George R.R. Martin has again updated his “Not a Blog,” discussing his writing process and, while sharing his “gardening” idea, the ending of his book series A Song of Ice and Fire.
“Another question that I get a lot, especially since the end of Game of Thrones on HBO, is whether A Song of Ice & Fire, will end the same way. An architect would be able to give a short, concise, simple answer to that, but I am much more of a gardener.” Martin has said that there are two kinds of writers: architects, who know everything about plan everything, and gardeners, who set a foundation, but allow things to grow how they will.
He continued, “My stories grow and evolve and change as I write them. I generally know where I am going, sure… the final destinations, the big set pieces, they have been my head for years… for decades, in the case of A Song of Ice & Fire. There are lots of devils in the details, though, and sometimes the ground changes under my feet as the words pour forth.”
While HBO’s Game of Thrones writers have said that a lot of their ideas for the final seasons were based on what Martin told them, even if that was true, it seems that Martin’s story is continuing to change.
“What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series,” Martin writes. “Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you will also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.”
And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show. I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling. Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine. Quaithe still has a part to play. So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long. This is hard, guys).
Oh, and there will be new characters as well. No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.
An interesting thing he brought up is that the survivals and deaths on the show might not match up with the series.
“One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice & Fire, and not all of the characters who died on Game of Thrones will die in A Song of Ice & Fire. (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all) ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening)),” he wrote.
And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.
No doubt, once I am done, there will be huge debate about which version of the story is better. Some people will like my book, others will prefer the television show. And that’s fine, you pays your money and your make your choice. (I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread. That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind).
That’s all I can tell you right now. I need to get back to the garden. Tyrion is waiting for me.
Well, as someone who hated a lot of the changes and character moments in the final few seasons of the show, I am looking forward to seeing how Martin’s story differs. Who do you think will live or die in this new ending of Martin’s epic fantasy series?
(via Coming Soon, featured image: HBO)
