A lot of fantasy names are too much. Theyโre too difficult to pronounce. I wanted the flavour of medieval England. I took actual names we still use today, like โRobertโ, and in some case I tweaked them a little bit. I made โEdwardโ into โEddardโ. If you look back at medieval times, no one knew how to spell their own names. There are a lot of variations that weโve lost.
George R. R. MartinNed was clad in a white linen doublet with the direwolf of Stark on the breast; his black wool cloak was fastened at the collar by his silver hand of office. Black and white and grey, all the shades of truth.
George R. R. MartinThe storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling. (Varys)
George R. R. MartinI always give my students exercises where they really have to open a vein and bleed all over the paper and that's the way you get the important characters. Sooner or later every writer worth reading writes a story his mother wouldn't read and having to get that stuff out is part of one's growth as a writer.
George R. R. Martin