George R.R. Martin Writes Everything In WordStar 4.0 On A DOS Machine

George R.R. Martin is an impressive man. Not only can he kill off characters like it’s NBD, and magically make you care for characters who have been historically evil, but he writes millions of words about an imaginary land without any help from the vast information of the Internet. He also despises spell check and autocorrect.

The Song Of Ice And Fire author, and creator behind HBO’s “Game of Thrones”, writes everything for the series on a DOS machine using WordStar 4.0 as a word processor.

That’s not to say he never uses the Internet. He has a separate machine for email, surfing the web, and “taxes.” He’s actually quite active on Twitter, though not quite as funny as his parody account. This tweet, posted shortly after the Purple Wedding episode, is a true gem.

You’re welcome.

— George RR Martin (@_GRRM_) April 14, 2014

But when it comes to writing, Martin hates spellchecks and autocorrects.

“I don’t want a capital. If I’d wanted a capital, I would have typed a capital,” said Martin on Conan. “I know how to work the shift key.”

He also hates spell check, according to the interview, which makes perfect sense given all the words and names that he’s making up as he goes.

“I don’t want any help,” he said.

At least, he doesn’t have to worry about viruses or hackers messing with his work.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5REM-3nWHg&w=640&h=360]

Editor’s Note: I originally mis-cited the tweet in the post. It has been corrected.