. I'm sure every novel written from this point on will have some AI assistance.

Fuck that. No self respecting author would ever use AI for their writing.

Beany posted...

Preston Jacobs, who is widely known in the A Song of Ice and Fire community for his theory-crafting, has been crowd-sourcing a fan-fiction version of the next book for the past couple of years. He gives an outline for each chapter, people send in their submissions, and he and a team of editors take the best parts and amalgamate them into a finished chapter. It's all 100% legal because no one is making money off it.

They've done around 20 chapters so far, and are incorporating the sample chapters written by GRR Martin. Here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCsx_OFEYH6sosqM6P4zrwHbScfFGlR0M

Would they do a fanfic Dream of Spring too?

LeCh0nk posted...

Fuck that. No self respecting author would ever use AI for their writing.

It helps to speed things up and might give some inspiration for how events will unfold. If used responsibly, it would boost productivity.

DoesntMatter posted...

yes! i've been subscribed to Preston Jacobs for years, and what he is doing with TWoW fan project is pretty great so far tbh.

i'm pretty sure i've posted about this here before and it didn't get much traction. glad it's getting thrown out there one more time.

It's not Georges friends who run the site is it? You know the ones who published that large coffee table book awhile back.

You mean did I know that such a thing as "fan fiction exist"

Why yes, I heard about it a few months back. I learned that they have if for Hello Kitty, never realized they have it for ASoIaF, how interesting I wonder if fan fiction exist for any other IPs... and here's a new idea for this fan fiction concept I bet no one has ever thought of, you could write fan fiction where characters who normally aren't romantic have sex, that would be crazy.

Anywho....

With Martin taking his sweet time finishing the work, I suspect there will be tons of 'unofficial' endings, especially if he dies and the work is left undone.

The question is would one work become the official unofficial ending of the story. And that becomes the one everyone agrees is 'canon'? I guess we'll see what happens when George dies.

That's pretty cool and probably the only way we'll get Winds of Winter at this point.

vycebrand2 posted...

It's not Georges friends who run the site is it? You know the ones who published that large coffee table book awhile back.

no

Charged151 posted...

It helps to speed things up and might give some inspiration for how events will unfold. If used responsibly, it would boost productivity.

Art is the purest expression of one's soul and mind - using AI bastardizes that.

LeCh0nk posted...

Fuck that. No self respecting author would ever use AI for their writing.

Duh. But we'll never know

LeCh0nk posted...

Art is the purest expression of one's soul and mind - using AI bastardizes that.

Considering George doesn't have the time to write, anything that speeds things up should be considered.

It took me longer than it should to realize the prologue was not about Sweet Robin in the Vale.

Prologue about a character with a theory on the seasons that he doesn't share with the audience. Is this a popular fan theory I should know, are they waiting for a more dramatic reveal later, or keeping it a mystery because they don't want to start with too big of a leap on their own? He talked about the wobble of the moon and it being unknown if the Earth or Moon is wobbling. I guess that explains there seasons, if the Earth can be for years in a closer or further orbit. I read on reddit once that what we would call a "mild winter" they would call a "summer snow."

Any theories on the ending of the prologue? I'm still processing. Clearly people Lady Stoneheart would want to see dead but the execution method isn't her style. Jeyne hiring a faceless assassin?

I'm a few chapters in. It's decent, but now that I think about it, I feel the prologue is trying to hard to model past prologues, specifically Clash of Kings & Feast for Crows.

Aero's first chapter was good.

Daenery's first chapter felt like a character arc recap. Drogon refuses to burn her rivals so she's powerless again, but psyche he's back and she can carry on plans as intended. Presumably the reveal about all the deception behind the scenes last time she was there will lead to her trusting advisors less and her gut more... but the decision to leave on Drogon was her finally rejecting her advisors and going with her gut. The entire point of her Mereen arc was already getting her into a spot to trust her gut more. Remove that and this chapter is really just an explanation of why she took so long to come back to her army.

George really should just get someone else to officially write the story if he's not gonna finish it.

bump, been enjoying reading your thoughts on it bfslick50

Beany posted...

bump, been enjoying reading your thoughts on it bfslick50

Good! I also made a topic on ASOIAF board for when this eventually purges, but over there is a bit like yelling into the void.

Listened to Jaime's 1st chapter: Daannnnnnnnnnnnng. Poor Jaime. I mean it's really the only place Jaime's story could've gone with the way he ended the previous book. Kind of weird for this to be a book starter and not his last chapter in the previous book. Martin kind of has weak book arcs. He's so focused on the epic-long arc that many characters are just ending in random spots at books end. An anthology with shorter books focused on specific characters probably would've been a better way to organize it.

It explains why Show Jaime just meanders at this point in the show with nothing to do: wasting a whole season traveling with Bronn. Then he joins Brienne but show Brienne doesn't have a reason to betray him so they made him overnight undo growth instead. I'm confident Show Jaime/Cersei ending is the plan for Book Aegon/Arianne.

Sansa's 2nd chapter was perfect. I thought I was watching things unravel for Littlefinger, but nope! "Robin overheard talk of a mystery knight so I had to allow it." I can't believe I didn't catch it. Robin doesn't accidentally overhear anything. Littlefinger has complete control over his life. Sansa's too. She's not Littlefinger's confidant. He kept her focused on the aspects of the tourney that didn't matter. Which then means Robin finding her being attacked is also no coincidence. Littlefinger knew Harry's nature. How he arranged Harry's death is a bit of a mystery to me, but I don't buy it's a coincidence. And then the Blackfish was there to save the day. Now that the Vale is in open rebellion, Sansa no longer needs to keep her identity a secret either.

