George R.R. Martin Says 'Game of Thrones' Backlash Won't Influence His Books

Apparently, no one is immune to fans' negative reaction to Game of Thrones' final season—not even A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Martin spoke about the overwhelming power of the internet, and how easily it can influence a writer's process. The author said:

"The internet affects [writing] to a degree it was never affected before. Like Jon Snow’s parentage. There were early hints about [who Snow’s parents were] in the books, but only one reader in 100 put it together. And before the internet that was fine—for 99 readers out of 100 when Jon Snow’s parentage gets revealed it would be, ‘Oh, that’s a great twist!’ But in the age of the internet, even if only one person in 100 figures it out then that one person posts it online and the other 99 people read it and go, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ Suddenly the twist you’re building towards is out there. And there is a temptation to then change it [in the upcoming books]—‘Oh my god, it’s screwed up, I have to come up with something different.’ But that’s wrong. Because you’ve been planning for a certain ending and if you suddenly change direction just because somebody figured it out, or because they don’t like it, then it screws up the whole structure."

Because the temptation can be there, Martin said that he doesn't go digging for fan reactions or theories. "I don’t read the fan sites," he said. "I want to write the book I’ve always intended to write all along. And when it comes out they can like it or they can not like it." For Martin, the same holds true for the way people felt about Game of Thrones as well. While Martin has watched the final season, he isn’t letting any of the events of the series change the way he has always planned to conclude his book series.

"The whole last three years have been strange since the show got ahead of the books,” Martin said. “Yes, I told [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] a number of things years ago. And some of them they did do. But at the same time, it’s different. I have very fixed ideas in my head as I’m writing The Winds of Winter and beyond that in terms of where things are going. It’s like two alternate realities existing side by side. I have to double down and do my version of it which is what I’ve been doing.”

While fans are getting restless for the final books, Martin is teaching his readers an important lesson in patience—one that many people believe HBO’s showrunners could have benefited from: art cannot be rushed. Let’s hope people are happier with Martin's conclusion than they were with the TV show’s.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.