One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
One of the things I love, and I'm a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the joy of unexpected narratives in literature.
George R. R. Martin emphasizes the thrill of encountering surprising and unpredictable elements in books, which enhances the reading experience. For both readers and writers, the ability to deviate from the expected path creates a deeper engagement with the story, sparking creativity and excitement in literature.
Themes
BooksReadingSurpriseCreativityWriting
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a book club discussion to highlight the importance of unpredictability in storytelling.
More from George R. R. Martin
All quotes →I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring.
George R. R. MartinRead
There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: “Not today.
George R. R. MartinRead
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.’ He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. ‘I wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. I am innocent, but I will get no justice here.
George R. R. MartinRead
But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. 'Life is not a song, sweetling,' he'd told her, 'You may learn that one day to your sorrow.' In life, the monsters win, she told herself.
George R. R. MartinRead
I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.
George R. R. MartinRead
Similar quotes
Maybe, as a Chinese woman, I was never told I would be a filmmaker, so I didn't have the ego set up.
Chloe ZhaoRead
We get so many people saying short fiction is not economical, that it doesn't sell; but there are so many of us enjoying writing it and reading it. So it's wonderful to be around people who love short fiction too - it's like hanging around with my tribe.
Junot DiazRead
We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.
John F. KennedyRead
There’s a real question as to what beauty is and why it’s important to us. Many pseudo-philosophers try to answer these questions and tell us they’re not really answerable. I draw on art and literature, and music in particular, because music is a wonderful example of something that’s in this world but not of this world. Great works of music speak to us from another realm even though they speak to us in ordinary physical sounds.
Roger ScrutonRead
I saw Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained,' and you could say a lot of things against it, but it was incredible fun. I don't like blood and gore and I am very squeamish about violence, but Tarantino's violence is actually funny.
Salman RushdieRead
Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.
T. S. EliotRead