Quotable Quotes from George R. R. Martin
Game Pro (interviewer): Does having a growing and rabid fan base change anything about the way you write or what you write in your story?
George R. R. Martin: It shouldn’t. It is different when you do a project of this size and length, because the fans are contacting you, and you’re getting feedback during the course of the story, across multiple books, which is very different from the novels I did previously.
When you do something like Fevre Dream – I write the book and the book comes out, then the fans respond, but the book is finished. They can’t guess what is going to happen, or tell me what they want to happen. There is no way I can be influenced by what they say to me, because before they even see the book, the book is done. This way, they are giving you feedback in the middle; there is a danger that there would be some influence there. I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing. I think it is potentially a trap.
Having worked in Hollywood, I’ve seen the drawbacks of getting the fans or the viewers involved in the creative process. Hollywood does that all the time with testing and focus groups. They finish a rough-cut of the movie and they show it to some people. "Oh, what do you think of it?" – "Oh, you didn’t like this character? Let’s cut him out." Or on a TV show for example. "Oh, you don’t like the way it ended? Let’s shoot a new ending." You know…art is not a democracy. People don’t get to vote on how it ends. So, I try to avoid that stuff as much as possible.
GP: For those reading this interview that are looking for direction in creating or writing, what advice can you give?
GM: The first thing is, create your own universe. Don’t write in my universe. Don’t write in Robert Jordan’s universe. Don’t write in the Star Trek universe. It is fine that you love these things. World building and creation is part of the process. You’re not doing the whole job if you’re picking up somebody else’s universe and just plugging in your own characters. That is lazy writing, and I don’t think you learn from it and I don’t think it is a good thing for a writer to do. Create your own world and write in it.
Secondly, I think for a young writer, start with short stories. That seems to be a lost art these days, but it is the way to start. I get tons of letters from 16-year olds who are trying to write a series as big as mine, and they’re seven hundred pages into the second novel of their trilogy. That’s like picking up rock-climbing and starting with Mount Everest. No, you climb the hill behind your house before you go to Mount Everest. Learn your craft with short stories. They’re much more containable. You can learn about plot and characterization and setting writing short stories. There’s a market for short stories. The magazines are always looking for new writers and you sell them short stories and you can make your rep there. When you write your novel it’s not just a novel from someone you never heard of, it’s a long-awaited first novel by this established short story writer. That makes a big difference in today’s market. If the stories don’t sell you wasted a few weeks or a month on it. If you write a damn trilogy and it doesn’t sell, you’ve wasted five years of your life. Young writers should start with short stories and don’t even think about a novel until they’ve sold maybe ten short stories. Then you know you’re good enough that you can sell that first novel.
(Elbert comment on the second part: apparently, he hasn't been to third world countries like the Philippines where most of what we write are short stories...)
GP: Video games are regulated by the ESRB, and both movies and music come with parental warnings or age restrictions. What are your thoughts on regulating books in the same manner?
GM: I hate that. In fact, I hate all the regulations on other stuff. Regulations are created by lazy parents and greedy sellers. When I was a kid, I knew there were stores where you could buy Playboy, but the guy who owned the candy store wasn’t about to sell it to me, because I was 9 years old. He took a certain responsibility there. He was the gatekeeper. Then, if I had somehow managed to get a hold of a copy of Playboy, my mother and father would have taken my head off. Where are the mothers and fathers? Why do they have to have these little ratings? They should be aware of games their kids are playing and what movies they’re watching. They shouldn’t need the government to classify everything easily for them.
Game Pro (interviewer): Does having a growing and rabid fan base change anything about the way you write or what you write in your story?
George R. R. Martin: It shouldn’t. It is different when you do a project of this size and length, because the fans are contacting you, and you’re getting feedback during the course of the story, across multiple books, which is very different from the novels I did previously.
When you do something like Fevre Dream – I write the book and the book comes out, then the fans respond, but the book is finished. They can’t guess what is going to happen, or tell me what they want to happen. There is no way I can be influenced by what they say to me, because before they even see the book, the book is done. This way, they are giving you feedback in the middle; there is a danger that there would be some influence there. I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing. I think it is potentially a trap.
Having worked in Hollywood, I’ve seen the drawbacks of getting the fans or the viewers involved in the creative process. Hollywood does that all the time with testing and focus groups. They finish a rough-cut of the movie and they show it to some people. "Oh, what do you think of it?" – "Oh, you didn’t like this character? Let’s cut him out." Or on a TV show for example. "Oh, you don’t like the way it ended? Let’s shoot a new ending." You know…art is not a democracy. People don’t get to vote on how it ends. So, I try to avoid that stuff as much as possible.
GP: For those reading this interview that are looking for direction in creating or writing, what advice can you give?
GM: The first thing is, create your own universe. Don’t write in my universe. Don’t write in Robert Jordan’s universe. Don’t write in the Star Trek universe. It is fine that you love these things. World building and creation is part of the process. You’re not doing the whole job if you’re picking up somebody else’s universe and just plugging in your own characters. That is lazy writing, and I don’t think you learn from it and I don’t think it is a good thing for a writer to do. Create your own world and write in it.
Secondly, I think for a young writer, start with short stories. That seems to be a lost art these days, but it is the way to start. I get tons of letters from 16-year olds who are trying to write a series as big as mine, and they’re seven hundred pages into the second novel of their trilogy. That’s like picking up rock-climbing and starting with Mount Everest. No, you climb the hill behind your house before you go to Mount Everest. Learn your craft with short stories. They’re much more containable. You can learn about plot and characterization and setting writing short stories. There’s a market for short stories. The magazines are always looking for new writers and you sell them short stories and you can make your rep there. When you write your novel it’s not just a novel from someone you never heard of, it’s a long-awaited first novel by this established short story writer. That makes a big difference in today’s market. If the stories don’t sell you wasted a few weeks or a month on it. If you write a damn trilogy and it doesn’t sell, you’ve wasted five years of your life. Young writers should start with short stories and don’t even think about a novel until they’ve sold maybe ten short stories. Then you know you’re good enough that you can sell that first novel.
(Elbert comment on the second part: apparently, he hasn't been to third world countries like the Philippines where most of what we write are short stories...)
GP: Video games are regulated by the ESRB, and both movies and music come with parental warnings or age restrictions. What are your thoughts on regulating books in the same manner?
GM: I hate that. In fact, I hate all the regulations on other stuff. Regulations are created by lazy parents and greedy sellers. When I was a kid, I knew there were stores where you could buy Playboy, but the guy who owned the candy store wasn’t about to sell it to me, because I was 9 years old. He took a certain responsibility there. He was the gatekeeper. Then, if I had somehow managed to get a hold of a copy of Playboy, my mother and father would have taken my head off. Where are the mothers and fathers? Why do they have to have these little ratings? They should be aware of games their kids are playing and what movies they’re watching. They shouldn’t need the government to classify everything easily for them.
posted by Charles at 4:46 PM
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