George R.R. Martin Uses WordStar 4.0 DOS To Kill Game of Thrones Characters

[John Keefer]

George R.R. Martin Uses WordStar 4.0 DOS To Kill Game of Thrones Characters


You know those huge novels that George R.R. Martin writes? He does it on a computer almost as medieval as the characters he is constantly murdering.

The massive tomes that author George R.R. Martin creates to tell the story of Westeros and the various families in Game of Thrones obviously takes a lot of time. But unlike many authors who prefer modern technology for spellcheck, grammar help, filing and email, Martin prefers things old-fashioned, like one step above a typewriter old-fashioned.

In talking to Conan O'Brien on Conan, Martin said he has a computer to do his taxes, browse the Internet and read email, but for writing he has a "secret weapon" to avoid computer viruses that could destroy all his work.

"It is a DOS machine, not connected to the Internet. You remember DOS, right?" he said. "I use WordStar 4.0 as my word processing system."

Martin explained that newer programs frustrate him. "I don't want any help. I hate some of these modern systems where you type a lower case letter and it becomes a capital. I don't want a capital. If I had wanted a capital, I would have typed a capital." He also has issues with spellcheck, which of course led to a slightly different rant.

So the next time you pick up any of the Game of Thrones books, remember that any odd spellings or apparent stray capital letters you see are just the way George R.R. Martin wanted it.

Source: Team Coco [http://www.teamcoco.com]





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[Zhukov]

So that's what he looks like.

Huh.

He looks like a lighthouse keeper. Or possibly a tugboat captain.

...

Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this.

 

[Quantupus]

So that's what he looks like.

Huh.

He looks like a lighthouse keeper. Or possibly a tugboat captain.

...

Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this.

Well... I certainly can't un-see it now.

 

[Sealpower]

So, now it's a question of who'll kick the bucket first, the author or his computer?


Slightly insensitive comment aside, while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

 

[FightingFurball]

So, now it's a question of who'll kick the bucket first, the author or his computer?

As a reader of the books:

Tyrion

 

[ron1n]

Slightly insensitive comment aside, while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

That's what floppy disk backups are for =P


Seriously though, someone should probably have explained to him that you can turn all the spell-check and auto correct functions off...

 

[Sight Unseen]

So, now it's a question of who'll kick the bucket first, the author or his computer?


Slightly insensitive comment aside, while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

Don't worry- he has it all backed up on floppy disks

EDIT: Damn, Ninja'd

 

[Parasondox]

So, now it's a question of who'll kick the bucket first, the author or his computer?


Slightly insensitive comment aside, while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

Don't worry- he has it all backed up on floppy disks

"Wiener wiener wiener wiener..." Damn you Sight Unseen!! lol cool name by the way.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

As someone who once tried writing fantasy fiction I have to agree: the red squiggly lines under made-up names can become very, very annoying.

 

[Sight Unseen]

As someone who once tried writing fantasy fiction I have to agree: the red squiggly lines under made-up names can become very, very annoying.

Right Click -> Add to Dictionary. Done!

So, now it's a question of who'll kick the bucket first, the author or his computer?


Slightly insensitive comment aside, while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

Don't worry- he has it all backed up on floppy disks

"Wiener wiener wiener wiener..." Damn you Sight Unseen!! lol cool name by the way.

Thanks


here you are

 

[RA92]

That's what floppy disk backups are for =P

Y'know who else still uses floppies? 8-inch floppies from the 70's, at that? The US military, to launch nukes from their silos.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/28/5660614/nuclear-control-center-behind-the-scenes-video

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--gmCT7z4E--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/feu8ttnuqjunwtrdje3s.png

Mock the floppy at your own discretion. =P

 

[omega 616]

So that's what he looks like.

Huh.

He looks like a lighthouse keeper. Or possibly a tugboat captain.

...

Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this.

To be honest, I clicked this link to say the exact same thing!

He looks like he should be on one of those fishing shows, like trawler men. Always wearing that little hat and a big gruff beard.

THe last job I would have guessed for him, would have been author.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

As someone who once tried writing fantasy fiction I have to agree: the red squiggly lines under made-up names can become very, very annoying.

Right Click -> Add to Dictionary. Done!

I used to do that but after a while I realized what if I didn't like the words I had made up? I ended up adding five variations for every word I coined, which just felt wrong

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So that's what he looks like.

Huh.

He looks like a lighthouse keeper. Or possibly a tugboat captain.

...

Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this.

I thought there was a rumor going around that his retirement plan was to become a sailor. Makes sense.

 

[Vie]

Huh, weird. I actually do something similar to that when I'm writing, not quite as extreme as Mr Martin thankfully!

Wrote my first novel attempt on an old iMac I'd salvaged and brought back to life, on the principle that it was too old for me to distract myself with games or youtube. Worked out quite well.

A later one I fancied a challenge, and did a nano on one of these:

My fingers hurt for quite a while after that, but I did it.

Wonder if he's ever tried any of the software that's actually aimed at writers that's available for modern machines though? There's some great ones out there that minimise the interface as much as possible to encourage you to ignore errors and just keep on writing without distraction.

 

[Tiamat666]

I can totally relate with that. I hate word processors like MS Word with a passion. I don't understand how office workers can stand to work with such frustrating software. Whenever I need a text document I use a plain old ASCII txt files. They don't constantly mess around with what I want to do or what I'm typing.

On the other hand, maybe somebody should have tought him LaTeX, but I guess he can pay people to do the formatting for him by now.

 

[Barbas]

(Snip).

I can imagine a man with a similar hat bundling sodden soldiers from the surf onto a Little Ship deck at the evacuation at Dunkirk, manning a troop-laden barge under bombardment across the Volga to Stalingrad, or maybe even leading a partisan band in an ambushing of an occupation convoy with Sten in hand...but yeah, I 'unno, the lighthouse one works pretty well, too. At least you're not the one over-thinking it. :/

That hat [http://ig.hl-inside.ru/the-lost-coast/images/hl2.ru-lostcoast-07.jpg]'s had a lot of history under it.

I thought there was a rumor going around that his retirement plan was to become a sailor. Makes sense.

In a few short years, that man may be the next spokesman for Fisherman's Friend.

 

[Baresark]

Yay, he is eccentric... that is what this is about. A mark of genius, no doubt.

 

[J Tyran]

while it's a good idea to keep your work safe from viruses and whatnot it might not be the smartest idea to keep it all on antiquated hardware that might fail catastrophically in hundreds of ways.

In my experience with old computers is that if they are not dead by now they are probably going to run forever if they are looked after because after several decades of running anything that was going to break would have broken, consumable and wearable parts aside of course.

 

[Sealpower]

In my experience with old computers is that if they are not dead by now they are probably going to run forever if they are looked after because after several decades of running anything that was going to break would have broken, consumable and wearable parts aside of course.

Fair enough, but still, nothing lasts forever. Mechanical hard drives will wear out with time or, like all mechanical systems (especially rotating ones) subjected to intermittent loads, suffer fatigue.