Editing A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

===First three novels (1991–2000)<span class="anchor" id="First three novels"></span>===
[[File:George R.R. Martin at Archipelacon.jpg|thumb|[[George R. R. Martin]] at Archipelacon in [[Mariehamn]], [[Åland]], 2015]]
George R. R. Martin was already a successful fantasy and sci-fi author and TV writer before writing his ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' book series.<ref name=ew_fantasy_king/> Martin had his first short story published in 1971 and his first novel in 1977.<ref name=indigo_iv2/> By the mid-1990s, he had won three [[Hugo Awards]], two [[Nebula Awards]], and other awards for his short fiction.<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine/> Although his early books were well-received within the fantasy fiction community, his readership remained relatively small and Martin took on jobs as a writer in Hollywood in the mid-1980s.<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine/> He worked principally on the [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|revival of ''The Twilight Zone'']] throughout 1986 and on ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1987 TV series)|Beauty and the Beast]]'' until 1990, but he also developed his own TV pilots and wrote feature film scripts. He grew frustrated that his pilots and screenplays were not getting made<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine/> and that TV-related production limitations like budgets and episode lengths were forcing him to cut characters and trim battle scenes.<ref name=nytimes_twisted/> This pushed Martin back towards writing books, where he did not have to worry about compromising the size of his imagination.<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine/> Admiring the works of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] in his childhood, he wanted to write an epic fantasy, though he did not have any specific ideas.<ref name=grmm_iv_ew/>

When Martin was between Hollywood projects in the summer of 1991, he started writing a new science fiction novel called ''Avalon''. After three chapters, he had a vivid idea of a boy seeing a man's beheading and finding direwolves in the snow, which would eventually become the first non-prologue chapter of ''A Game of Thrones''.<ref name=rollingstone_grrmiv/> Putting ''Avalon'' aside, Martin finished this chapter in a few days and grew certain that it was part of a longer story. After a few more chapters, Martin perceived his new book as a fantasy story<ref name=grmm_iv_weirdtm/> and started making maps and genealogies.<ref name=ew_fantasy_king/> However, the writing of this book was interrupted for a few years when Martin returned to Hollywood to produce his TV series ''[[Doorways]]'' that [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] had ordered but ultimately never aired.<ref name=nytimes_twisted/>

{{Quote box | quote="The first scene...chapter one of the first book, the chapter where they find the direwolf pups...just came to me out of nowhere. I was...at work on a different novel, and suddenly I saw that scene. It didn't belong in the novel I was writing, but it came to me so vividly that I had to sit down and write it, and by the time I did, it led to a second chapter, and the second chapter was the Catelyn chapter where Ned has just come back."| source =—George R. R. Martin in 2014<ref name=vanityfair_catchup/> | width =250px | align =right}}

In 1994, Martin gave his [[Literary agent|agent]], [[Kirby McCauley]], the first 200 pages and a two-page story projection as part of a planned trilogy with the novels ''A Dance with Dragons'' and ''The Winds of Winter'' intended to follow. When Martin had still not reached the novel's end at 1,400 manuscript pages, he felt that the series needed to be four and eventually six books long,<ref name=nytimes_twisted/><ref name=tiff1/> which he imagined as two linked trilogies of one long story.<ref name=grrm_iv_infinityplus/> Martin chose ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' as the overall series title: Martin saw the struggle of the cold Others and the fiery dragons as one possible meaning for "Ice and Fire", whereas the word "song" had previously appeared in Martin's book titles ''[[A Song for Lya]]'' and ''Songs the Dead Men Sing'', stemming from his obsessions with songs.<ref name=fantasyonline/> Martin also named [[Robert Frost]]'s 1920 poem "[[Fire and Ice (poem)|Fire and Ice]]" and cultural associations such as passion versus betrayal as possible influences for the series' title.<ref name=adria_trying/>

The revised finished manuscript for ''A Game of Thrones'' was 1,088 pages long (without the appendices),<ref name="Done 2005"/> with the publication following in August 1996.<ref name=pw_review_agot/> ''[[The Wheel of Time]] ''author [[Robert Jordan]] had written a short endorsement for the cover that was influential in ensuring the book's and hence series' early success with fantasy readers.<ref name=ew_by_george/> ''Blood of the Dragon'', a pre-release sample novella drawn from Daenerys's chapters, went on to win the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/> The first book was marketed as part of the "''Song of Ice and Fire'' trilogy"<!--italics per [[mos:conformtitle]]--> in 1996, but by the second book's release, the "trilogy" suffix had been dropped and the series was retitled to ''A Song of Ice and Fire''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Charles N. |author1-link=Charles N. Brown |last2=Contento |first2=William G. |chapter=Martin, George R(aymond) R(ichard) |chapter-url=http://www.locusmag.com/index/b326.htm#A4621 |title=The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 1984–1998 |publisher=Locus |year=1999 |oclc=47672336}}</ref>

The 300 pages removed from the ''Game of Thrones'' manuscript served as the opening of the second book, entitled ''[[A Clash of Kings]]''.<ref name=tiff1/> It was released in February 1999 in the United States,<ref name=pw_review_acok/> with a manuscript length (without appendices) of 1,184 pages.<ref name="Done 2005"/> ''A Clash of Kings'' was the first book of the ''Song of Ice and Fire'' series to make the best-seller lists,<ref name=nytimes_twisted/> reaching 13 on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] in 1999.<ref name=nytimes_bs990221/> After the success of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' films, Martin received his first inquiries to the rights of the ''Song of Ice and Fire'' series from various producers and filmmakers.<ref name=nytimes_twisted/>

Martin was several months late turning in the third book, ''[[A Storm of Swords]]''.<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine/> The last chapter he had written was about the "Red Wedding", a pivotal scene notable for its violence (see [[Themes in A Song of Ice and Fire#Violence and death|Themes: Violence and death]]).<ref name=indigo_iv1/> ''A Storm of Swords'' was 1,521 pages in manuscript (without appendices),<ref name="Done 2005"/> causing problems for many of Martin's publishers around the world. [[Bantam Books]] published ''A Storm of Swords'' in a single volume in the United States in November 2000,<ref name=pw_review_asos/> whereas some other-language editions were divided into two, three, or even four volumes.<ref name="Done 2005"/> ''A Storm of Swords'' debuted at number 12 in the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/><ref name=nytimes_bs001119/>