Game of Thrones took the world by storm and built such a huge fandom that you’d be lucky not to see someone talking about it on social media at any given time. Seasons 1 through 6 built this huge, sprawling universe and network of characters, all their relationships like threads overlapping or even knotting together at points. It was beautiful.
The 7 and 8 happened and most of us were left scratching our heads.
Many blame it on the fact that the showrunners ran out of source material because GRRM hasn’t finished his last two books but this writer has a different idea as to why! Read his thread here:
Want to know why Game of Thrones *feels* so different now? I think I can explain. Without spoilers. /1#GameofThrones #GoT #WritingCommunity
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
And it’s spoiler-free! Which is wonderful.
It has to do with the behind-the-scenes process of plotters vs. pantsers. If you’re not familiar with the distinction, plotters create a fairly detailed outline before they commit a single word to the page. /2
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
He begins by describing the difference between plotters and pantsers, how one fixes everything from beginning to end, how things will happen step-by-step, etc. The other plants a seed and watches it grow and “discovers” the story, things happen organically, writing alongside the growth.
Pantsers discover the story as they write it, often treating the first draft like one big elaborate outline. Neither approach is ‘right’ – it’s just a way to characterize the writing process. But the two approaches do tend to have different advantages. /3
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
Because they have the whole story in mind, it’s usually easier for plotters to deliver tighter stories and stick the landing when it comes to endings, but their characters can sometimes feel stiff, like they’re just plot devices. /4
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
Pantsers have an easier time writing realistic characters, because they generate the plot by asking themselves what this fully-realized person would do or think next in the dramatic situation the writer has dropped them in. /5
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
GRRM is definitely a pantser. He’s grown with his characters and that’s why it’s taken him so long to write the books–because his characters have sprawled so widely that he doesn’t want to stop any of their arcs abruptly.
But because pantsers are making it up as they go along (hence the name: they’re flying by the seat of their pants), they’re prone to meandering plots and can struggle to bring everything together in a satisfying conclusion. /6
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
That’s why a lot of writers plot their stories but pants their characters, and use the second draft to reconcile conflicts between the two.
What does this have to do with Game of Thrones? /7
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
Well, GRRM is one of the most epic pantsers around. He talks about writing like cultivating a garden. He plants character seeds and carefully lets them grow and grow. /8
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
That’s why every plot point and fair-in-hindsight surprise landed with such devastating weight: everything that happened to these characters happened because of their past choices. But it’s also the reason why the narrative momentum of the books slowed over time. /9
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
Now, this affects the show because GRRM has such a huuuuge beast of a story with all these characters that have been translated more or less accurately on the show. But the showrunners tried to take things into their own hands–as plotters.
For a season or two, the showrunners actually tried to take over management of GRRM’s sprawling garden, with understandably mixed results. When that didn’t work, they shifted their focus to trying to bring this huge beast in for a landing. /15
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
They’re focused on the ending and moved backwards to the loose ends left in Season 6. And didn’t even tie everything in. This is why the show has been suffering lately, the very difference between the showrunners and GRRM as writers and creators.
They gave themselves a fixed endpoint – 13 episodes to the finale, and no more – and set about reverse-engineering the rest of the story they wanted to tell.
You see, I think the showrunners are not only plotters, they’re ending-focused plotters by design. /16
— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) May 7, 2019
You can read the rest of the thread to see how much further it goes in explaining why they’re different, but this is at the heart of the difficulty: The showrunners have a different approach from GRRM. And neither is right, but we can’t deny that the show has left much to be desired.
What do you think? Let us know!
