George R.R. Martin Comic-Con Fan Q&A FULL Version

George R.R. Martin took to the Courtyard space at San Diego Comic Con 2014 to talk in-depth, answering fan questions of all kinds, including what to expect in Game of Thrones Season 5, as well as what's to come in The Winds of Winter, the forthcoming sixth novel in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. What are GRRM's favorite comics? When did he know he wanted to be a writer, where has it taken him, and what is it like to be overwhelmed by fans of his writing? What are his favorite (non GoT) shows, and what's better: Star Trek or Star Wars? Batman or Superman? George R.R. Martin takes almost an hour to tell fans about how he feels about all these topics and much, much more.
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[@Krustenkaese92]

the beat in the background is so obnoxious.

[@admiralflynn895]

Props to George for being the first comic-con attendant.

[@dw1419]

Attendee*, an attendant would be more like an assistant

[@BLung-tq2mm]

Jesus Christ! I am bleeding from the ears over here! That incessantly driving rave music is killing me.

[@MyGdoggy]

Brian Lung Not even that, but also all that background noise!

[@bukon90]

That was a pleasure to watch. He is so fun to talk with thanks Kim.

[@LeviGarcia]

The announcer sounds like a strip club announcer...

[@-BlazeK-]

+Levi Garcia But at the same time he has some of the best formulated questions ive heard out of 99% of the interviews.

[@rotortilttt]

Whos idea was it to put him on that chair haha

[@galamahenti4378]

Finally some different questions. Every interview on KZbin is the same. "So yeah actually NO ONE is safe in your books right? - Which we all *love*. Am I right??" YES WE FUCKING GET IT.

[@sheyshannow2065]

Great interview! Thank you.

[@CMDer101]

why is this being ran like its a fucking mtv spring break special

[@hiswordremains]

Chandler Daversa I was waiting for him to start chugging two bottles of blue gatorade shirtless.

[@dw1419]

being run* (sorry)

[@themaypole]

I thought he was gonna say he'd be Wyman Manderly. I can't wait for him to be realised in the series, 'The North remembers and this mummer's farce is almost done'

[@avian8778]

I can imagine your disappointment..

[@shytguy]

Am I crazy or has anyone ever thought of sending this man a letter saying you have a terminal disease and your last wish is to know everything that happens in he next two books and how the series ends. That's how much I want to know how this story will end.

[@Captain-Obvious]

I like his planning. He didn't just write books willy nilly. He calculated. He schemed.

[@doogiespence5310]

WhirlingWolves He calculated, he schemed, he masturbated ! Wait, what!?

[@MyGdoggy]

WhirlingWolves What do you mean he calculated and schemed... Did he mention that somewhere in this interview!? If so please link, because the only thing that he said was that he rew inspiration form History, that's about it...

[@guillermocomermaperez6176]

Quien viene de parte de triline?

[@specore]

Thank you. I wish I was there for this.

[@marcoantonio7469]

Spiderman and Fantastic Four for the win! Couldn't agree more with the gentleman :)

[@BeatRappers]

Host asked a lot of good questions. Kept the Q&A captivating throughout. Good job.

[@MiniArts159]

I think I saw him in my supermarket. There was a large man, with that Irish-style cap, a flannel shirt, with a large amount of paper.

[@San47di]

+Sansa Lannister, you and me Both!! My Mom introduced me to the Beauty and The Beast TV Series, and I was Hooked from Episode# 1. George's writing for that Series is what made me purchase his "A Song of Ice and Fire" Series, never realizing what an absolute Treasure reading them would be! :-)

[@gameRevolt]

Thanks Kim :)

[@ladysansa8701]

Loved "Beauty &The Beast" on CBS!!

[@carlosolocarlos]

triline

[@jonjo2598]

12:45 And that is why it takes him so long. You shouldn't edit until the manuscript is complete.

[@mel3687]

+Jon Jo The most universally recited misconception by novice writers is to save editing until the completion of a draft. People tend to think editing strictly refers to rewrites when it involves line-editing, proofreading and various other writing modifications that take place during the writing process. You've gone back and replaced a word with a better one or fixed a grammatical/punctuation error while you were writing, I'm sure. That is editing. Anyway, without rewriting some of his scenes, George Martin would not have finished some of his books at all. As he stated, whenever the story lost momentum, he would go back and rewrite a few scenes so that something different occurred, and this edit would then provide enough conflict and momentum to carry the story forward toward its completion. George Martin doesn't take long to publish because he edits while he writes. He takes long to publish because he doesn't write much at all--he's too busy publicizing his work at conventions, as you can see--not to mention that he just published a historical compendium of his SoIaF world, writes one scene a season for the HBO television series, and is regularly editing his 'Wild Card' anthologies. So with all of these distractions you can imagine how little time he has to write the next book of the series.

