FACT#74:
George R.R. Martin on how his life has changed, the pressure to write, and a bittersweet ending
BY LIGHTBRINGER ON AUGUST 16, 2014
George R.R. Martin continues to blaze the press trail before he takes some long awaited and well deserved time at home to work on the next book in his series. Edinburgh for their International Book Festival he spoke at length with The Guardian about how his life has changed since the huge success of A Song of Ice and Fire, the pressure he feels to finish, and more.
On how his life has changed, and what he'd like to do to camera phones:
"It does seem unreal at moments. I'm constantly forgetting that my life has been transformed. I think Rowling was a different case because they were her first books. For me, I'd had 20 years of fantasy and science fiction books that had done well, but not like this. And there's part of me that makes the unconscious assumption that I'm still that person and can live that kind of life. And then I'm reminded that I can't because Game of Thrones has become such a phenomenon and I've become a celebrity. There are nice things about it and not so nice.
I can't go out any more; I can't walk the streets. And it's great to have all these readers and fans who, for the most part, are very nice people, saying they love the books and the TV show. But there are so many of them and it just doesn't end. Oh, and 'selfies'! If I could clap my hands and burn out every camera phone in the world, I swear I'd do it!"
He won't let the pressure to finish get in the way of writing a great book:
"My publishers want the [next] book, so do HBO, so do my readers. And nobody wants it more than I do. But, when I weigh that pressure, I have to be aware that the books are what I'll finally be judged on. If the novels are still being read in 50 years, no one is ever going to say: 'What's great about that sixth book is that he met his deadline!' It will be about how the whole thing stands up."
