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Top 10 Sensational Facts about George R.R Martin

G R.R. Martin in November 2016 By Gage Skidmore –

 George R.R. Martin鈥檚 A Song of Ice and Fire book series has earned him a large worldwide fanbase and brought him immense amounts of success. But how much do they really know about this esteemed author? Here are 10 sensational facts about the man who has us glued to our tv screens, George R.R Martin.

1. He made money selling monster stories as a kid

George grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey, in a lower-middle-class family where his father was a longshoreman. George had bigger plans for himself and wanted to get out of Bayonne and explore.

This led Martin to develop a love of reading and writing very early on and once he learned that his newfound hobby was profitable, he began selling his stories to kids in the neighborhood for a penny a piece. As they grew popular, he raised his prices to a nickel but shortly after he had to stop selling after his mother caught wind that one of his kid customers started having nightmares from his books.

2. He fell in love with comic books

George confessed in an interview that he is an avid comic book fan, crediting the genre with inspiring him to start writing.

He stated in his 2014 Q&A interview, “I鈥檓 so grateful for comic books because they were really the thing that made me a reader, which in return made me a writer,”.  He went further to compliment the Batman and Superman comics saying they were interesting.

3. He鈥檚 a skilled chess player

In an interview with the independent, George stated that he started playing chess at 14 years and continued on throughout high school even going further to start a chess club in college. Being captain of the chess team made him realize that he could earn from it through chess tournaments which he used to support himself with while perusing his writing career.

4. A failed novel almost ended his novelist career

George signing books in a bookstore in Ljubljana, Slovenia 2011 By Yerpo –

George R. R. Martin became a respected sci-fi and horror novelist. However, with his fourth book The Armageddon Rag in 1983 meeting commercial failure he considered his novelist career had come to an end stating, “…essentially destroyed my career as a novelist at the time,”.

Since he held the book so near to his heart, he started writing less and ultimately decided to go into writing for television. Phil DeGuere, a director, was interested in getting George’s help in the rebooting of The Twilight Zone in the mid-1980s and got him to write a few episodes. He later wrote a little for the live-action Beauty and the Beast series, starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton.

5. He owns a Library Tower

George bought a house across the street from his home in Santa Fe in 2009. In that house he had a library tower built. He said he filled it with a huge historical and fantasy book collection. The library also serves as his office space where he goes to write.

His library tower spans two stories and George says he would鈥檝e increased its height but the city didn鈥檛 allow him to build it any higher than two stories, but it is still impressive to look at as the structure is a set of stained-glass windows with sigils of five houses from the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones knows.

6. Television writing was not for Him

George R. R. Martin (2015) By Henry S枚derlund –

In a rolling stones interview, George said, “There were battles over censorship, how sexual things could be, whether a scene was too ‘politically charged,’ how violent things could be. Don鈥檛 want to disturb anyone. We got into that fight on Beauty and the Beast. The Beast killed people. That was the point of the character. He was a beast. But CBS didn鈥檛 want blood, or for the beast to kill people … The character had to remain likable.”

 It got too much for him and despite his success in TV and Hollywood, he opted to walk away. George stressed that he wanted his work read worldwide and not by Tv show executives in an office suite.

7. He Runs and owns an independent movie theater in New Mexico

In 2010 George decided to buy a cinema very close to his heart, The Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe years after it was closed in 2006. After a couple of renovations and improvements, he reopened it in 2013.

Since its reopening, the theater has grown popular by showcasing many independent films and holding regular special events such as the screenings of Game of Thrones episodes. The theater also has an onsite bar that serves different Game of Thrones-themed cocktails, like the famous White Walker.

8. He encourages new writers to break the rules

Teaching at Clarion West, 1998 By Taken –

George encourages writers, especially screenplay writers to be free and creative with their work and explains how much he detests following the 鈥榖ook鈥� saying, “There is a book out there by Syd and it鈥檚 his guide to writing screenplays and it鈥檚 probably one of the most harmful things that have ever been done for the movie industry,鈥�.

 He further explained, 鈥淔or some perverse reason, it has become the bible not for writers but for what we call ‘the suits,’ the guys at the studios whose job it is to develop properties and give notes to supervise screenplays. They take Syd Field鈥檚 course and they buy the book and they start criticizing screenplays like, 鈥榃ell you know, the first turn is supposed to be on page 12 and yours is not until page 17, so obviously this won鈥檛 do!'”

George continued, “If there really was a formula as he says, then every movie would be a blockbuster. We would just connect A, B, and C and we would have a great movie and everyone would pack the theater to see it. But every movie is not a blockbuster. Many movies that follow his rules precisely actually go down the toilet.”

9. He is a big Sports fan

George R. R Martin has confessed to watching an entire NFL draft. He has even authored two football sci-fi stories, with Run to Starlight being published by Amazing Stories, about a game against aliens; and Gallery ran one called The Last Super Bowl. He鈥檚 also started a sports blog. George鈥檚 love for sports doesn鈥檛 stop there as he is a diehard New York Jets football fan and New York Mets baseball fan.  

He was quoted saying, 鈥淎 lot of that dates to our childhoods when the world divides us into jocks and nerds. But there are always the nerds who, though not jocks, are still into sports. Believe it or not, I worked four summers in college as a sportswriter covering baseball for the parks and recreation department in Bayonne, N.J鈥� in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

10. He avoided being drafted in the Vietnam war

In the 1960s during the Vietnam war, George was of the right age to be drafted. Due to his deep philosophical beliefs on the war, he applied for conscientious objector status which he received shortly after.

He served in a 2-year alternative service with the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation from 1973 to 1976 He explains and was branded as a coward for the rest of his life by the draft board as punishment.

He continues to oppose the idea of war and its glorification through his novels by depicting the harsh realities that come with it saying, 鈥溾�榃ar brings out the best and the worst in people. Literature of the past used to celebrate the glory of war; then the hippie generation in the 1970s wrote about the ugliness of it. I think there鈥檚 truth in both.鈥