Yes, but does the fact that he can’t personally imagine hobbit sex constitute a world-building hole? It seems like a hollow criticism coming from someone with two entire novel-sized holes in his writing. I think you’re absolutely right that sex is a completely valid driving force, but the absence of it in a story with plenty of other completely valid character motivations doesn’t mean a world is incomplete. Tolkien didn’t need to write about sex, because that aspect of the world is assumed like so many other things. Physics aren’t explained, even if it might be different. Dental hygiene isn’t explained. Currency is referenced, but exchange rates aren’t. The value of gold is implied, but it doesn’t seem to have a reference for its relative worth. None of the story suffers from it.
It just seems like a nitpicky thing for GRRM to talk about for any reason other than to justify why he includes so much sex in his writing that doesn’t always have a narrative reason to be there, other than the fact that he was probably horny while he was writing, and on top of that, the way he phrased it is really weird.
Depends on how grounded in a dirty reality you want your fantasy writing too really. Tolkien’s writing a pretty clean fantasy world whereas GRRM writes a pretty dirty reality of mud blood and filth. What are the orcs doing to women in villages they capture in Tolkien’s world? What are human soldiers doing on a war march for months on end? Probably not abstaining from the local brothels but they also don’t exist in Tolkien’s world when they obviously would. Tolkien was never writing for that kind of grounded realism because it would’ve limited the audience of his books. He probably could write that though.
GRRM’s world is more medieval and human. Tolkien’s world is more fantasy than medieval. Just different styles really, almost different genres. Black Sails is similar in the sense that it is grounded and human whereas Pirates of the Caribbean is fantasy. GRRM’s work belongs alongside Black Sails more than the fantasy.
Yes, but does the fact that he can’t personally imagine hobbit sex constitute a world-building hole? It seems like a hollow criticism coming from someone with two entire novel-sized holes in his writing. I think you’re absolutely right that sex is a completely valid driving force, but the absence of it in a story with plenty of other completely valid character motivations doesn’t mean a world is incomplete. Tolkien didn’t need to write about sex, because that aspect of the world is assumed like so many other things. Physics aren’t explained, even if it might be different. Dental hygiene isn’t explained. Currency is referenced, but exchange rates aren’t. The value of gold is implied, but it doesn’t seem to have a reference for its relative worth. None of the story suffers from it.
It just seems like a nitpicky thing for GRRM to talk about for any reason other than to justify why he includes so much sex in his writing that doesn’t always have a narrative reason to be there, other than the fact that he was probably horny while he was writing, and on top of that, the way he phrased it is really weird.
Depends on how grounded in a dirty reality you want your fantasy writing too really. Tolkien’s writing a pretty clean fantasy world whereas GRRM writes a pretty dirty reality of mud blood and filth. What are the orcs doing to women in villages they capture in Tolkien’s world? What are human soldiers doing on a war march for months on end? Probably not abstaining from the local brothels but they also don’t exist in Tolkien’s world when they obviously would. Tolkien was never writing for that kind of grounded realism because it would’ve limited the audience of his books. He probably could write that though.
GRRM’s world is more medieval and human. Tolkien’s world is more fantasy than medieval. Just different styles really, almost different genres. Black Sails is similar in the sense that it is grounded and human whereas Pirates of the Caribbean is fantasy. GRRM’s work belongs alongside Black Sails more than the fantasy.
That makes a lot of sense.