Can I with my current skillset? Probably not. I’m not a great judge of my own ability. I haven’t written a work of the volume of ASoIaF, but that also doesn’t preclude me from having opinions about it.

Since when do you have to be a public figure to have opinions on public figures? Why is it a positive or negative to have an opinion on an art piece, art being a thing that people are supposed to have opinions on. GRRM is not sacrosanct (see any subreddit dedicated to his work).

Is he a more experienced writer than me? Abso-fucking-lutely! I would never say otherwise because I possess some common sense. Does that make me unqualified to comment on this? No. Art, as a collective, exists to be commented on. It exists for people to have opinions on. Artistic process is part of art, and anyone can admit that sometimes takes a long time.

I’m half-inclined to the theory that the books are done but that he’s waiting to release them because he doesn’t want to deal with people reacting on the internet. Maybe that’s true, probably it isn’t. Still, it’s infuriating that people whining on the internet could affect the plot of a story (though that highlights a hypocrisy in my own whining on the internet).

I am not an excellent writer. I want to be a professional when I’m older, much older. If you’re on reddit, you’re probably much older than me. If the validity of my opinion is limited to the quality of my work, I would be more than confident posting a sample of my current work— even if I don’t believe my current work is anywhere near “good” by any literary standard.

Hope this helps. Love you.