Anyone else worried about dying?

[Mectojic]

Does anyone else, like myself, have such grand plans for their fantasy series, that they are afraid they will 'pull a Robert Jordan' and die before they can finish it?
I'm by no means old yet, but death is often unexpected, right?

In terms of the series, I'm talking about the kind of fantasy series as complicated and long as the Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that GRRM doesn't die before he finishes.

P.S. this is all just fun talk, but death is something some authors must actually consider when writing.

 

[Feo Takahari]

My immune system hates me, so I lived with that fear for about four years. I'm starting to get out from under it now that I've been in remission for so long. But honestly, the only way I would ever finish all my ideas if I stopped having new ideas, and since I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, I've got to make peace with the fact that some of the things I've come up with won't be completed.

 

[TheCatholicCrow]

Death? .3LOL. I'm Catholic. That's pretty much ALL we think about.

But seriously -I have thought about it. What creative person hasn't? I feel like even if I hired ghostwriters to fully flesh out 50%-80% of my ideas for me, I still wouldn't finish before my flesh returns to the Earth.


But...

when you think about it like this, it makes the ideas that we do choose to write (even if its just to the end of draft 1)all the more precious. There was something special about that one that called out to you like a voice, late in the night. It possesses you for weeks, maybe even months or years, until you finish and when you do, it's the most beautiful experience of all. Even if the grammar is horrid, or if nobody ever reads it, nothing can change the fact that you created something. That you sat at your computer or desk or typewriter or whatever it is you use, and you filled page after page with letters, words, sentences. You gave life to people. You shared the burden of their problems and flaws. You decided if he got the girl or if she confessed to to her sister's murder or whatever the case is in your world.


It makes me wonder, for every masterpiece that has lasted through time, how many ideas did the author have to sift through before they reached that special one? How many different things were almost written instead of Crime and Punishment? Or Hamlet? Or Faust? Had Dickens even thought of an ending for Edwin Drood? What would that have looked like?

In all honesty though, death is part of what gives meaning to life. I hope that if I do die that my family has the sense to tidy up my manuscript(s) and publish them on my behalf. On second thought, I'm not so sure I'd want to give them that kind of power over my work. Hmmmmm ... What you do think? It is rude to publish something posthumously?

 

[Tom]

Sometimes when I look at my stack of notebooks full of jotted-down future ideas, or find myself thinking up new ones, I start to wonder if I'll get around to them all before I die. It's not really something I like to dwell on, as I've had a lot of deaths in my family, and death is one of the things that kind of scares me.

I don't know what will happen to my ideas and half-finished manuscripts if I do die. They'll probably remain the way I left them, since I never plot anything, and my worldbuilding and mythos change all the time. I hate the thought of someone piecing my stuff together wrong.

 

[Devor]

I don't think about death. Instead I kind of withdraw and tremble quietly, with my brain too numb to think.

:spin:

More seriously, I don't think anybody would care enough at the moment to look into work posthumously. Even if they wanted to, my work is too much of a mess, and I think even my notes would look vague and unfinished to anybody else.

 

[Lunaairis]

On the flip side. I'm not really worried about dying, got a lot of crappy things on both sides of my family so I quickly grew to accept that my life may be short. I'm more worried about not being able to finish what I've started, as something always distracts me from finishing a story.

 

[goldhawk]

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

 

[Gurkhal]

Everybody will follow Robert Jordan because I don't see anyone actually running out of ideas.

But essentially I don't worry. All things must come to an end so that something new can follow us, and I'm not afraid of my part in nature. I just hope that the time I've been given on this earth will be roughly equal in the good to the bad, or perhaps a bit more good if possible.

 

[Penpilot]

Dying? If I write something that lots of people would be pissed that I didn't finish it because I died, I could live with that. That means I wrote something lots of people liked.

As for not finishing the story, I'd do what Robert Jordan did. I'm not really keen on his books, but I completely respect what he did to ensure the story was finished. He dictated tons and tons of notes, enough for not just one book but three.

I so respect that. I mean As his health declined, no one would fault him for focusing just on himself, but he didn't. He made sure his fans were taken care of.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

I have Peter Pan Syndrome and plan to live forever. My personal theme song is Forever Young by Alphaville. Good thing, since there is so much I want to do. However I think the coolest thing would be for other writers to continue with your characters. The way comic characters such as Superman and Batman or Star Trek continues on even though the creators have passed away.

 

[Devor]

I have Peter Pan Syndrome and plan to live forever.

I have a friend who tried this (so the telling goes). It worked for him all his life.

When it failed him in the end, it didn't concern him one bit.


*Copied pretty closely from a post on Quora.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I am a believer in Christ and I have accepted Jesus as my Savior, so I know whatever happens to me, I am not afraid or worried about death. And when it comes to my work, I don't stress about it as much as I used to because I understand that once I pass on, all the material things I do in this life will not matter; they don't have eternal value so I don't beat myself up about it like I used to. And that's the same reason as to why I don't hope for fame and popularity when it comes to my work because those things seem great now but are fleeting and don't have any value. I don't write as much as I used to and I try to do more things that are profitable for God. I like to look at things through metaphors and analogies and this is how I see it:

Suppose you are an investor and you know that some day the dollar will become completely worthless, so why spend so much time building and saving up investments on something that will not have value?

And I know to some this might seem a little bit pessimistic but it has brought me peace knowing that through anything my life can throw at me, I have my salvation though Christ and that is something that nobody can take away from me. I write as a hobby and if I die before my work gets published, so be it. I have greater things to look forward to.

 

[skip.knox]

I'm 63, so yes. Somehow, I'm no more productive or disciplined because of it.

 

[ThinkerX]

I have a sign on my fridge, snagged from an old job. Ragged looking mimeographed thing. Shows a little kid with spiked hair in a striped shirt. Caption says:

'God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.
Right now I am so far behind I will never die.'

That's how I feel much of the time.* But, then again, I'm past fifty with few finished projects to show for it. Anymore, I don't start writing projects unless I have at least semi-solid ideas about beginning, middle, and end.

*Though my religious beliefs, such as they are, tend towards reincarnation, rather than dogmatic heaven/hell/exclusive salvation.

 

[Mectojic]

I too am Christian... I know I will be saved, looking forward to it etc...
This is less about fame and all that, but more about enjoyment in having completed a book series. Especially in my case, where my ideas for the series began when I was a child, and I want it to be my only series, since I have had it planned from the beginning.

So think of it less as a fear of death (since I have none), but just wanting what I started with to have a finish.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I don't have issues, I have the subscription, and a very long series in the works (we're talking about fifteen books or so). But I also have a fantastic partner in both work and life who provides for the care and feeding of the damaged writer... so yeah, I worry about it, but the time will pass, worry or not. I write my butt off because I'm driven to it, and let everything else roll right on past. If I keep at it, maybe I'll live to see the last lines of our series, The Books of Binding, in print.

 

[Saigonnus]

Whether we are writers, filmmakers, artists or whatever, we all leave behind unfinished business. I see no point in dwelling on the inevitable fact that one day I will no longer be walking and talking, living my life. I just try to do the best I can with the time I have; even if I don't always succeed.




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[skip.knox]

I'm not sure the afterlife is much of a comfort in this department. Can I still get published? In Hell is it all vanity press? ;-)

 

[Giya Kusezu]

I have thought about death before, but I've never really worried about it. I can count the number of readers I have on one hand, and I'm related to most of those. I don't have to worry about anyone publishing my work posthumously. When it comes time for me to die, I figure there's really nothing for me to do but accept it - though I will probably be sad that I didn't get to write about more of my ideas.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Anyone else worried about dying?

Well, I wasn't until I read this thread. And now I'm going to close my window so the lawnmower guy doesn't hear me wailing OH MY GOD! I'M GONNA DIE! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! WHERE'D THE YEARS GO? THIS SUCKS!

Or... I just type it in all caps and get it out of my system. And now that I have, my thinking is clearer than ever. I'm just gonna leave this little excerpt in my will along with instructions for my daughters to tack it on to whatever WIP I happen to be in the middle of when I croak.

Addison looked over to her current rag tag party of unlikely allies and said, "Well, once again, we killed the giant beast, I miraculously survived losing a significant amount o' me blood and skin, and all o' you survived too. Too bad about that guy who died, but for the rest of us, new adventures await."

Suddenly, the sun faded. It was a white swirl, a red-gray speck, then nothing. The world was black.

"Oh, shit," said Addison.

The last words of Addison Lane were the last anyone heard, for the world froze instantly as the black hole's gravitational pull sped everyone to oblivion.

That's right. I'm taking my world and characters with me.