Opening the Writer's Desk: Writing Tips from George R.R. Martin
Welcome to another installment of ‘Opening the Writer’s Desk,’ where we take a deep dive into the writing tips from today’s most widely-read authors. In today’s episode, we’re going to be taking a look at author George R.R. Martin and the techniques he’s used in his own writing.
If you don’t know George R.R. Martin, you’ve still probably heard of (or seen) the TV series Game of Thrones.
And if you haven’t, you need to get out more.
I say that not having watched it, so I’m also talking to myself.
That show was an adaptation of Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.
Whether you’re a hardcore fantasy fan or you’d prefer a romance or a cozy mystery, Martin is no doubt one of the biggest novelists of all time—so let’s check out a few tips straight from the man himself.
Tip #1 from George RR Martin is to “Read. And read everything.”
Martin says, “The most important thing for any aspiring writer, I think, is to read! And not just the sort of thing you’re trying to write, be that fantasy, SF, comic books, whatever. You need to read everything…Every writer has something to teach you, for good or ill.”
I think this is pretty much the best advice there is for a writer—to read.
There are some authors who will say that’s their only writing advice, in fact.
The more you read, the more you open yourself up to new possibilities of how to tell your story,
You can see what other writers are doing that you want to emulate. But you can also see how you don’t want to tell your story.
For years, I thought I was supposed to be writing literary fiction if I was going to write fiction at all…I believed this because that was the kind of fiction that wins awards, that gets reviewed in the New York Times, and that makes people think you’re really, really smart.
So of course that’s what I was supposed to be writing, right?
The problem was that I’d often read books categorized as literary fiction and be…underwhelmed. Like…really?
I didn’t really love them.
What I loved were more commercial fiction novels that were still smart and complex.
I loved books with plot and character development.
And it was reading some of these books that made me think, that’s what I want to do.
It wasn’t only inspiring, it planted seedlings of ideas in my head…on structure, on pacing, and on story arcs.
So when George RR Martin and I tell you to read, I hope you know, we’re not giving you homework that’s supposed to be a slog.
I want you to read what you enjoy, because that’s what you’re going to be best at writing, too.
Tip #2 from George is to: Make a habit of writing
“The more you write,” he says, “the better you’ll get…Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings… If you don’t exercise those “literary muscles,” you’ll never develop them.”
Even if you haven’t written a creative word since the seventh grade, you can get back in the practice of writing by doing it.
And look…you don’t have to write every day.
I used to hate that adage…actually, I still do.
I don’t write every day. Not even close.
I do when I’m actively working on a project…but months go by between projects. I’m like Cheryl Strayed, who calls herself a binge writer in this way.
Still, I agree with Martin that the more you write, the better you’ll get.
Your first book is not going to be your best book…hopefully, right?? Because if it were, it would mean you weren’t improving.
It’s so important to write before you’re ready, to write when the writing feels bad, to write even when you don’t know what you’re doing, because that’s the only way you’re going to get better.
If you give yourself permission to not be perfect, or even very good, you might find it easier to find the words you want because you’re not preoccupied with getting everything quote unquote right.
Here’s a suggestion: set aside some time regularly to write, even if it’s not every day.
Have a project in mind that you want to start, and start it…even if you aren’t ready. Just go.
You’ll improve just by doing it. Yes, you’ll find things you don’t like, but you’ll learn that way. You’ll learn how to do it differently so that you do like it.
It’s like learning to ride a bike or drive a car…you just have to go.
Martin has admitted sometimes he can only get out a “sentence and a half” before he gives up.
But a sentence and a half is a sentence and a half.
Tip # 3 from George : Actions should have consequences
How do you make a story compelling?
One of the most important skills is, I think, also one of the hardest to get used to if you’re not familiar with it: causality.
What do I mean by that?
Well, in real life, there’s cause and effect. Someone does something, and there’s a reaction. If I put my car key in the ignition of my car and turn it, I’ll start the engine. Cause: me turning the key. Effect: my car starts. The effect—the car starting—doesn’t happen on its own, and it doesn’t happen before I turn my key in the ignition.
That’s causality. The events in your story are linked in this way. One leads to another.
Things don’t always have to be this literal or linear—every single event doesn’t need to be connected to the previous in this way.
But you do want your characters’ actions to have effects—what they do has a consequence (good or bad), and that consequence shapes the future events in the story.
George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is known for characters facing unforeseen consequences of their actions, and the characters who hold political power often do things that have sweeping effects on the world they live in.
This is something your audience will want to see to keep them engaged and invested in your story’s outcome—actions having consequences.
Tip #4: Outline only if you think it’s helpful
I talk about outlines a lot in my writing program, but not for the reason you might think. This might sound kind of shocking, but in general, outlines don’t work for me.
That doesn’t mean they won’t work for everyone, but in my experience, I’ve found that writing towards answering a big thematic question is more helpful because it gives me the freedom to discover what will happen in my story instead of forcing myself to stick with a preconceived outline.
I learned that George R.R. Martin actually leans away from outlines as well, and he describes these two camps of writing style as “architects” and “gardeners”:
“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house…
The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it…As the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”
Again, if you like using outlines, that’s fine! But I think there are a lot of writers—myself once included—that are forcing themselves to map out their first drafts before they’ve gotten a chance to explore the world they’re creating, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to do that if you don’t want to.
Tip #5: Show up inconsistently and badly, but show up anyway
That’s my own paraphrase based on another great quote from Martin, which is: “Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.”
Sure, the imagery is a little morbid, but I really dig the sentiment.
Here’s the truth—resistance, which is the inevitable pushback from inside our own minds whenever we’re in arm’s reach of our goals, is very good at convincing us to put things off, including making us think if we show up badly, we’re going to fail.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
When you set a goal to write a book, you will constantly disappoint yourself. This is inevitable.
You won’t show up every day. You won’t write for your goal time every day, or even most days. You won’t hit your word count goals on more days than you do hit them. And somehow, miraculously, you will still finish. And when you do, no one will be more stunned by it than you.
It’s not about showing up consistently. It’s about not showing up consistently, but showing up anyway. It’s about showing up badly. Showing up with other stuff to do, with a far from perfect idea of what you’re going to write, with a mess of a plan in your head, with lessons from the writing course that you haven’t watched, with the wrong pen that’s almost out of ink, with the wrong notebook that your kid did his math homework in, with 25 minutes to write instead of 90.
It’s about not giving up just because nothing is ever going to look exactly like you want it to look, and that’s okay, it will still get done.
You’ll only finish the books you choose not to give up on.
Ready to write your book?
If you made it this far, I’m guessing that you are writing a book, or want to write a book.
If so, I want to talk to you.
When I’m not writing, my mission in life is to help talented writers write their dream books. I love it. I live for it.
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You can get it by clicking below and answering two questions to apply to my program, the Book Incubator. You can get the video whether you join or not—no pressure to enroll.
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