• George R.R. Martin was already a successful author when he began to write "A Song of Ice and Fire" in 1991
• He has been writing stories since childhood
• Before his writing career took off, Martin was a chess tournament director and a journalism professor
In the summer of 1991, a startling scene popped into George R.R Martin's mind.
A boy watched a man get beheaded, and then found some dire wolf pups in the snow.
"It just came to me so strongly and vividly that I knew I had to write it," he told Rolling Stone.
So Martin began to write "Game of Thrones," the first installment in the series that would become "A Song of Ice and Fire." The book was published in 1996 and sales were "solid," according to the Guardian.
However, Martin's idea would ultimately snowball into a huge success. As of 2016, the Guardian reported that the books have sold 70 million copies. The series also launched HBO's smash hit "Game of Thrones" in 2011.
According to Forbes, Martin is now worth $15 million. But how exactly did this New Jersey native come to be one of the most talked about authors in the US?
Here's a look at the life of the man who Time once dubbed the "American Tolkien":
Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey, to longshoreman Raymond Collins Martin and his wife Margaret Brady Martin.
Source: GeorgeRRMartin.com
The "R.R." portion of his artistic name dates back to his upbringing. The first "R." stands for Raymond, his father's name and Martin's middle name. The second stands for Richard, his Confirmation name.
Source: Adria's News
Martin caught the writing bug at a young age. According to his official website, as a kid he started "selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included."
Source: GeorgeRRMartin.com
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
from Strategy http://ift.tt/2vlme84
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment