Game Of Thrones recently ended and while not everyone loved the final episodes, no one can deny how huge and popular the show has become. Millions of people around the world watched each episode. But back in 2007, the TV show didn’t exist, George R.R. Martin was still working to release the latest book in the series and Second Life was popular. All of this led to a strange moment in time when the famous author attended an event in Second Life and answered questions from the virtual audience.
A fan website, The Citadel, posted a transcript of the entire event and reading through it is very strange. It appears Martin’s avatar was dressed as the famous character Tyrion. The crowd featured a very odd mix of people and beings, which is pretty standard for Second Life. Some of this can be seen in one of the only surviving video clips of the event.
While finding video evidence of the event is hard, I can confirm the event did happen. A few different websites, including Martin’s own blog, reference the visit.
During the hour-long event, Martin read a few excerpts from his upcoming books and answered questions. This was part of the publicity tour for his then upcoming book Dreamsongs, a collection of Martin’s earlier works of fiction, screenplays, and other things.
But he also teased fans by reading an excerpt from the then-unreleased fifth entry in the Ice And Fire series, which is what Game Of Thrones is based on.
Interestingly, this event took place in 2007 and the book wouldn’t release until July 2011, nearly four years later. One angry fan in 2010 posted a comment on the YouTube video of the event saying “So he has time to ponce about in shitty online games to a motley assortment of furries and losers, but not write the damn book he was supposed to finish years ago? Fucker.”
During the event, fans asked him various questions. Some of his answers are very funny to read 12 years later after the show has ended and the sixth book in the series has still not been released.
When asked if writers like Martin wait around for inspiration before writing he answered that professional writers can’t really wait around too long. “There is a necessity to produce the work. You can sit around waiting for inspiration for decades if you go that route, and you wind up not writing anything at all,” explained Martin.
Later on, towards the end of the event, the creators of the HBO show actually popped into the virtual event. The announcement of Game Of Thrones had just happened and they were here to more or less tell fans “We will be faithful to the books.” But after they appear a final question from a fan asks Martin about the future of the books and what to expect. The author explains that he is excited about the next book and is busy writing it all. Finally, he talks about the show and books.
“I know it’s taking longer [to finish the book] than I thought, but I’m working on it guys, that’s what I can say, I’m working on it. I’m going to have to stay ahead of David and Dan, it would be awfully embarrassing if the television series caught up with the book.”