With the notable exception of J.K. Rowling, it is difficult to imagine any writer in the world drawing as large a crowd as George R.R. Martin, the author of “The Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy novels that inspired the critically acclaimed television series “Game of Thrones.”
The New Jersey native, who was dubbed “the American J.R.R. Tolkien” by Time Magazine, was given a rock star welcome at Guadalajara’s annual International Book Fair (FIL) on Friday, December 2. Around 5,000 fans attended the event, some dressed as characters from his violent fantasy universe — the seven kingdoms of Westeros — and many clutching copies of books that they hoped he would sign.
The author answered a series of questions written on slips of paper and drawn from a tombola. Here are a selection of his answers.
You have been writing a “Song of Ice and Fire” for 20 years and you are still writing it. Has it been hard to keep up with the original idea?
The original idea has grown massively. I’m not the first writer to experience this. Tolkien, when he started “The Lord of the Rings” was intending to write a sequel to “The Hobbit.” It was supposed to be one book. But as he famously said: “The tale grew in the telling.” And so did mine. Back in 1994, when I sent the publisher the first 100 pages, I was selling a trilogy. At that time, I was generally writing one book a year. So in my innocence, I thought I’d finish the whole thing in three years. In that case, my trilogy would have been out by 1997. But here I am still writing it. You have to follow the story wherever it leads and it has led to some pretty interesting places, including Guadalajara.
What is your method for controlling simultaneous plot lines and avoiding loose ends?
How do I do it? With increasing difficulty. Sometimes I look back and say, did it really have to be seven kingdoms? Five kingdoms would have been enough right? I feel like I’m struggling at times. I’ve thrown all these balls in the air and I’m madly juggling them. We will see by the end of the book if I’ve left any loose ends. I hope not, but that’s not to say everything is going to be tied up neatly in a bow. I think there’s a difference between a loose end and something that’s left deliberately ambiguous by the author. For me, part of the fun of reading and writing is the debate. That’s part of the fun. Some ambiguity will be left there deliberately, but first I have to finish the damn thing.
What led you to devote your life to writing?
It was my inability to do anything else. I was pretty good at making up stories so I kept at it.
If you could ask any question to Tolkien what would that be?
Why did you bring Gandalf back from the dead? He should have stayed dead. I remember when I was 12 or 13 reading “The Lord of the Rings” for the first time and Gandalf goes down into the pit with the Balrag. It was such a tremendous, gutsy, powerful thing to kill that character. But then he bought him back. I would have left him dead.
I almost wrote Tolkien as a kid, I really wish I had, because I learned many years later that he responded to many of the people who wrote to him. There would have been a pretty good chance of receiving a reply. That would have been an amazing thing. It doesn’t apply to me however, so don’t send me letters. Tolkien lived before the internet and was much nicer than I am.
Which of your characters would make the best leader nowadays and why?
Probably Tyrion. He’s very smart and also ruthless. I don’t think he would necessarily be a beloved leader but he has the intellectual ability and a certain understanding of politics.
Daenerys would be an interesting choice if we could bring her dragons along. The recent American election might have turned out very differently if Hillary Clinton had had dragons.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced throughout your writing career?
There are two main challenges. One is the endless challenge of trying to do the work as well as you can. You write and you look at the work the next day. It is so brilliant in your head but when you re-read it’s not brilliant enough. Finding the right words is the writer’s endless task.
The other challenge is a much more practical one. It’s an endless struggle between art and commerce. Like everyone else, I’ve got bills to pay. I’m obviously doing very well now but that hasn’t always been the case. My career has crashed and burned at least twice. At one point I almost lost my house. People approach me at events like this and say they want to be writers. What I always tell them is if you have to write, then write. But you have to realize that you are entering a profession where you have to be a bit of a gambler. It’s a career that has great highs and also has great lows. It has moments where you wonder whether anyone will ever appreciate your work, and that’s not for everybody.
What was the seed for the original story?
It all goes back to 1991, I was writing for Hollywood in those days. In the summer of 1991, I decided to write a novel. I hadn’t written one in a few years. An idea came to me for this scene where a man takes his young son out to watch him behead a man and they find these dire wolf pups in the summer snow. The scene came to me so vividly and I wrote the first chapter in about three days. It just poured out of me. Then Hollywood reared its head again so I wasn’t able to complete it. The book went in the drawer while I went out and did several more Hollywood pilots. But I never stopped thinking about those characters: Bran, Ned, Jon Snow and Daenerys. They were always in the back of my mind whispering to me: “You’ve got to write more about us.” So I finally did.