george-r-r-martin Quotes About writing

“The best writing advice I had was [in] ‘Heinlein’s Rules for Writers’ by (American science fiction author) Robert A. Heinlein. His first rule is that you must write, and I was already doing that, but his second rule is, ‘You must finish what you write,’ and that had a big impact on me.”

Writing Firsts Bigs Fiction Advice Impact Science Fiction Writing Advice Big Impact Robert Heinlein

Author:George R. R. Martin

“My dreams are the usual incoherent nonsense. Like most writers, at some point in my career I thought, well, I have these great dreams but I always forget them in the morning so I’ll leave a pad on my bedside table so I can write it down, and then you have some incredible dream and you write it down and the next morning you wake up and you’ve written ‘purple socks’.”

Writing Wells I Can Dream Next Forget Careers Morning Written Wake Up Down And Tables Incredibles Nonsense Usual Purple Sock Pads

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I was a journalism major, and I would take creative writing classes as part of that, but I would also look for opportunities to write stories for some of my other classes. So for my course in Scandinavian history, I asked if I could write historical fiction instead of term papers. Sometimes they’d say yes.”

“There’s an old writing rule that says ‘Don’t have two character names start with the same letter’, but I knew at the beginning that I was going to have more than 26 characters, so I was in trouble there. Ultimately it comes down to what sounds right. And I struggle with that, finding the right name for a character. If I can’t find the right name I don’t know who the character is and I can’t proceed.”

Ifs Knows Writing I Can Two Character Names Sound Struggle Trouble Findings Letters

Author:George R. R. Martin

“And if I'm guilty of having gratuitous sex, then I'm also guilty of having gratuitous violence, and gratuitous feasting, and gratuitous description of clothes, and gratuitous heraldry, because very little of this is necessary to advance the plot. But my philosophy is that plot advancement is not what the experience of reading fiction is about. If all we care about is advancing the plot, why read novels? We can just read Cliffs Notes.”

Ifs Writing Littles Philosophy Care Reading Sex Fiction Novel Violence Clothes Notes Guilty Description Plot Advancement Cliffs Advancing Feasting Reading Fiction

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There are a number of things that I'm trying to get into the books. There's a meta-fictional aspect, if I may use that pretentious word, to writing anything. You're writing in the shadow of all the people that have gone before and, in a way, you're having a dialogue with them. As someone who's read J.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard and all the great fantasists before, this is almost my answer to them.”

People Ifs Way Writing Trying May Book Use Answers Numbers Gone Shadow Aspect Dialogue Pretentious

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I do play all the characters, when I write them, one after another. If they actually had to film me, the only one I could play would be Samwell Tarly or Hot Pie.”

Ifs Writing Play Character Would Be Film Hot Pie

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Fiction is lies; we're writing about people who never existed and events that never happened when we write fiction, whether its science fiction or fantasy or western mystery stories or so-called literary stories. All those things are essentially untrue. But it has to have a truth at the core of it.”

People Writing Stories Lying Fiction Fantasy Happened Mystery Events Science Fiction Western Core Untrue

Author:George R. R. Martin

“One of the hardest parts of writing is writing from the gut or the heart or something like that rather than intellectually.”

Writing Heart Hardest Guts

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I think my very earliest stories were all intellectual exercises and I was writing from experiences I had never had about characters who were about an inch deep.”

Thinking Writing Character Stories Exercise Intellectual Inches

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I always give my students exercises where they really have to open a vein and bleed all over the paper and that's the way you get the important characters. Sooner or later every writer worth reading writes a story his mother wouldn't read and having to get that stuff out is part of one's growth as a writer.”

Way Giving Writing Important Character Stories Mother Reading Stuff Growth Students Exercise Paper Sooner Or Later Veins Worth Reading

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I feel satisfaction at the end of the day when I've written a scene that I really like or when I write a good line of dialogue that I read out to my wife or something like that. But there's also days where it's just bloody agony and I go, 'ugh, this is such crap! Why did I think I had any talent?”

Thinking Feels Writing Ends Lines Wife Written Talent Scene Satisfaction My Wife Dialogue The End Of The Day Agony Bloody Crap Ugh

Author:George R. R. Martin

“The most important thing for any aspiring writer, is to read! And not just the sort of thing you're trying to write, be that fantasy, SF, comic books, whatever. You need to read everything.”

