A Fascinating Interview with George R.R. Martin on How the Books Won’t Catch Him
Usually I feature videos or artwork or cosplay, and rarely do I focus on something that’s purely text-based, but if you’re a fan of either Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire, you’ll probably want to stop what you’re doing and read this ridiculously long interview with George R.R. Martin in Vanity Fair.
It’s a fascinating insight into how the series was created, how he plans to end it, and how he’s going to fight back against he show catching up to his books. I especially like his thoughts about unpredictability in storytelling:
“Too many stories are too structured and too familiar. The way we read, the way we watch television, the way we go to movies, all give us certain expectations of how a story is going to go. Even for reasons that are totally unconnected with the actual story itself. You go to a movie, who’s the big star? O.K., if Tom Cruise is the star, Tom Cruise is not going to die in the first scene, you know? ‘Cause he’s the star! He’s got to go through. Or you’re watching a TV show and its name is Castle. You know that the character Castle is pretty safe. He’s gonna be there next week, too, and the week after.”
I’d quote the entire thing if I could, but you should probably just read it here.
He talks about this kind of stuff regularly. Especially following the backlash to the Red Wedding episode of the show.
He has never played a Bethesda game if he thinks the a major celebrity wouldn’t die in the first few minutes.