A Song of Ice & Fire Fans discussion
Introductions & What would you ask George Martin if you got the chance to meet him
date
newest »
newest »
What influences "Historically" ,if any, did you pull from. I have heard alot of people voice there theories about landscapes and Historical references that they claim apply to Grrms plot. I would ask if there were any historical influences that he pulled from. Not the GREATEST question but i would like to know the answer.
I found the answer to that in some interview.. Google it.. Maybe you'll find it. Among other subjects he talked about some scottish wall which was a roman far outpost. Maybe it'll help your search...
thanks Jenny i will google it. What is the question you would ask? and Edward your not off the hook either, you started this thread now i understand you asked him your question but pretend you get a second one, what would it be?
Will we, or any one in the books get to reunite with....A. Jaquen
B. Syrio
C. Taisha ( or however it's spelled) (Tyrion's first wife)
Ever again....
(PLEASE?)
2nd choice... Will there be a prequel?
I read somewhere that he used the War of the Roses as at least part of his inspiration. Would that Roman Wall be Hadrians Wall....it was built to keep the Scottish out of Roman Britain.....thats actually a really interesting story too.
I got to meet Mr. Martin at MisCon last May, he is an awesome guy^_^ I asked him many questions, but I remember I asked him about writing Theon, then tearing him down to write Reek, and how difficult it was.
Kat wrote: "I got to meet Mr. Martin at MisCon last May, he is an awesome guy^_^ I asked him many questions, but I remember I asked him about writing Theon, then tearing him down to write Reek, and how diff..."
oh thanks....now my question seems really stupid, and insipid...waaaaaaah! ( I'm such a baby)
Why do you kill off so many characters?
Eyehavenofilter wrote: "Kat wrote: "I got to meet Mr. Martin at MisCon last May, he is an awesome guy^_^ I asked him many questions, but I remember I asked him about writing Theon, then tearing him down to write Reek, ..."
LOL, it was very intimidating to meet him at first, but he is such a cool guy! Even questions that seemed "stupid" he gave very insightful answers to.
I got to shake his hand and get his autograph too ^_^
***How I wished I lived somewhere my favorite authors traveled to more often...***
I had to go to Missoula, Montana, to meet GRRM. Brandon Sanderson came to Spokane, WA, so I got to meet him a few weeks ago too. Only ones I've met tho! So lucky to have met them both. I wish I could have met Robert Jordan :(
I got to meet him at Foolscap in Seattle. I loved listening to him talk about writing and about SOIAF. Very insightful and so friendly! I've posted about it on my Goodreads author blog. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Ahh Thank you Jenny i also found a article pertaining to the Red Wedding and a similar Historical Scottish event! very interesting
got a link?? I like reading author interviews...
I was supposed to be in San Antonio this weekend....I'm not!
Waaaasa!
http://theweek.com/article/index/2451... Jenny i'm not to sure how to make the link? so i Copied and paste it the actually website, thats what is above. The website is Mental Floss i found it by clicking on a couple diff. articles if that copy and paste doesn't work let me know. the events are called "The Black Dinner" and "The Massacre of Glencoe" and you can see similarities but i don't think its verbatim. Let me know what everyone thinks.
I deliberately didn't read the rest of this thread, as I'm still on the first book, but I'd say: to what extent does Arthurian legend inform your work?
Thanks Michael for the link to the Black Dinner. Very interesting! For any author, history really is a treasure trove of ideas, from the good, to the bad, to the ugly.
Hi I actually had a question of mine about his female characters answered online by GRRM. Found it randomly while surfing the net and was thrilled by his reply. It was an interview sponsored by amazon via Facebook. After reading all the books twice, I realized that history, religion and magic seem to function as silent characters struggling to guide the actual characters to avoid mistakes of the past or to better deal with the present. My question is how should we the readers think of these elements? The books are so multi-dimensional that I don't feel discussions or our understanding of Westeros should be limited to the characters but should include these elements that binds all characters. Would love to hear his thoughts on the history, religions and magic in the books.
Not that I would really ask this. "Are you Santa's long lost brother? :)
"Mr Martin, an honor meeting you. Here's a list of questions I have for you...1.Ehmm...WHY?!?
