So I went to ComicCon in NYC and sat in on the George R. R. Martin spotlight...

RigaMortus2

First Post
First off, let me say I am not a reader of novels, fantasy or otherwise. I have certainly not read anything by George R. R. Martin, but my friends have, and they gave me the 411 on his books. I basically only went to the spotlight because my friends wanted to go.

With that said... It was pretty good. He confirmed his "deal" with HBO and the Song of Fire & Ice books. Basically all he said was, it was "optioned" which in Hollywood terms doesn't mean much of anything. The good news is, the way he explained it to us, was that the prime time networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) may option like 100 TV shows every year. Out of those 100, maybe 10 will have pilot episodes made, and out of those 10 pilot episodes, maybe 3 will make it.

With HBO, he said they don't throw money around like the other networks, so they may have 5 shows optioned, 3 pilots made, and 1 show makes it on the air. Basically what he was getting at once, since HBO optioned it, there is a very good chance it will happen. He also said that don't expect anything major to happen (such as a pilot episode) for at least a year.

Other than that, he talked about something called Wild Cards, which (I think) was either a book or comic in the vein of Heroes. In fact, while he is a fan of Heroes, he said that his book Wild Cards came first and if it ever catches on, people will naturally think he is biting off of Heroes. I beleive he also said that one of his associates was in talks to get Wild Cards optioned for either a movie or TV show (I forget which).

Someone had asked him how he views dragons in his Fire/Ice series (are the intelligent? can they talk? are they more beastial?). He said they are slim and slender, like long serpents. And if you can picture a tyradactle (sp), they have hindlegs and their arms are attached to their wings. And he said not to expect one of his characters (whose name eludes me), to be striking up a conversation with dragons. He said we'll find out more about them in his next book, Dance with Dragons.

Someone also asked if he draws in inspiration on history or modern day events. Basically he said he takes bits and peices of history as inspiration, and a little bit of originality and puts it together.

Someone else asked if he plans it out ahead of time if certain characters will die or not, or does he just decide to kill them off at the time he is writing a scene. He said most of the time, it is planned, but there are certain events (The Red Wedding) where he just needed people to die off, so that is what he did.

Other than that, nothing else sticks out in my mind. It was a good spotlight. If I had read his books, I might have had more appreciation for it. Although since I did go, I am seriously considering reading those books, just need to find the time :)
 

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RigaMortus2 said:
Other than that, he talked about something called Wild Cards, which (I think) was either a book or comic in the vein of Heroes. In fact, while he is a fan of Heroes, he said that his book Wild Cards came first and if it ever catches on, people will naturally think he is biting off of Heroes. I beleive he also said that one of his associates was in talks to get Wild Cards optioned for either a movie or TV show (I forget which).
Wild Cards is a "shared universe" anthology series; each book collects a number of short stories by different authors, all taking place in the same world where random people gained superpowers:
The series relates an alternate history of the earth after World War II. In 1946 an alien virus that rewrites human DNA is accidentally unleashed in the skies over New York City. It kills 90 % of those who come into contact with it (referred to as 'drawing the Black Queen'). However, 9 % mutate into deformed creatures (known as 'Jokers') and 1 % gain superpowers (known as 'Aces'). There is also a class known as 'deuces' - Aces who have acquired useless or ridiculous powers, such as the ability to levitate up to two feet, or to grow bodily hair at will. The airborne virus eventually spreads all over the world, affecting tens of thousands.

Wild Cards was inspired by superhero comics, and many of the authors play with the conventions of the medium, while some characters are based on existing heroes (eg, Jetboy was modelled on the Hillman Periodicals' character Airboy). Many of the original authors were also inspired by a long-running Albuquerque, New Mexico campaign of the role-playing game Superworld, gamemastered by George R. R. Martin, and many modelled their characters on their in-game persona.​
 


mmadsen said:
Seriously?

Yup... I'd much rather wait for the movie or TV show. I love RPGs and fantasy, but don't like reading... Although, it was because of the LotR movies that I decided to actually read the books.
 

Olgar Shiverstone said:
Did he perhaps say when he'd finish Dance with Dragons?

He did not. In fact, he made a joke that people assume/hope/wish/want him to be working on the book 100% of the time, but he does have other projects and stuff he is working on, so he isn't spending all his time and attention on the book.
 

mmadsen said:
a "shared universe" anthology series

That reminds me... He did go over this "shared universe" thing. He said that basically, it allowed other authors to use characters from other authors. He said that another company tried this, and it had bad results. They had "lazy" rules, basically you could use another person's character w/o needing their permission and could do anyhting with them, except kill them off (you needed the original authors permssion for that). So to get around this, you'd have writers hacking off other writer's character's arms and legs. Technically, they aren't "dead". And this naturally caused resentment.

On the flip side, when they tried the shared universe, you had to get the permission of the other writer. Since characters are kinda personal to each writer, they would never allow anyone else to use their characters in stories, which kind of defeated the purpose of a shared universe.

So as a happy medium, they came up with the concept of "consortium points". What that meant was, anytime you allowed another writer to use a character you created in a story, you got 1 consortium point. The more consortium points you get, the more $$$ you would make :) The writer that wanted to use your character would basically tell you what he had planned for the character, and you could either veto it or not (and if you don't, you'd make more money). So if you really did not like the ideas another writer had for your character (such as killing them off), you don't let them do it.

It was a good story he told :)
 



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