[@jonjo2598]

Me Myself and I I would argue that "show don't tell" is the big cliche. To many authors edit while they write and never finish. The point is that a first draft should NOT have good prose, its ONLY purpose is creating the structure of a story. Additionally, he is a finicky writer; he WON'T write outside of his house. He is a classic case of MFA writer syndrome, which is great for a just published novelist; not so great for a professional.

[@mel3687]

"The point is that a first draft should NOT have good prose, its ONLY purpose is creating the structure of a story." Interesting that you fail to consider the individual writing process of each individual author and that many of them aren't racing to put their story on paper (because they aren't beginners at risk of not finishing), that their prose evolve naturally and fluently, that they're unconsciously styling their prose as they type it and would rather save themselves future edits in the long run by taking extra time on their first draft. Besides, Martin's rewrites had absolutely *nothing* to do with prose and everything to do with restructuring the storyline because the story conflict began to lag, so your point is moot and completely irrelevant. Ah. Now you're just nitpicking. So he writes at home rather than in public. And? How many writers *don't* possess specific quirks or comforts? This doesn't make him finicky, it just means he's easily distracted--as most humans are these days. As I said before, you conveniently ignore the individual creative writing process in favor of your own personal prejudices and you seem to condemn anyone who doesn't function under the same precepts as yourself. Writing rules aren't inflexible laws, they are guidelines to be observed at your leisure and/or risk.

[@jonjo2598]

LOL, you just stated unintentionally that he SHOULD write a structure only first draft; to reduce rewrites. BTW, writing a structure only first draft is NOT advice given to aspiring writers, it's something picked up after time. Most writers begin by pantsing, but I digress.

[@mel3687]

Look, I don't mean to be offensive but you don't seem to be very well informed. To write first drafts without editing is a technique introduced to beginning writers who have difficulty completing their story--be it loss of interest, writers block, distractions, etc. I didn't unintentionally state that he should write a structure only first draft. I was pointing out *YOUR* contradiction. That his edit did happen to be structural in nature so your rant about prose was entirely irrelevant. I didn't by any stretch of the imagination say that writing structural first drafts reduce rewrites. Try re-reading that passage, Jon, you seemed to have misunderstood. I said that writers consciously (and unconsciously as it were) style and edit their prose in the first draft to save later edits. That states exactly the *OPPOSITE* of what you thought I said. I'm stating that writing first drafts strictly for structure and not for prose may not be efficient writing because they'll have to edit later on anyway, so many writers naturally attempt to save time by editing while they write. Martin's edits, he claimed, had to do with structural deficiencies. That's not to say he wasn't editing as he wrote. I happen to know for a fact that he does. But his rewrites that he mentioned in this interview related specifically to structure and you were ranting about how writers should only focus on structure in draft one (which as exactly what he was doing). Anyway...

[@SuperSethstone]

Good god. hire professional audio people. I was really excited to watch this. But now I cant because you guys dont seem to know what you're doing. Or atleast your audio people dont. I wouldn't be upset if there was atleast acknowledgment and explanation of the issue. But there is nothing talking about it in the description or the beginning of the video. Almost as if you didnt know there was a problem. Which is worse in some ways.

[@oolooo]

Last night I had a disturbing dream involving George R.R. Martin .Now I shit my pants every time I think of him .I hate my life .

[@marcoantonio7469]

The host was a lil' unbearable.

[@Daikkenaurora]

I wanted to watch this but that beat was so annoying.

[@PipinhoSnow]

When the next book????????????????????'

[@PumpkinSoup1234]

Couldn't get better chairs? Poor Gorge.

[@cerevor]

Yo, yo, yo, look who's down in the hood!

[@MyGdoggy]

44:00 did he say boots or boobs!?

[@southpaw817]

Let's go Mets

[@christarsenault6057]

The simpsons have been on for 25years now

[@DarthMerlin]

GRRM is a Mets fan! Yeah!!! Suck it, Yankees!!

[@MyGdoggy]

DarthMerlin Or you don't do any of that, because baseball is a joke!

[@christopher.a7320]

+Jolly Roger ya got a fuckin POINT there, captain buzzkill?

[@DeathMadeTangible]

+Jolly Roger You're right, all sports are used to control the masses, but people can still enjoy the rush of the game, the same way people enjoy video games or tasting new foods or modifying cars or any other shit that serves almost no purpose except for entertainment and personal satisfaction.

[@Daemonnoob]

george rr martin forgot how to sit down

[@2ndMess]

..is this background music going to cease? Are we at the club?? cringe af

[@amba74]

I feel bad for GRRM, D&D are shit writers