George RR Martin on Why He Doesn't Write Outlines

one of the things that I notice you do really well in Song of Ice and Fire is the foreshadowing there are thing you know there are things in book three that are foreshadowed as far back as book two and maybe even book 1 and I was wondering if you have difficulty bouncing the foreshadowing with spontaneity as a writer but manie's things you for shadows and how do you balance that with spontaneity do you feel like you're straight jacketing yourself to a certain plot no I don't find that foreshadowing things lessons to spontaneity my that I can see why you think I might but if I don't know for some reason it doesn't I don't I don't have a formal outline I'm not one of these writers who outlines every what's gonna be in every scene what's gonna be in every chapter I might be faster if I did I did have to do that in Hollywood I had never done that before when I got the Hollywood I didn't want to do that but they made me I kept saying just let me write the script and then you'll see how it comes out no no I have to have the outline first so I got used to outlining there but I never liked it it did take away some of the spontaneity I felt you know in some sense I had already told the story even though I had only told it in shorthand and retelling retelling the story over again is not as much fun as telling the story for the first time it was a wonderful novel that came out Oh a decade or more ago called replay by Ken Grimwood some of you may have read it science fiction novel it's about a guy who wakes up one day he's like a 45 year old businessman he has a heart attack he dies he suddenly wakes up he's he's 17 years old he's in his college dormitory and he has this whole life to live over it's you know it's 1970 68 again or whatever it is and it's the story of what happens to him as he lives that over and when I read that book I thought about myself and what would it what would it be like for me if I suddenly was back at Northwestern it was 1968 and I woke up and I'm a freshman in my dormitory but I have all my memories so I know what my life was like and I know all the stories that I wrote and it was actually a terrifying thought because I said well wait a minute I have two writes and kings again you know I it turned out pretty well the last time but I don't remember exactly how it goes I mean what if I mess it up this time and not only that but that I have to write the bad stories again the ones that nobody liked when they came out well can I just like skip over them you know okay so outlining is almost a little bit like that it's it's it's like okay you told the story once an outline now you have to tell it again with like words and so I prefer not to do that um Stephen King wrote this great book called on writing about the craft of writing and the first scene he describes him and Amy Tan sitting around a table talking about how no one ever asked them these popular fiction authors about the craft of writing and I was wondering if you ever sweat that stuff I mean do you consider your sentences as much as say you know John Irving or Tom Wolfe it sit there and worry about stuff or do you find that it's the story that compels you and that drives you more than the language I yeah I certainly consider my sentences I don't know if I consider them as much as Tom Wolfe or John Irving but I tell you following those two guys is intimidating and Neil Gaiman but those are two too great writers of our time three too great writers of our time with Neil in there particularly with the advent of computers I think computers are you know a great adjunct to rewriting I rewrite a lot more in these days I'm constantly polishing my prose and trying to trying to get the sentence there of course I have a lot of sentences in my books so admittedly some of them get more more attention than others but yeah the craft of writing I mean is something that I consider and it's something that I worry about it's one of the hardest things I mean I have the scenes in my head you know I can see I can see how the battle is going and now I have to get it into your heads and I have to find the words to do that and choosing those words the right words that'll get the image across and and you know make everything flow and be exciting and have a certain poetry itself it's it's very difficult yes I was just wondering if how you keep all this stuff from you know plot lines and sub plot lines in your and you keep them in your head do you have a notebook or several notebooks obviously with this guy I keep them in my head that's why I need such a big hat yes I I don't have I have a few pages of notebooks and I have a few notes that I keep things but no formal outlines and you'd be surprised at how relatively little there is so most of it is just in my head god help me so I better not get hit by a bus

Channel: Aegon Targaryen

Views: 430,178

Keywords: jrr tolkien, fantasy, season 8, prequel, winds of winter, audiobook, stephen king, roberts rebellion, witcher author, jon snow, fire and blood, house of the dragon, red wedding, aegon taragryen, asoiaf, history and lore, theories, ending, trailer

Id: XF1PyB5v9jI

Length: 4min 55sec (295 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020