They should feed the whole series into an AI and then have AI write the remaining books.

bfslick50 posted...

Good! I also made a topic on ASOIAF board for when this eventually purges, but over there is a bit like yelling into the void.

Neat! Would you mind linking me to that? (I'm sure I'd find the board eventually but I'd appreciate the shortcut, lol.)

Listened to Jaime's 1st chapter: Daannnnnnnnnnnnng. Poor Jaime. I mean it's really the only place Jaime's story could've gone with the way he ended the previous book. Kind of weird for this to be a book starter and not his last chapter in the previous book. Martin kind of has weak book arcs. He's so focused on the epic-long arc that many characters are just ending in random spots at books end. An anthology with shorter books focused on specific characters probably would've been a better way to organize it.

It explains why Show Jaime just meanders at this point in the show with nothing to do: wasting a whole season traveling with Bronn. Then he joins Brienne but show Brienne doesn't have a reason to betray him so they made him overnight undo growth instead. I'm confident Show Jaime/Cersei ending is the plan for Book Aegon/Arianne.

An interesting theory!

bfslick50 posted...

Sansa's 2nd chapter was perfect. I thought I was watching things unravel for Littlefinger, but nope! "Robin overheard talk of a mystery knight so I had to allow it." I can't believe I didn't catch it. Robin doesn't accidentally overhear anything. Littlefinger has complete control over his life. Sansa's too. She's not Littlefinger's confidant. He kept her focused on the aspects of the tourney that didn't matter. Which then means Robin finding her being attacked is also no coincidence. Littlefinger knew Harry's nature. How he arranged Harry's death is a bit of a mystery to me, but I don't buy it's a coincidence. And then the Blackfish was there to save the day. Now that the Vale is in open rebellion, Sansa no longer needs to keep her identity a secret either.

I liked that one a lot, too. Robin is Preston's favorite character, as you might have guessed by the way the prologue is titled.

Btw I definitely recommend checking out his other videos if you're into theory-crafting. I think sorting by popular should bring some good ones up.

jumi posted...

They should feed the whole series into an AI and then have AI write the remaining books.

I'll bet someone has done that, lol. Actually, now that you mention it Preston and his friend were joking about that exact thing on his last livestream.

Beany posted...

Neat! Would you mind linking me to that? (I'm sure I'd find the board eventually but I'd appreciate the shortcut, lol.)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/298-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/80898252

Btw I definitely recommend checking out his other videos if you're into theory-crafting. I think sorting by popular should bring some good ones up.

OK Ill check it out.

Recently (last summer) I watched a bunch of theories from David Lightbringer whose theories I mostly liked but his videos are long with some rambling in areas.

bfslick50 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/298-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/80898252

OK Ill check it out.

Recently (last summer) I watched a bunch of theories from David Lightbringer whose theories I mostly liked but his videos are long with some rambling in areas.

Preston doesn't ramble. His videos are well researched and his theories are well articulated. Pretty tinfoily at times though. Even he always mentions the caveat that he's probably wrong about half this stuff. But it is all very interesting nonetheless. I like his theories regarding Time-Traveling Bran the best, something that he features very prominently in the fanfic project.

Does Jon stay dead? If not then screw that deus ex machina crap. Don't repeat the mistakes of the TV series, what's the point of that.

George hates fanfiction.

paerarru posted...

Does Jon stay dead? If not then screw that deus ex machina crap. Don't repeat the mistakes of the TV series, what's the point of that.

That's 100% George's vision. Everything pointed to that moment.

LeCh0nk posted...

That's 100% George's vision. Everything pointed to that moment.

This. Theres so much in the books foreshadowing that.

LightningAce11 posted...

George hates fanfiction.

Hes welcome to write something better

I don't know what to make of Hotah's 2nd chapter. Darkstar claims that wasn't the real Myrcella that was injured... what? That was just another one of his bluffs right? Bluffing about the castle defenses was a smart move but this is... maybe I'd be less confused if I wasn't nearly a decade out from reading the books. That has to be another lie. Ayrs Oakheart and Borus Blount both acted as if that's the real Myrcella and they served on the Kingsguard since before the book series. Seems like they'd know better than Darkstar's one tourney memory.

Obara Sand had a fitting end. I go back and forth on if her murdering Borus was against Doran's wishes or if that's what he wanted. Is he really the grass that hides the snake or is that a story he tells to make himself feel more bold? The Trystan murder plot, that was a lie too right? Cersei's secret mission for Borus was just making sure Myrcella returned (because it's the real Myrcella down there). I assume it's Varys' lie and not Doran's lie; friends at court that aren't really good friends.

Jon's Chapters: Ahhhhhhh, how are they going to use Jon as a chapter title to refer to Jon Connington and not Jon Snow? Connington doesn't deserve that chapter title. He gets a nickname like General or something. His first chapter started with a resurrection comment because people thought he died in his cups a decade ago and his second chapter started with a statement that "the wall must not fall." Quit playing games with my heart.

Sam - So viewing into a obsidian candle is how anyone can be a warg. That's cool. I thought the white ravens talking was somehow related to Bran, but nope. That was a funny reveal. I wonder if Sam can eventually become a warg without needing the candle, like the candle is helping to train his mind. Sam seems to be starting a path of evil through good intentions.