Sometimes, you need the tool that’s best suited to the job in hand. And for George R. R. Martin, that means using an archaic word processor — WordStar 4.0, running on DOS, no less — to write Game of Thrones. He explained why to Conan last night.
First, it means that he has a computer dedicated to writing — obviously he doesn’t check his email and browse the web on DOS, that would be silly — which presumably allows him to concentrate better. But it seems the main reason is simplicity: a lack of frustrating spell checks and autocorrects, which is kind of what you want when writing new and strange fictional words on a daily basis. [Team Coco]