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  ===Narrative structure===
  +Number of chapters per point-of-view character
  The books are divided into chapters, each one narrated in the third person limited through the eyes of a point of view character, an approach Martin learned himself as a young journalism student. Beginning with nine POV characters in ''A Game of Thrones'', the number of POV characters grows to a total of 31 in ''A Dance with Dragons'' (see table). The short-lived one-time POV characters are mostly restricted to the prologues and epilogues. David Orr of ''The New York Times'' noted the story importance of "the Starks (good guys), the Targaryens (at least one good guy, or girl), the Lannisters (conniving), the Greyjoys (mostly conniving), the Baratheons (mixed bag), the Tyrells (unclear), and the Martells (ditto), most of whom are feverishly endeavoring to advance their ambitions and ruin their enemies, preferably unto death". However, as ''Time'' Lev Grossman noted, readers "experience the struggle for Westeros from all sides at once", such that "every fight is both triumph and tragedy ... and everybody is both hero and villain at the same time".
  Modeled on ''The Lord of the Rings'', the story of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' begins with a tight focus on a small group (with everyone in Winterfell, except Daenerys) and then splits into separate stories. The storylines are to converge again, but finding the turning point in this complex series has been difficult for Martin and has slowed down his writing. Depending on the interview, Martin is said to have reached the turning point in ''A Dance with Dragons'', or to not quite have reached it yet in the books. The series' structure of multiple POVs and interwoven storylines was inspired by ''Wild Cards'', a multi-authored shared universe book series edited by Martin since 1985. As the sole author, Martin begins each new book with an outline of the chapter order and may write a few successive chapters from a single character's viewpoint instead of working chronologically. The chapters are later rearranged to optimize character intercutting, chronology, and suspense.
  Influenced by his television and film scripting background, Martin tries to keep readers engrossed by ending each ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' chapter with a tense or revelational moment, a twist or a cliffhanger, similar to a TV act break. Scriptwriting has also taught him the technique of "cutting out the fat and leaving the muscle", which is the final stage of completing a book, a technique that brought the page count in ''A Dance with Dragons'' down almost eighty pages. Dividing the continuous ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' story into books is much harder for Martin. Each book shall represent a phase of the journey that ends in closure for most characters. A smaller portion of characters is left with clear-cut cliffhangers to make sure readers come back for the next installment, although ''A Dance with Dragons'' had more cliffhangers than Martin originally intended. Both one-time and regular POV characters are designed to have full character arcs ending in tragedy or triumph, and are written to hold the readers' interest and not be skipped in reading. Main characters are killed off so that the reader will not rely on the hero to come through unscathed and will instead feel the character's fear with each page turn.
  The unresolved larger narrative arc encourages speculation about future story events. According to Martin, much of the key to ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' future lies over a dozen years in the fictional past, of which each volume reveals more. Events planned from the beginning are foreshadowed, although Martin is careful not to make the story predictable. The viewpoint characters, who serve as unreliable narrators, may clarify or provide different perspectives on past events. Therefore, what the readers believe to be true may not necessarily be true.