Great Interview

With Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.

Here is how he got the idea for GOT:

Martin found his inspiration for A Game of Thrones during a visit to Hadrian's Wall, in northern England.

"But, of course, fantasy being bigger and more colorful" than real life, Martin says, "I couldn't have a wall that was 10 feet tall like Hadrian's Wall. So I had a 700-foot-tall wall, and I made it out of ice, and I gave it this storied history. And then, of course, I wanted something to emerge from those hills and trees to the north that was a good bit scarier than Scotland, so I came up with that, too.

"So you start with the kernel of reality, and then you extrapolate and you build from there."

The lesson I take away: travel and trust in your talent to come up with the rest of the stuff later.

Other very good point that is in the interview, but not in the article:

Martin explained to the enthusiastic interviewer that there are two kinds of writers – architects and gardeners.

An architect, he explained, is a writer who crafts in excruciating detail the skeleton of his narrative and the identities of his character. An architect outlines and revises before even putting prose on page.

Contrarily, a gardener is a writer who begins with a seed, an idea planted from their swirling subconscious on to the page, and then tends that idea as it courses on to completion.

If you write or want to write, it is a good idea to figure out what type you are and adjust your work habits accordingly.