Last night, George R. R. Martin, the author of The Song of Ice and Fire series gave a fascinating talk at St Micheal’s Church in Bath as a guest of Topping’s Books and SFX Magazine. It was a great evening, with George regaling us with stories about his first fantasy fiction (a series of adventures about his childhood dime store turtles) and the difficulties he has with killing characters (which is a problem he seems to get over… a lot). A highlight of the evening was an exclusive reading of his next book, The Winds of Winter. And all beneath Maya Wilson‘s marvellously old-school dragon art (see right).
During the interview, I found one of his answers particularly interesting. The author was asked: “Why do you think readers have such an intense reaction to your books?”
With a chuckle, he replied: “If I knew why, I would have had them have an intense reaction to the books I was writing in the 70s!”
It was a reminder that Martin’s current, phenomenal success hasn’t exactly come over night. He broke into science fiction short stories in 1971 and his first novel, Dying of The Light, was published in 1977. Even A Games Of Thrones was first published 16 years ago years ago in 1996. As he remembered last night: “The present success of the books didn’t happen on day one. The first book did OK, the second book did better and the third better than that. It built slowly.”
It’s a sobering reminder that success in this business can take years, if it happens at all. All this isn’t to say that Martin wasn’t a successful writer before. He had plenty of books under his belt by the time A Games of Thrones was published, not to mention his television credits on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. However, as a writer it’s all to easy to become frustrated that things are happening quickly enough, that you’re not the one on the stage being interviewed or that your books aren’t lining the bookshelves, let alone the best-seller lists.
Impatient for success
Perhaps its something about being a member of Generation X-Factor. People yearn for instant fame or recognition and its never been easier to get yourself out there. Write a story, whack it over to Amazon and it can be on the Kindle Store almost as soon as you’ve typed the last word. But the truth of the matter is that things take time. Yes, there are stories of overnight successes, but they are rare. It’s something I constantly try to remind myself. I’ve been a professional writer since the early 90s and my first piece of professional fiction – written with Mark Wright – was published just 12 years ago. I’m still slogging away, trying to make the dream happen – and it is. As soon as I post this, I’ll be starting on the first of a series of children’s books that is being published next year and then this afternoon I’ll be having a planning session with Mark for a new commission. This time next year, if everything goes well, my first solo adult novel will be on the shelves with more on the way. And yet, every now and then, I find myself wishing that it all was happening quicker. I even experience a flicker of envy about friends who are further along the road than me – a dreadful admission but an honest one too.
To banish those green-eyed moments, I remind myself how far I’ve come over the last decade and tell myself not to rush. It’s highly unlikely I will enjoy the success of Mr Martin, but I’m very lucky to be doing what I love for a living, getting paid for making stuff up! No-one said it was going to be easy, but day by day I’m (hopefully) heading in the right direction.
Of course, the secret of success might just be growing a beard like George R. R. Martin. Even from the back of the church, it was highly impressive. I’ll throw my razor away today…
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