George R.R. Martin’s biggest Regret About the Game of Thrones Books

Bestselling author George R. R. Martin shared his biggest regret about his Game of Thrones books and what he would do differently if he could.

On 1991, Martin released the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series with A Game of Thrones. That novel has turned into a successful fantasy series and one of the biggest TV shows ever. But back then, Martin didn’t have the freedom he does now and had to pay bills.

Martin compared his journey as a writer to fellow writer Gene Wolfe who wrote The Book of the New Sun. And Martin wishes he could have written his popular series just as Wolfe did.

“He didn’t submit them to an editor, which is the way it usually did. He didn’t get a contract and a deadline, he finished all four books,” said Martin.

“By the time he finished the fourth book he was able to see the things in the first book that didn’t really fit anymore; where the book had drifted away, where it had changed, so he was able to go back and revise the first book. Only when all four were finished did Gene submit the book, and the series was bought and published.”

In Martin’s defense and a counter argument, few authors have this luxury. Only when authors have established themselves, the get this luxury. And in Wolfe’s case, he wrote these novels in his spare time which is no easy task.

But Martin wishes he had that type of freedom because his only income was from revenue from his books.

“But there is something very liberating from an artistic point of view if you don’t have to worry, you know if you happen to inherit a huge trust fund or a castle or something like that and you can write your entire series without having to sell it without having to worry about deadlines,” Martin adds.

“Believe it or not, I am not taking all that time to write Winds of Winter just because I think I’m Gene Wolfe now, I would love to have it finished years ago… but yeah that’s the big thing I think I would change.”

We won’t know what Martin would have changed in his original novels but it is safe to say fans are a big fans of his novels. Maybe some characters wouldn’t have been killed too soon but that is what Martin is known for.

What do you think of Martin’s comments on having the luxury to write multiple books at once and revising them before publishing all of them? Sometimes authors might overthink and never be happy with the end result. As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side.

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