George R. R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss are both famous, in part, for seemingly abandoning fantasy series that readers are desperate to have continued. Both men are wealthy, in large part due to the success of these stalled series.
There’s such a large amount of money at stack that it convinces me that if there was any way for them to move forward, they would have. There’s a great quote from Way Of The Gun: “Fifteen million dollars is not money. It’s a motive with a universal adaptor on it.” Continuing these series might not be worth fifteen million dollars, but it’s certainly worth millions of dollars in both cases.
Given this, these authors’ respective publishers would likely do anything to get them to write the next books. If this entailed hiring a team of ghostwriters and assistants to help them and locking the group on a hotel floor until they finished, that’s what would happen.
Whatever Martin and Rothfuss’ goals are in their lives, finishing these series would help them achieve those goals. Even if they don’t need the money personally, it’s a large enough sum that it could dramatically change a loved one’s life or help any charitable cause they believe in. Given that they haven’t, I think the only conclusion is that they’re literally unable to do so. They’ve painted themselves into a corner such that they aren’t able to continue.
A Modest Proposal
What I think they should do is abandon the “canon” of what’s come before in their books. Treat the ENTIRE series, including previously release books, as a draft. Revise those previous books, as needed, to allow them to complete the series. Then release the new versions of the past books and the final books finishing the series.
I’m certain whatever the problems they’re having with what they’re currently writing could be fixed by changing the past. Some readers might be upset that something they “knew” to be true about the fictional world has changed. Let them deal with it! If they want to remain with the original, stalled version, so be it.
J. R. R. Tolkien is an example of why I think this would work. Throughout his life, he kept making updates to the mythology of his Middle Earth world. His conceit was that the books were written by characters from that world, and he was just an academic studying them. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is he changed his book “The Hobbit”, after it had been published, to fit with “The Lord Of The Ring”. In the original version, Gollum willingly wagered his magic ring on his riddle contest with Bilbo. He treated it like a meaningless trinket. After writing LOTR, Tolkien realized Gollum would never willingly offer to give it up, and he changed that part in the previous book.
Similarly, he adjusted his mythology and the history of Middle Earth throughout his life.
Martin and Rothfuss should take a similar approach to get themselves out of the corners they find themselves in and complete their series.
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