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  ===First three novels (1991–2000) ===
  George R. R. Martin at Archipelacon in Mariehamn, 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. Martin had published his first short story in 1971 and his first novel in 1977. By the mid-1990s, he had won three Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, and other awards for his short fiction. 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. He worked principally on the revival of ''The Twilight Zone'' throughout 1986 and on ''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 and that TV-related production limitations like budgets and episode lengths were forcing him to cut characters and trim battle scenes. This pushed Martin back towards writing books, where he did not have to worry about compromising the size of his imagination. 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.
  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''. 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 and started making maps and genealogies. However, the writing of this book was interrupted for a few years when Martin returned to Hollywood to produce his TV series ''Doorways'' that ABC had ordered but ultimately never aired.
  In 1994, Martin gave his 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 1400 manuscript pages, he felt that the series needed to be four and eventually six books long, which he imagined as two linked trilogies of one long story. 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. Martin also named Robert Frost's 1920 poem "Fire and Ice" and cultural associations such as passion versus betrayal as possible influences for the series' title.
  The revised finished manuscript for ''A Game of Thrones'' was 1088 pages long (without the appendices), with the publication following in August 1996. ''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. ''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.
  The 300 pages removed from the ''A Game of Thrones'' manuscript served as the opening of the second book, entitled ''A Clash of Kings''. It was released in February 1999 in the United States, with a manuscript length (without appendices) of 1184 pages. ''A Clash of Kings'' was the first book of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series to make the best-seller lists, reaching 13 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list in 1999. After the success of ''The Lord of the Rings'' films, Martin received his first inquiries to the rights of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series from various producers and filmmakers.
  Martin was several months late turning in the third book, ''A Storm of Swords''. The last chapter he had written was about the "Red Wedding", a pivotal scene notable for its violence (see Themes: Violence and death). ''A Storm of Swords'' was 1521 pages in manuscript (without appendices), 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, whereas some other-language editions were divided into two, three, or even four volumes. ''A Storm of Swords'' debuted at number 12 in the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.