ST. PETERSBURG, August 16. /TASS/. American writer George R. R. Martin, best known for his international bestselling series of novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, believes that killing off book characters is the only way to get readers to truly care about them, he told reporters during a press conference in TASS.
"Long before I was a writer I was a reader. I write books that I would want to read. As a reader, what I came to hate very early in my life was books that were predictable. I don’t like to read books like that, I like books that surprise me, shock me, books that scare me or excite me. That’s what I want my books to be for the readers," he said.
"When a character is in danger, I want the reader to feel scared, to feel that tension and excitement. I think the only way to do that is to kill someone important unexpectedly. Then they know this is the book where anything can happen… That is why I killed Eddard Stark. It was always planned and intended right from the beginning," Martin said.
Martin also said that leaked scripts for Game of Thrones episodes would not affect his work. "It certainly will not influence my work. It is amusing that people would be in some sort of panic because of the script being leaked before the show comes out, considering that for the entire first five seasons my books were out and anyone could read it and find out what was going to happen. Just knowing that something is going to happen is not the same as viewing it," Martin said.
"It is nice to keep your mysteries pristine, but I think great works of art do not rely entirely on plot developments," he added.
A Song of Ice and Fire book series was adapted to fantasy drama TV series Game of Thrones. The series premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, gaining worldwide popularity. Game of Thrones is one of the most expensive projects in the history of American television.