What I Learned From "A Word With Writers: George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie"

George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie on stage at the KiMo theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This past Thursday I was fortunate enough to see a talk between two fantasy greats: George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, and Joe Abercrombie, author of The First Law. I went to see these two talk as part of Abercrombie's book tour for his new novel The Devils, which will actually be the first novel of his that I will read. Yes, I have never read a single Abercrombie book before, despite one of my best friends being an Abercrombie superfan who recommends his books at ever turn. As for George R. R. Martin, I have read and loved both Fire and Blood as well as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but have yet to read his main series, though that time will come this August (be ready!). Due to these limitations, I went to this talk less as a fan, and more out of a curious aspiring writer hoping to learn as much as I could from two successful, critically acclaimed authors. With that, here are what I believe to be the most important thing I learned from "A Word With Writers."

Write What You Want to Read

Myself [Nathaniel Holloway] and Joe Abercrombie at his book signing for The Devils.

This piece of advice seems self explanatory, I know, and yet when looking at trends both in literary publishing and cinematic production, suddenly this singular piece of advice seems much more important to actually say. Too many authors and entertainment creators try to only chase trends, trying to follow what they believe they will make them the most amount of money. Think of all the separate cinematic universes that sprouted after the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a cultural icon, or all the copycats of Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings when they were released and also became the most important media in the cultural zeitgeist during their time. We are even seeing this with the sub-genre of Romantasy, with more and more authors releasing sub-par books listed under this banner as a way to quickly seek fame and recognition, and yet when that strategy is carried out, art is lost.

At the end of the day, all writers are trying to make money from their works, and yet there is never a guarantee for that. So chasing trends and just trying to write what is popular seems like the best strategy to make that money, and yet that is not what writing should be about. George R. R. Martin was honest about the fact that for most of his writing career, while he made money, he was not a massive success and that part of that was because he did not just write what everyone else wanted to write. In fact, he saw the boom of The Lord of the Rings copycats and watched as so many authors lost sight of what writing is really about. We write to tell our stories, because we want these stories to be heard. His biggest inspirations- Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Stan Lee- were all creators who wanted to advance storytelling, not just dwell on what came before, and so when George R. R. Martin created his seminal series, he did the same.

Abercrombie reinforced this idea when he spoke about his own influences, which included Martin. He had begun and stopped writing what would eventually become The Blade Itself years prior to ever reading any George R. R. Martin novel due to the fact that he saw the fantasy genre of becoming too stagnant, too derivative. Abercrombie had become an avid reader of Westerns and Noir novels, when a friend with a dog-eared copy of A Game of Thrones with a knight upon a horse on the cover recommended Martin's novel, and Abercrombie believed he knew exactly what the novel was going to be: classic, generic fantasy. Yet, he was pleasantly surprised that Martin's work was a complete reinvigoration of the genre that also reinvigorated Joe Abercrombie's drive to finish his novel. And he wrote what he wanted to read: a character driven, grim fantasy with both Western and Noir influences. He did not chase a trend, and did not copy Martin, but instead did what all good authors do, used his inspirations not to mimic but to instead create something new.

This is also what I aim to do with my own two novels that I am currently writing. One is an absurdist, fairytale like fantasy that is meant to just make people feel happy, while the other is my version of classic fantasy. When I say my version, I do mean my version, filled with what I want to keep, what I want to change, and what I want to add- filled with my ideas, my interpretations, and my creativity. That is what Joe Abercrombie and George R. R. Martin have built their careers off of, taking fantasy and making it truly their own. That is what all authors of all genres should try to do.