Write What You Know: Success Advice From George RR Martin

Most people these days from all over the world who have access to television and especially the internet have at least an inkling of knowledge of what “Game of Thrones” is. It is the blockbuster fantasy series from HBO.

It is so successful that it has been compared to the all-time favorite fantasy story of all time, Lord of the Rings, which in itself have been repeatedly rebooted into various successful films and television series.

The Game of Thrones television series was based off the series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire” written by George RR Martin who is already a well known author and television writer and creator.

With a reported net worth of $120 million and after numerous successful short stories, novellas, novels and television writing credits, George RR Martin must be doing something that is leading him to success, like: “writing what he knows”.

The Details:

1. Who is George RR Martin?

His full name is George Raymond Richard Martin, he is also known as GRRM. He is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is best known for the HBO series ”Game of Thrones” which was based off one of his novels.

In 2005, Time Magazine has called him the “American Tolkien” which has largely stuck ever since. He has also entered Time Magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”.

To further add to the proof of his tremendous fame, the American city where he lives in and is already a long time citizen of: Santa Fe, New Mexico, commemorates March 29 as George RR Martin Day.

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2. His Rocky Road to Success

His path to writing success was a rocky one and troubled already to begin with. He came from a poor family which did not own a car. His childhood experiences were mostly composed of walking to the school a few blocks from their house and making friends with the more fortunate children in their neighborhood.

But early on since childhood, he knew that he wanted to write stories and even sold short stories to the other children in the neighborhood in exchange for chocolate bars and other treats. He continued writing until he found success as an author.

However, as he told himself, his novel: “The Armageddon Rag” literally killed his career as a budding successful author that he had to find another job just to support his family. He found work writing and doing other creative works in television though he didn’t feel happy.

When he was old, he left television to go back to writing his own novels where he ultimately found true fame and riches. He always advice aspiring authors to keep their day jobs as writing is a career for gamblers and your latest novel might be your last success.

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3. He Didn’t Understand What It Meant at First

George RR Martin encountered the writing advice: “Write What You Know” when he was still attending writing school, but admits that he doesn’t understand what it meant and he took it literally.

He stated that he wanted to write about dragons, elves, fairies, giants and other mythical creatures and there was no way he can follow the advice to “write what you know” because he hadn’t seen actual fantasy mythical creatures all his life.

He said that he decided to write what he wants which was about fantasy and science fiction despite in his opinion, he wasn’t following the “write what you know” rule of writing. But, unknown to him then, he was actually following this time tested writing advice.

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4. What It Really Means

So what does “Write What You Know” really mean? Is it to literally write about the only things you know like your personal knowledge and experiences without regards to other things you literally have no information or personal knowledge of?

For example, let’s talk about science fiction writing. Highly esteemed American author Ray Bradbury wrote the very successful novel series: “The Martian Chronicles” despite not physically setting foot on Mars. At best, he could have studied science books about Mars.

But despite this, it didn’t stop his novel series from becoming a global bestseller winning numerous book awards. I believe that no one ever publicly stated that Ray Bradbury didn’t know what he was writing about when he wrote the novel series.

But what does Ray Bradbury really know about regarding the information in his novels? For one, he referenced what he knows about Mars based from his studies about the planet.

But most importantly, his depiction of the characters and the situations in his novels are based off the people and situations he actually knows. He may have invented some parts of his novels, but he actually embedded information he actually knows and is an expert on.

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5. His Successful Soldier Buddy

To further explain this, let’s turn back to George RR Martin and one of his good author friend who was once a soldier. George stated that his friend was a seasoned soldier who knows about the realities of war and decided to write about it because he has a lot of knowledge of it.

His author friend wrote conflicts in conventional settings as well as in science fiction and fantasy format. He writes his actual war experience in the stories he writes, changing them slightly to fit his science fiction, contemporary or fantasy format.

As George reports, his author friend has been successful in his writing venture because he wrote what he knows and did not write about characters and situations he is unfamiliar with.

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6. How He Applied it in His Writings

Of course, George RR Martin also follows the advice: “Write What You Know”. His characters and the situations in his novels and other writing works reflect this.

For example, he channeled in his Game of Thrones novels his childhood experiences of being poor & struggling and the desire to someday become a successful author as a character trait in his more ambitious novels’ characters.

He might not have real experience with dragons and other mythical creatures, nor on bloody medieval-style battles, but he has read well enough to write adequately about them convincingly in many reader’s minds.

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7. Advantages of Writing What You Know

There are obvious advantages to writing what you know. For one, it improves the quality of your writing because you know what you are writing about instead of just merely guessing along the way.

Also, because you are writing what you already know, you tend to work faster. Imagine if you don’t have an idea of what you are writing about, besides writing, you would also have to spend time on research which prolongs your writing.

Lastly, when you know what you are writing about, you are writing with confidence which makes you not only work faster, but with delight since you know you are writing what you believe to be true.

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Final Words

The popular writing advice: “Write What You Know” is a time-tested writing advice that is taught even in writing schools. It seems so simple yet is so powerful that it has affected the writing techniques of many successful authors such as George RR Martin.

At first he never understood what it meant because he wanted to write about mythical creatures and fantasy of which he knows virtually nothing real about except in what he has read.

But he later realized that what it really meant was to write about the real characters you’ve met and observed in life and the real situations you have encountered in life and integrate them in your stories whatever what they may be.

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Brandon Sanderson: Set Goals You Can Control

Brandon Sanderson might not be in the same league as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, James Patterson and other multimillionaire authors in terms of wealth and popularity, but he is still nevertheless a successful author who has a net worth of USD six million as of 2023.

He is a good author to read about especially if you are interested in a full-time writing career. His advise to aspiring and already professional authors is very eye-opening, especially in having a realistic expectation of having a successful full-time writing career.

But who is Brandon Sanderson? His full name is Brandon Winn Sanderson and he was born on December 19, 1975. He is an American high fantasy and science fiction author.

He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive, are set.

Besides Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series which are The Reckoners, the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan’s high fantasy series The Wheel of Time ...

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