Needs Writing Trying Important Book Fantasy Important Things Comic Comic Book Aspiring Writers

Author:George R. R. Martin

“There are a lot of people out there who will write books, in which everything turns out nicely and the bad guys lose, the good guys win, the boy gets the girl and they live happily ever after. There's a million books like that and if that's the comfort you're looking for, you should read those books and not my books because that's not the kind of book that I am interested in.”

People Ifs Should Writing Kind Book Guy Turns Girl Winning Loses Boys Millions Comfort Bad Guys Good Guy Happily Ever After Ever After

Author:George R. R. Martin

“The odd thing about being a writer is you do tend to lose yourself in your books. Sometimes it seems like real life is flickering by and you're hardly a part of it. You remember the events in your books better than you remember the events that actually took place when you were writing them.”

Writing Book Real Sometimes Seems Remember Life Is Loses Events Real Life Odd Better Than You Losing Yourself Odd Things

Author:George R. R. Martin

“A lot of writing takes place in the subconscious, and it's bound to have an effect.”

Writing Effects Bounds Subconscious

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Don't write outlines; I hate outlines.”

Writing Hate I Hate Outlines

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I have idea files of books that I want to write one of these days, stories I want to write one of these days, but I'll probably never get to them.”

Want Writing Book Ideas Stories These Days Files

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories - I love the short story.”

Want Writing Stories Novel Short Story

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I wanted to write a big novel, something epic in scale.”

Writing Bigs Wanted Novel Scales Epic

Author:George R. R. Martin

“As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy.”

People Writing Kind Character Wanted Together Guy Hate Fighting Evil Fantasy Capacity Complexes Good People Bad Guys Get Together Complex Characters

Author:George R. R. Martin

“'Dreamsongs' allows me to show the scope of my writing - with personal commentary that puts the works in context and includes some autobiographical details intended to reveal how each piece came to be, what it represents, and how it has formed, or been informed by, my philosophy of writing.”

Writing Philosophy Shows Pieces Details Scope Commentary

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I believe that a writer learns from every story he writes, and when you try different things, you learn different lessons. Working with other writers, as in Hollywood or in a shared world series, will also strengthen your skills, by exposing you to new ways of seeing the work, and different approaches to certain creative challenges.”

“I knew that, when writing a book, you're not constrained by a budget. You're not constrained by what you can do, in terms of the special effects technology. You're not limited to any particular running time.”

Writing Book Running Term Can Do Technology Special Effects Particular Budgets Writing A Book Special Effects

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self.”

Writing Humans Heart Stills Self Character Conflict Giants Grey Human Heart Dwarves

Author:George R. R. Martin

“One of the big breakthroughs, I think for me, was reading Robert A. Heinlein's four rules of writing, one of which was, 'You must finish what you write.' I never had any problem with the first one, 'You must write' - I was writing since I was a kid. But I never finished what writing.”

Thinking Writing Firsts Problem Bigs Kids Reading Four Finished Breakthrough Robert Heinlein

Author:George R. R. Martin

“When I am writing best, I really am lost in my world. I lose track of the outside world. I have a difficult time balancing between my real world and the artificial world.”

World Writing Real Lost Difficult Loses Track Real World Artificial Difficult Times Outside World

Author:George R. R. Martin

“You always try to do your own thing. One of the things I wanted to do was to write a book that combines some of the best traits of contemporary fantasy with some of the traits of the historical novel.”

Writing Trying Book Wanted Fantasy Novel Historical Contemporary Traits Historical Novels

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”

Writing Enjoy Written Inspired Fabulous

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Writing is like sausage making in my view; you'll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what's gone into it.”

Ifs Writing Ends Views Gone Knowing Products Finals Simile Sausage

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I am not going to get into it myself, except to say (1) if I am writing "boy fiction," who are all those boys with breasts who keep turning up by the hundreds at my signings and readings? and (2) thank you, geek girls! I love you all.”

Ifs Writing Girl Reading Fiction Boys Love You Breasts Geek Signing

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Perhaps I will die too, she told herself, and the thought did not seem so terrible to her. If she flung herself from the window, she could put an end to her suffering, and in the years to come the singers would write songs of her grief. Her body would lie on the stones below, broken and innocent, shaming all those who had betrayed her. Sansa went so far as to cross the bedchamber and throw open the shutters ... but then her courage left her, and she ran back to her bed, sobbing.”

