George R. R. Martin Quotes

I like going back in time and writing historical fantasy. I use some real historical characters as a background to give depth to the fantasy. And I throw my fictional characters into the midst of this, and, so far, it has turned out interesting.

No matter how big a name you are, how many big series you've been in or how good looking you are, in the end, all actors are secondary to the writer.

Grab a pen and put down some words - your name even - and a title: something to see, to revise, to carve, to do over in the opposite way

You have so many sources to draw on when you're a fantasy writer.

Right. I’ve been missing Nutty McFang anyway.” “Stop making up names for him.” “What about Count Crackula?” “Just stop.

You're far from this. This story is just another few hundred pages of your mind.

I make up different names for my cat all the time - Flapjack, Bowtie, Popcorn. But he's really, "Hey you, cat."

I don't write fantasy; I write historical novels about an imaginary place.

That's part of fiction, creating a world better than the one you live in.

The great thing about fantasy is that you can drag dreams and longings and hopes and fears and strivings out of your subconscious and call them 'magic' or 'dragons' or 'faeries' and get to know them better. But then I write the stuff. Obviously I'm prejudiced.

The creative writer does the same as the child at play; he creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously.

. . . it is through poetry that we give name to those ideas which are-until the poem-nameless and formless, about to be birthed, but already felt.

I chart a little first-list of names, rough synopsis of chapters, and so on. But one daren't overplan; so many things are generated by the sheer act of writing.

Imagination, which is the Eldorado of the poet and of the novel-writer, often proves the most pernicious gift to the individuals who compose the talkers instead of the writers in society.

The best I do, if I'm just playing around and riffing in a fantasy world, and then I'll write something down. Hopefully I write it down.

There is a rule for fantasy writers: The more truth you mix in with a lie, the stronger it gets.

There are fairy stories to be written for adults. Stories that are still in a green state.

Nothin'g sa'ys q'uality fantas'y l'ike misuse'd apos'tro'phes.

Poetry is essentially the discovery, the love, the passion for the name of everything.

Not write what you know, but know what you write. If you write about a world before, after, or other than this one, enter that world completely. Search it to find your deepest longings and most terrible fears. Let imagination carry you as far as it may, as long as you recount the voyage with excitement and wonder. But this is the most important rule: write the book you most long to read.

I was heavily influenced by my first attempt at a novel. I started a fantasy novel back in high school, and... well... it really sucked. It was a plotless, clichéd mess.

I love crazy names. It comes right from Monty Python and Woody Allen - nothing in the world makes me giggle more than a funny name. It became a thing I started doing when I wrote. If a person came into a store and said, "How much is this apple?" that person would have an insane name.

They call him Aslan in That Place," said Eustace. "What a curious name!" "Not half so curious as himself," said Eustace solemnly.

Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.

The challenge is to write about real things magically.