I'm a strong believer in telling stories through a limited but very tight third person point of view. I have used other techniques during my career, like the first person or the omniscient view point, but I actually hate the omniscient viewpoint. None of us have an omniscient viewpoint; we are alone in the universe. We hear what we can hear... we are very limited. If a plane crashes behind you I would see it but you wouldn't. That's the way we perceive the world and I want to put my readers in the head of my characters.
George R. R. MartinI donโt know what message to send to Bran. Help him Tyrion.โ โWhat help could I give him? I am no maester, to ease his pain. I have no spell to give him back his legs.โ โYou gave me help when I needed itโ Jon Snow said. โI gave you nothing,โ Tyrion said. โWords.โ โThen give your words to Bran too.
George R. R. MartinThe cable makers are the ones who are willing to take risks and do something original and push the envelope some.
George R. R. MartinThe distinction between literary and genre fiction is stupid and pernicious. It dates back to a feud between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. James won, and it split literature into two streams. But it's a totally false dichotomy.
George R. R. MartinThere are a number of things that I'm trying to get into the books. There's a meta-fictional aspect, if I may use that pretentious word, to writing anything. You're writing in the shadow of all the people that have gone before and, in a way, you're having a dialogue with them. As someone who's read J.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard and all the great fantasists before, this is almost my answer to them.
George R. R. Martin