Disappointment is rife among fans of Game of Thrones following the series finale of the show. Fan sites and twitter feeds are full of criticism at the way the show’s writers chose to wrap up the eight seasons based on George R. R. Martin’s epic series. It occurs to me that there are lessons to be gleaned by writers from this phenomenon.
- It’s called a story arc, not a story cliff. You can’t cheat on story structure. After laying down an intricate web of story build up, take the time to follow these character pathways to a logical conclusion. Just because you know where the path will end for your character doesn’t mean you can avoid taking all the stepping stones to reach the destination. The last two seasons of Game of Thrones seem abrupt, whether due to lack of source material, budget, or time. The writers apparently just gave up and said, “Okay, so this is what happens.”
- Deadlines are important (Looking at you, George R. R. Martin) When Game of Thrones began, the series had been completed through the fifth book. Each season covered a single book. That seemed like plenty of time for George R. R. Martin to finish the sixth book. Even Martin could finish a book in five years, right? Wrong. In his blog, Martin said, “The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became.” Basically, he can’t deal with deadlines. He cites his inability to handle deadlines for driving him away from journalism into writing fiction. Granted, Martin is unbelievably skilled at world building, perhaps beyond all others. And there’s no way I could personally match him, so it’s snarky of me to say this. But, c’ mon, George. Talks started with HBO ten years ago. You couldn’t get it together in ten years? Maybe you should have spent a little less time at parties.
- Character development should remain consistent. Fans were upset with Dani’s sudden descent into madness. The writers told us she “simply snapped,” and that the reason behind her abrupt turn-around was her genetic makeup. “Every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin.” Whatever. Over the course of a handful of episodes, the Mother of Dragons flipped from the sympathetic, beloved breaker of chains into the charbroiler of children. That kind of personality change is unbelievable without a lot of build up and back story. Even then, I would question if it would be believable. The actress herself, Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys, said the character change came out of nowhere.
- Shortcuts don’t work. Writing is hard work. Often, it’s not fun. When you get close to finishing, the temptation is always there to wrap it up quickly and move on to your new work in progress. But after all the time you spent getting all those words down, honor your work by finishing it with the same quality and care you gave it at the very beginning when the idea was new and fresh in your mind, and you were full of hope. Grind it out. There’s no substitute. Cutting corners and wrapping it up too quickly with implausible and pat endings is unfair to your readers. If they have taken the time to read your work, you owe it to them to give them the best ending you are capable of creating.