‘Game Of Thrones’ Author Confronts Stephen King For ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’

The TV series of Game of Thrones has already caught up to and is departing from the book content of A Song of Ice and Fire. Is George R.R. Martin feeling pressured?

Game of Thrones has become a huge blockbuster series that the whole world has their eyes and ears on; of note have been the developments of favorite Game of Thrones characters, Jon Snow’s death and resurrection, Arya Stark’s misfortunes, and Daenerys Targaryen’s rise to power. But, the success and continued production of Game of Thrones has led to a departure from A Song of Ice and Fire.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin is the book series containing the plot and world that Game of Thrones follows, but the latest book in the series has yet to be finished by the author. There has been constant pressure, apparently, on Martin, to keep his writing pace steady and quick so as not to delay the run of Game of Thrones.

Debuting in 1991, A Song of Ice and Fire is already on its sixth installment, The Winds of Winter, and it seems the pressure to churn out volumes more quickly is getting to Martin. In fact, it took him 5 years to write the fifth volume, A Dance with Dragons. If this pace keeps up, Game of Thrones has two options: take a hiatus to wait for the author to complete his creations; or deviate from the book altogether and continue Game of Thrones as a separate entity from A Song of Ice and Fire.

As early as 2012, reports are coming in that George R.R. Martin is being encouraged to write faster for A Song of Ice and Fire, and consequently, Game of Thrones. In an interview with Jets player and Game of Thrones fan D’Brickashaw Ferguson in 2012, Martin voices his opinion on how he is handling the pace of Martin’s writing.

“I can write one script per season if I choose to, and I did for the first four seasons, I scripted one episode every season. So the last two seasons I have not done that, simply because I am too busy with the book.

“There are a lot of people working on the TV show, a lot of very talented people. But I am the only one that can do the books.”

In 2014, speaking to New Mexico in Focus, via IB Times, he reveals that the pressure from fans of Game of Thrones does get in the way of his writing.

“Yes, to some extent [the pressure] does [affect me], but when the writing is going well it doesn’t matter.

“When I’m there and working, I just kind of fall through my computer screen and I forget the world, I forget deadlines, I forget the TV show, and the emails, and all of that stuff. It’s just me and the characters and the world that I’m describing, and I’m writing a page at a time, and a scene at a time, and a word at a time.”

Now, it’s 2016 and we have yet to see The Winds of Winter. Has Martin finally succumbed to pressure? Is Game of Thrones doomed? At a recent event with Martin and best-selling author Stephen King in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Martin finally finds the right avenue to address his concerns about writing for Game of Thrones.

By the end of the conversation between the two phenomenal authors, the father of Game of Thrones asks the thriller king a question about his process.

“How the f— do you write so many books so fast?

“I think, ‘Oh, I’ve had a really good six months – I’ve written three chapters!’ and you’ve finished three books in that time.”

King explains that he tries to write for three or four hours every single day, religiously. He also tries to produce a half dozen “fairly clean” pages in that time so as to cut the period of the reviewing and the proofreading. He estimates a 360-page long manuscript to be ready in two months time, “assuming it goes well.”

Martin presses further, referring to his problems finishing his manuscript for Game of Thrones.

“You don’t ever have a day when you sit down there and it’s like constipation – you write a sentence and you hate the sentence, and you check your email and you wonder if you had any talent after all and maybe you should have been a plumber? Don’t you have days like that?”

King admits it’s not so much of an issue for him; although, sometimes, real-life matters tend to get in the way. Watch the full discussion between Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and multi award-winning author Stephen King below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v_PBqSPNTfg

Fans can only hope Martin and King’s conversation may have helped the Game of Thrones genius to complete the next installment in his saga.

As of now, you can catch Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 10 entitled “Winds of Winter” on June 27 on HBO.

[Photos by Jack Dempsey/Invision for KINGS OF CON and Mark Lennihan/AP Images]