*cries a lot*
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Not that I would really ask this. "Are you Santa's long lost brother? :)"Santa's long lost diabolically evil brother maybe.
I mean why kill off Jon Snow!
Wasn't the red wedding enough.
I agree! The Red Wedding should have been enough!
I would ask 1 how he comes up with the different names for his characters and places.
2 How he comes up with his map ideas
He was one of the teachers at Clarion West when I was there, but at the time, only Game of Thrones was out, and A Song of Ice and Fire wasn't the big deal it is now, and we were all only asking him writing questions, not what he planned to do with the series. :) But he was a major influence on the direction my writing took after that, so I don't regret not asking him what he intended for Jon Snow. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't much care for Jon in the first book -- it wasn't until a book or two down the line that he became one of my favorite characters.
I agree with you on the thing that I hate how much is known the serie now, how many people will ask him about the serie, because there's more people watching the serie than reading the books, and they are so incredible, great, undescriptible.
Now, that the story is so involved....I think I would ask him, how he keeps track of everyone. Does he use a historical flow chart, or a geographical flowchart, or a combination of timelines of their lives to decide when and where they enter the story and leave( or return) or die, what their purpose is, if they are a minor character, how they are going to move story along..... And in what direction?It must be a Hurculean task. This is why I think he is so masterful.
jajjaa good idea. I think he does, he knows exactly what he wants
I would congratulate him on creating one of the most villainous characters in the history of literature and that is Petyr Baelish....Just trying to keep up with Littlefinger's plotting is mind boggling.Then I would ask....WHY?!WHY?! Did you kill off Oberyn the Red Viper Martell in ONE book...*sobs*....he could've been a contender!...Why George, WHY?!!!
@ Alfred-I think GRRM has stated that he knows how each character is going to end......It's just the readership who is kept in the dark....ARGHHHH!!!!
i will ask him if Westeros will ever abolish Monarchy and adopt democracy.
Subin wrote: "i will ask him if Westeros will ever abolish Monarchy and adopt democracy."Why? With a monarchy the law of averages gives you a decent ruler every other century or so. With democracy, or at least with a two party democracy you get somebody useless every single time. I swear every four years it's like: Ramsey Snow or Joffrey Baratheon: decide which is the lesser of two evils and vote for that guy.........yuck, ick and ugh.
Holly wrote: "Subin wrote: "i will ask him if Westeros will ever abolish Monarchy and adopt democracy."Why? With a monarchy the law of averages gives you a decent ruler every other century or so. With democrac..."
I disagree with your implication that monarchy is better than democracy. I know democracy in its current form has its flaws, but i will take it any day over Monarchy...I could give out my reasons.. but then this is not a forum for that discussion :) good day
Regardless if it's a Monarchy or Democracy they will both be corrupted over time, does it really matter?
haha that's true , the thing is if it is going to develope
Slick wrote: "Regardless if it's a Monarchy or Democracy they will both be corrupted over time, does it really matter?"Exactly!
While we are all waiting for Winds of Winter, would you like to read more epic medieval fantasy inspired by Game of Thrones? I'm offering to give free e-books of The Steel Queen to the first 4 GoT fans who contact me in exchange for an honest review posted on Goodreads. Told in the POV style of Game of Thrones the Silk & Steel saga is finished, so there will be no waiting to see how it ends. Contact me if you are interested. Must be in the US and I will need your e-mail address to gift you a copy of the book. The e-books are on Kindle. Looking forward to hearing from you. Karen Azinger
Karen wrote: "While we are all waiting for Winds of Winter, would you like to read more epic medieval fantasy inspired by Game of Thrones? I'm offering to give free e-books of The Steel Queen to the first 4 GoT ..."So... only for people in the US?
Remy wrote: "Karen wrote: "While we are all waiting for Winds of Winter, would you like to read more epic medieval fantasy inspired by Game of Thrones? I'm offering to give free e-books of The Steel Queen to th..."Yes, only for people in the US. Sorry.
