GRRM in Portugal

[Werthead]

GRRM has completed the Portugese leg of his tour and is heading to Spain next. I wasn't there but some highlights of his various Q&As can be found here.

The main points of interest:

First thing is, the book is not finished. Probably another 6 months, the hope is by the end of the year, so it comes out sometime in 2009. When the manuscript for ADWD is finished it will be rushed over in 3 months, which is amazingly fast for the book industry.

From then the questions moved to historical fiction, there being similarities between ASOIAF and the War of the Roses, if he had ever thought about building a story about them. GRRM replied he liked historical very much, mentioned Cornwell and Pressfield as infusing history with the tropes of fantasy ( I think) but that his problem with history is that he knows too much history, that he can not read about the war of the roses without knowing who won the battle of Bosworth Field. With history, a lot of readers will know who wins and what happens and he likes to readers to not know what is going to happen ( ah!!)

Magic and fantasy can be like anchovy in pizza, too much unbalanced can ruin everything . Tolkien did it right, on his opinion, that his magic is often knowledge and the sense of magic is very low key, that we are often not sure, are the fireworks real magic or just fireworks? Magic should be mysterious, unnatural. In a Song of Ice and Fire (or ADWD) we have two sources of magic descending on Westeros from opposing directions.

An interesting comment about the focus and pace of LOTR and ASOIAF. TLOTR starts slow and very focused, on a small part of a very large world, with things unfolding and the world getting bigger. He wanted to do something like that in ASOIAF, starting with a very tight focus on Winterfell drawing bigger and broader. The action is now at its broadest point, and it´s going to start narrowing again.

That last part is very interesting. The story is now at its most 'widescreen' and it's going to start compressing down again. That would seem to fit with his previous comments that there will be no new POVs after ADWD.

[TK-421]

Thanks again Wert for shedding some light for those of us in the dark. So, about 9 more months before we see ADWD. But, you are right, that last comment was very interesting. I wonder if Winterfell will again become the "tight focus point" in the end? Seems plausible with Bran, Arya, Sansa and Jon still kicking around.

[Tansy]

I think it has to be with events beyond and on the wall - the starks will be drawn back to Winterfell with the coming of Winter. I think it holds the key to the whole safety and future of the seven kingdoms.

I think the direwolves foretelling will become the focus

[Wiggum]

Thanks Ser Wert, good information all around. :salute

[Boaz]

Wert, thanks again. You are the man.

I found this part very interesting...

He mentioned he created history and dinasties as he goes along and that it was Tolkien which created the truly serious worldbuilding expect in fantasy. Before Tolkien a lot of fantasy writers did not bother, Robert E Howard had perhaps the name of 3 kings, Lord Dunsany did even less ( paraphrasing "there was a king who had a daughter"). But with Tolkien it was like an iceberg, 3/4 are under the waterline. All other authors ("us") are just pretending, ice on a raft floating giving the impression it is an iceberg. Some fans get furious at that admission. Once a fan wrote asking him for word lists in high valyrian so the fan could start to work out learning the language on his own. GRRM says he knows 8 words of high valyrian, and when he needs a 9th, he will just make it up. ( despite this very funny impressive anecdote which was very well received, in the question session, yes somebody started to make complicated questions about language).

It's the historical veracity of ASOIAF that I love.

And I love that he admits that he is not a linguist like Tolkien. Martin just makes up Valyrian as he goes... yet it works for me, so long as he does not resort to using Z's and X's to attempt to show foriegn names. That's one of my pet peeves.

[TK-421]

Two sources of magic desending on Westeros from opposing directions. I assume this refers to the Others and Dany's dragons. One from the North and other from...where, South - Dorne, Oldtown?

[Werthead]

Apparently there's an SF sitcom in Spain and GRRM was invited to visit the set and sit in the commander's chair.

Quite cool.

Erm, anyone speak Spanish?

[Werthead]

Some more reports in from the signings. After being translated from the Spanish by our board mod:

* A fan was wearing a "Benjen Lives" t-shirt. George saw it and said that he couldn't say whether that was true or not, but that we'll definitely have more about him in ADwD.

* There are apparently some major wars over whether Rhaegar was a "cantamanañas" or not, which the fans there have rather literally translated as "singermornings" as (I assume) a joke. Basically, it's a Spanish word meaning ... someone irresponsible, a dreamer. I guess the idea is that it's someone who's singing about tomorrow without giving a thought to today. Anyways, someone had a shirt (they love their custom shirts) that says "Rhaegar was a romantic hero". Parris apparently agreed with that. Then George at some point, I think to the same shirt, agreed that there was something romantic to Rhaegar ... but as to whether he was a hero or not, that depends on your perspective. There's something he said, a rephrasing of a common remark of his... I think this time it went, "today's hero may be tomorrow' villain," I guess pointing out how time can change a person's reputation. Presumably the reverse is also true in George's mind, that today's villain might be tomorrow's hero.

* Keeping in the theme of someone being heroic or villainous depending on your perspective, George was convinced to sign a page after writing as a dedication, "Rhaegar was a singermornings". Heh.

* George says that while the series will not have magic on the level of more typical fantasy series -- mages duelling with balls of fire, transmutation of elements, and so on -- it will continue to increase incrementally as the series progresses.

* Couple more from Parris. She thinks George is in fact entirely capable of killing off Arya, and she repeated that the idea that Jon is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna is "obvious" (with the apparent implication that George wouldn't do something so obvious)... wink.gif

* Some fans brought George a peach as a gift, and asked if he recognized it. He laughed and said that of course, Renly's peach ... then said that the real question was just what the peach meant.

* Another fan had a bookmark a friend made with the Clegane arms and as a motto for the House, "The Hound is Hot". After having the writing explained, George said he didn't really think those would be the Clegane family words, but he might eventually have a reference to the actual words.

[Werthead]

Possibly the biggest spoilers yet from his Seville signing:

No Tyrell POVs in ADWD. Combined with the former commitment that it's not Sandor, that means the new POV has to be Melisandre.

He also said that for the Spanish cover of ADWD - they still use pictures - he wants Dany riding a dragon.

We will see more of both Loras and Margaery in future books

[Bazza]

Ohhh man Dany and dragons I can't wait! I do find it interesting how he mentions "two sources" of magic. One from the north and one from the south. He lumps the old gods in with the evil of the wights. Do they come from the same source? I always thought it confusing that Coldhands seemed so much like a wight. I've always wondered how the old gods will fit in, because it seems more like a confrontation of the fire god and the cold god. Maybe they just represent neutrality? I don't know!

TK- Maybe that's where Dany will land, in Dorne. That's where the most staunchest of her supporters are located.

[the smiling weirwood]

Really now? I saw a filmed interview in which he admits to the new POV being Quentyn Martell.

[Wiggum]

What SW said.

That doesn't make a lick of sense.

Although a pic of Dany on a dragon makes me a little giddy.

Thanks again Wert.

[Werthead]

There are two new POVs in ADWD.

Quentyn was one that was planned for from the start (he was held over from AFFC, in fact), but the other new one wasn't, and in fact only popped up in the last year or so of writing.

The full POV list at this time is:

Prologue POV: Varamyr Sixskins
Asha Greyjoy
Theon Greyjoy
Tyrion Lannister
Quentyn Martell
Melisandre of Asshai (probably)
Davos Seaworth
Jon Snow
Arya Stark
Bran Stark
Sansa Stark
Danerys Targaryen

[Wiggum]

Dude..........dude, that is awesome.