Explore Quotes by George R. R. Martin

I can see a scene in my head, and when I try to get it down in words on paper, the words are clunky; the scene is not coming across right. So frustrating. And there are days where it keeps flowing. Open the floodgates, and there it is. Pages and pages coming. Where the hell does this all come from? I don't know.

There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings.

'Rome' was one of my favourite shows, and I wish HBO had given it three more seasons 'cause I would have loved to continue watching it.

'Dreamsongs' allows me to show the scope of my writing - with personal commentary that puts the works in context and includes some autobiographical details intended to reveal how each piece came to be, what it represents, and how it has formed, or been informed by, my philosophy of writing.

Yes - 90% of fantasy is crap. And so is 90% of science fiction and 90% of mystery fiction and 90% of literary fiction.

One of the things I love, and I'm a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable.

Unfortunately in television, for whatever reason, fantasy became thought of as a kids' genre.

The cable makers are the ones who are willing to take risks and do something original and push the envelope some.

There is magic in my universe, but it's pretty low magic compared to other fantasies.

I've written some standalone novels, but a book series allows fans in. There's much more intense involvement.

I've said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense.

I wrote six pilots, none of which ever got picked up. When you stop trying, it then it falls in your lap.

I watch NFL football on Sundays. I enjoy gaming with friends, meaning role-playing games; I still enjoy going to conventions and traveling.

I worked out of Hollywood for 10 years and I had my heart broken half a dozen times, so I know all the things that can go wrong.

I prefer to work with grey characters rather than black and white.

I have idea files of books that I want to write one of these days, stories I want to write one of these days, but I'll probably never get to them.

I wanted to write a big novel, something epic in scale.

I have some other novels I want to write. I have a lot of short stories - I love the short story.

I suppose I'm a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic.

I like grey characters; fantasy for too long has been focused on very stereotypical heroes and villains.

I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.