Let's get back to the subject at hand shall we? I think I'd ask him if he REALLY and HONESTLY doesn't mind that the TV show has gone off in a totally different direction than the books or is just keeping quiet since he signed a contract, and has given up control?
Personally I would never let anyone take total control of my story, not for all the money in the world, I would still want final say in what's going on, however, the TV show hasn't ended yet, so we haven't seen what the final endings are going to be.
And the fat lady hasn't sung yet!
Pretty sure he'll give this answer, like he did the other 12345678 time:'The book is the book, the show is the show.'
"What would you ask George Martin if you got the chance to meet him?"If I meet GRRM, I'll just stare and stare at him in silence and then more silence.... maybe I'll blink just to let him know I'm still working on thinking about the question.
Hopefully, he'll get the analogy on how we feel about the long wait.
If I could ask Mr. Martin one question, I'd ask how he has changed his story since he began writing it 20+ years ago. It seems like he had a plan in 1996 (especially with Danaerys) that he's lost track of in the intervening two decades. My theory is that he intended ASOIAF to be three or four books but they sold so well that he and his publisher decided to expand the story to sell more books. Now, I don't think he knows how to end it.
Only one question...Why Jon?! Why him?!
Alfred wrote: ""What would you ask George Martin if you got the chance to meet him?"If I meet GRRM, I'll just stare and stare at him in silence and then more silence.... maybe I'll blink just to let him know I'..."
Nice one! :)
I'd ask when in the world is he going to finish the series lol! I would also ask if anymore Starks die and who will win the iron throne. Bit I doubt he would actually answer any of thie questions. Oh! And i'd also ask about r+l=j.
I think I'd ask him if he is eating healthy food, and planning on living long enough to finish, ( or Danish!) the story, and does he have plans for someone to gather whatever notes he has, so that can be funished should he keel over and die..
Hi I'm Jennifer. I would ask if he thought the Hound was truly a lost cause or if he was redeemed at some point through his actions toward Sansa or I would ask if Tywin was somewhat "broken beyond repair" at the lose of Johanna and the perceived "betrayal" of Tyrion's birth. I'm very invested in both characters as they seem to be opposites of the same cloth, one cut from betrayal of his knightly brother, and the other through the loss of his wife and estrangement from his children because of his callous nature.
A Song of Ice & Fire Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Awakenings (other topics)The Lost Prince (other topics)
A Game of Thrones (other topics)
A Dance with Dragons (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Edward Lazellari (other topics)George R.R. Martin (other topics)
A friend of mine at Random House invited me to the book release party for A Dance With Dragons two years ago. Contrary to popular belief, all fantasy/sci-fi writers do not know each other, and it was a thrill to meet George Martin. I told him he was a huge influence on my writing and got to chat with him for a couple of minutes, which is rare since his time is in such demand these days. My question to him was about point of view in writing. His chapters are all told from the point of view (POV) of only one character. So each chapter has a slightly different world view and perspective of the events that are taking place. This is in contrast to the usual omniscient POV that many genre books are written in. I would say that third-person omniscient is probably the most used POV, followed by first-person (think Dresden Files or The Lovely Bones). But George chose limited third-person, which is how I am writing my Guardians of Aandor series for Tor as well. We had a brief bonding moment over this as though to say, well yeah, people only know what's in front of them-- what they see and hear. It seemed the most natural POV for the tales we needed to tell, essentially ensemble pieces with no distinct main character. Like Game of Thrones, my own series has characters people love and others they hate, and one or two that did not make a difference, but they're never the same for all readers. This, I believe is also the cornerstone of GOT. There's something for everyone. Even those of us who think Sansa's a waste of a person who got everything she deserved have to acquiesce to those readers that identify with her. She's the "princess" after all, and we did just raise two generations of girls idolizing Disney Princesses.
Anyway, just wanted to say belated hello and put my own question out there for the group. What would you ask George Martin if you got to meet him one day? And what would you hope for him to say? (Let's try to keep this above the obvious, "When's the next book going to be done?") ThanksEdward LazellariAwakeningsThe Lost PrinceA Game of ThronesA Dance With DragonsGeorge R.R. Martin