George Martin's Shadow Fandom

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In the current New Yorker is an article by Laura Miller titled "Just Write It!" about George R. R. Martin and his fans.  It begins by establishing what a talented and engaging writer George is -- and no argument there.  Then it gets to the meat of the matter:

An entire community of apostates -- a shadow fandom -- is now devoted to taunting Martin, his associates, and readers who insist that he has been hard at work on the series and has the right to take as much time as he needs.

Following which, Ms Miller analyzes:

. . . the online attacks on Martin suggest that some readers have a new idea about what an author owes them.  They see themselves as customers, not devotees, and they expect prompt, consistent service.

There's a great deal that could be said about this.  But I shall restrict myself to throwing out a single word which does not appear in the article:  Artist.

George Martin is an artist.  That's why so many people like his Ice and Fire books so much.  It's also why it took him over five years to write the forthcoming volume of his series.  Because to be an artist is to work right at the edge of what it's possible for you to do.  And sometimes it's so difficult as to be almost impossible.

The imagination is a horse, and it can carry you far and fast.  An artist is somebody who can ride that horse.  But just because you can ride it doesn't mean you can tell it where to go.

Nobody wants his series to be finished as much as George does.  He's been working very hard to complete it.  But sometimes the horse refuses to run as fast as you'd like it to.

Um ... and that's all, really.

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