GRRM on Fantasy Series and Genre Boundaries.

There's a nice interview with George R. R. Martin in the Guardian today (oh, how I wish the interviewer had been given more space; I could happily listen to Mr Martin all day).

Oddly enough, someone mentions my name in the comments section (it's weird when that happens, but that's beside the point).

George R. R. Martin is, in my opinion, one of the three pillars of contemporary fantasy. The other two are Steven Erikson and Stephen Donaldson. I had the opportunity to tell Steven Erikson this myself, when I met him at a conference in Poland last year. (I'm a huge fan.) The series these three writers have created – the Malazan, Thomas Covenant, and Fire and Ice tales – are some of the best I've ever read. As good as Tolkien or your money back.

It's interesting to read GRRM's approach to writing such a long series. He describes writers as either architects or gardeners – those who have everything planned beforehand, and those who know what they've planted, but aren't entirely sure how it's going to turn out. GRRM explains that he's a gardener – which, given the complexity and quality of the work he produces, is an enormous relief to those of us who write in a similar "let the story go where the characters take it" way. It shows what is possible.

It's also heartening to discover that a writer who has been at this game so long has witnessed a change in the fantasy genre. The snobbery surrounding it is lifting. Genre boundaries continue to be broken down – something that GRRM himself continues to strive for (music to my ears, of course). Great writers like Tolkien have carved such deep grooves into the landscape of fantasy, that it seems to me to be all too easy to slide into them and simply follow their well-worn courses. After all, lesser imitations can often flourish within such channels, provided they are competently written.

But is that really fantasy?

George R. R. Martin once said, "The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams."

I've said before that writing fantasy is akin to dreaming, which is why I dislike genre boundaries. Dreams are, after all, unrestrained. Fantasy has to startle and amaze, and so I try my very best to write about people and places that startle and amaze me. That's really all I can do. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any point in me writing fantasy at all.