Not necessarily the things that I was seeing on the rooftops of Chicago–but other planets, imaginary realms, and all of that. It’s not the most exciting ride in the world, so I’d sit there, staring at the window, and stories would fill my head. “When I was still living in Chicago,” Martin continues, “I’d take the L every day to work. I don’t know–I can’t control it, but something starts filling my head and the characters start coming alive, and I start hearing snatches of dialogue, and I drift to sleep with Westeros and Ice and Fire in my head, haunting me.” Or maybe the scenes I’m gonna write next week, or maybe the scenes from a different chapter. I’m laying there in bed waiting to go to sleep the lights are out and the scenes that I’m gonna write tomorrow are in my head. “If my writing is going well, and I’m really ‘in Westeros,’ it does haunt me day and night, and one of the times when it’s most common is when I go to bed at night. As any writer knows, much of the writing process doesn’t involve ‘writing’ at all, and it turns out that’s true for Martin as well.

Martin didn’t just discuss Jane Goldman’s prequel pilot, which has just finished filming, and how The Winds of Winter is coming along, but also provided a fascinating insight into his writing process.

In a recent interview at The Chicago Way w/John Kass, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R.

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