Terry Pratchett dies :(

[Bickaxe]

Glad its finally happened. Even if Terry wanted the books finished, nobody could have done them justice due to way his mind worked.

There are a few more stories to come though as The Watch will be based around the time of Guards! Guards! I believe (so Cuddy may make an appearance).

And after that.... you'll have to wait and see.

 

[Craig1981]

I think this sums up Terry Pratchett as well.

All his unfinished works run over by steam roller, before being fed into a concrete crusher just to be sure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-41093066

I'm really not impressed by this being done. If he didn't want his works finished by anyone else, fair enough. But why throw away those unfinished works? I bet his legions of fans would have loved to have seen what those unfinished stories might have been.

 

[Destination]

Yes but they may have been jumbled of unlinked unfunished pieces and paragraphs with no true narrative.
If the author didn't want anyone to see a jumbled mess his final mindstate was producing, then good this has been done.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I'm really not impressed by this being done. If he didn't want his works finished by anyone else, fair enough. But why throw away those unfinished works? I bet his legions of fans would have loved to have seen what those unfinished stories might have been.

If you are serious about your art, and want to protect your legacy, you want to be remembered by your great work, not your great work and a bunch of crap work.

Imagine if they were released, even if they are unfinished and people comment with "it's nothing on par with his earlier stuff", "he was clearly losing it", "why bother release these"

He has done what he wanted to do in his life, made his mark, he is happy with that, and is happy and willing to destroy the unfinished stuff. It's not about the fans, it's about his legacy, the man has a standard, the unfinished work clearly is not of that standard.

It would be like a good chef would rather throw a 80% "good enough" dish in the bin and start again rather than send it out and move on. He want every dish going out to be worthy of his name.

 

[Edrof]

I'm really not impressed by this being done. If he didn't want his works finished by anyone else, fair enough. But why throw away those unfinished works? I bet his legions of fans would have loved to have seen what those unfinished stories might have been.

Do we know how unfinished the stories were? I have to point out that writers' HDs are littered with semi-coherent dormant projects, so Sir Terry's 'unfinished stories' might have been unpublishable anyway. People are probably imagining a manuscript that's 90% finished when it's far more likely to be folders of notes, character arcs, settings and real-life research along with some chapters roughly written up.

 

[Werewolf]

Do we know how unfinished the stories were? I have to point out that writers' HDs are littered with semi-coherent dormant projects, so Sir Terry's 'unfinished stories' might have been unpublishable anyway. People are probably imagining a manuscript that's 90% finished when it's far more likely to be folders of notes, character arcs, settings and real-life research along with some chapters roughly written up.

Aye, Neil Gaiman commented

They weren't incomplete novels. More like, false starts, initial thoughts, or random scenes from the middle of something unwritten

https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/903288009704878080

Basically the start of an idea, or something that might have eventually made it as a story, been changed, or never to see the light of day again.

It's like an artist destroying doodles and sketches they never completed because they decided to do something different, or changed massively.

Whilst I would have dearly loved to have seen more of Pratchett's work, I can completely understand his feelings in not wanting unfinished and unpolished work out in public (many artists don't let anyone see their unfinished work).

 

[Bickaxe]

Just taking a break from things because this weekend I'm in Cork at the Irish Discworld Con (it started Friday but being fans you probably knew that already).
Lots going on, tons of laughs and some great costumes on show. You can spot the non attendees in the hotel by the bewildered look on their faces as a wizard, a watchman and a troll order drinks at the bar.

Its events like this that its sometimes easy to forget that he's gone. Its not until the closing ceremony, which is usually an emotional affair, that reality dawns.

Terry loved these events and attended as many as possible no matter when or where.
If you've never been to one, get yourself along and you will see why. With all the new projects coming, they will become more popular than ever.

 

[silversurfer]

I would have preferred they kept such things just so you can see the artist behind the work, flaws and all because no one instantly writes perfection. The sad thing is they would take the bad bits and try to make money out of it and it will tarnish his name. Its a shame it cant be frozen in place like Roald Dahl's old writing desk/hut with every trinket kept where it was when he wrote.

The best example might be Tolkien and how that was put together after death but it was done by his family and quite a bit was written for them so that was fair enough

 

[Fishbait]

You can spot the non attendees in the hotel by the bewildered look on their faces as a wizard, a watchman and a troll order drinks at the bar.

What's the punchline?

 

[Werewolf]

What's the punchline?

That was my thought, as it sounds like the start of a discworld joke.

I don't know if it's been mentioned in here but there is a new book of discworld artwork being released soon given how much I loved the artwork (and have a trio of Kidby prints signed by PTerry on my wall) it was a must buy

One of these days I'll make it to a discworld convention, as I've wanted to go to one since I first learned about them.

 

[Fishbait]

Very late, but in case no one saw it, /u/Poem_for_your_sprog (famed for loads of poems from Reddit) made the following:

The sun goes down upon the Ankh,
And slowly, softly fades -
Across the Drum; the Royal Bank;
The River-Gate; the Shades.

A stony circle's closed to elves;
And here, where lines are blurred,
Between the stacks of books on shelves,
A quiet 'Ook' is heard.

A copper steps the city-street
On paths he's often passed;
The final march; the final beat;
The time to rest at last.

He gives his badge a final shine,
And sadly shakes his head -
While Granny lies beneath a sign
That says: 'I aten't dead.'

The Luggage shifts in sleep and dreams;
It's now. The time's at hand.
For where it's always night, it seems,
A timer clears of sand.

And so it is that Death arrives,
When all the time has gone...
But dreams endure, and hope survives,
And Discworld carries on.

 

[Bickaxe]

What's the punchline?

The price of a round in this hotel.
Well, you start off laughing then the tears begin...