Source: A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: A Song of Ice and Fire Series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real, for a moment at least, that long magic moment before we wake.”

Writing Long Real Moments Dream Language Fantasy Alive Written Magic Fantasy Books Magic Moments

Book:Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective

Source: Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective

“I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring.”

“I get up every day and work in the morning. I have my coffee and get to work. On good days I look up and it's dark outside and the whole day has gone by and I don't know where it's gone. But there's bad days, too. Where I struggle and sweat and a half hour creeps by and I've written three words. And half a day creeps by and I've written a sentence and a half and then I quit for the day and play computer games. You know, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. [Laughs]”

“I don't like the strictly objective viewpoint [in which all of the characters' actions are described in the third person, but we never hear what any of them are thinking.] Which is much more of a cinematic technique. Something written in third person objective is what the camera sees. Because unless you're doing a voiceover, which is tremendously clumsy, you can't hear the ideas of characters. For that, we depend on subtle clues that the directors put in and that the actors supply. I can actually write, "'Yes you can trust me,' he lied." [But it's better to get inside the characters' heads.]”

“In order to get inside their skin, I have to identify with them. That includes even the ones who are complete bastards, nasty, twisted, deeply flawed human beings with serious psychological problems. Even them. When I get inside their skin and look out through their eyes, I have to feel a certain - if not sympathy, certainly empathy for them. I have to try to perceive the world as they do, and that creates a certain amount of affection.”

“All fiction, if it's successful, is going to appeal to the emotions. Emotion is really what fiction is all about. That's not to say fiction can't be thoughtful, or present some interesting or provocative ideas to make us think. But if you want to present an intellectual argument, nonfiction is a better tool. You can drive a nail with a shoe but a hammer is a better tool for that. But fiction is about emotional resonance, about making us feel things on a primal and visceral level.”

“I'm a strong believer in telling stories through a limited but very tight third person point of view. I have used other techniques during my career, like the first person or the omniscient view point, but I actually hate the omniscient viewpoint. None of us have an omniscient viewpoint; we are alone in the universe. We hear what we can hear... we are very limited. If a plane crashes behind you I would see it but you wouldn't. That's the way we perceive the world and I want to put my readers in the head of my characters.”

“From where I sit, battles are hard. I’ve written my share. Sometimes I employ the private’s viewpoint, very up close and personal, dropping the reader right into the middle of the carnage. That’s vivid and visceral, but of necessity chaotic, and it is easy to lose all sense of the battle as a whole. Sometimes I go with the general’s point of view instead, looking down from on high, seeing lines and flanks and reserves. That gives a great sense of the tactics, of how the battle is won or lost, but can easily slide into abstraction.”

“Ideas are cheap. I have more ideas now than I could ever write up. To my mind, it's the execution that is all-important.”

Writing Mind Important Ideas Execution

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps.”

Want Needs Writing Shows Turns Reading Interest Pages Novelists Revelations Reading Books I Want You Need You Wanting You

Author:George R. R. Martin

“I've always taken that as my guiding principle and the rest is just set dressing. You can have dragons in it, or aliens and starships, or a western about a gunslinger, or even literary fiction, and ultimately you're still writing about the human heart in conflict with itself.”

Writing Humans Heart Stills Fiction Principles Taken Conflict Western Aliens Dragons Human Heart Dressings Guiding Principles Gunslinger

Author:George R. R. Martin

“Life is very full of sex, or should be. As much as I admire Tolkien - and I do, he was a giant of fantasy and a giant of literature, and I think he wrote a great book that will be read for many years - you do have to wonder where all those Hobbits came from, since you can't imagine Hobbits having sex, can you? Well, sex is an important part of who we are. It drives us, it motivates us, it makes us do sometimes very noble things and it makes us do sometimes incredibly stupid things. Leave it out, and you've got an incomplete world.”

“I've been very lucky. There were times when I was afraid I would never sell another book, but I never doubted I'd write another book.”

Writing Book Lucky Sells Doubted

Author:George R. R. Martin

“If the novels are still being read in 50 years, no one is ever going to say: 'What's great about that sixth book is that he met his deadline!' It will be about how the whole thing stands up.”

Ifs Writing Years Stills Book Whole Novel Mets Deadline

Author:George R. R. Martin

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