I recently stumbled upon a video clip of an interview several years ago wherein George R. R. Martin asked Stephen King how he writes so fast. Stephen King been releasing new books nearly every year since 1977, some years two or three; George R. R. Martin, on the other hand, tends to release novels less frequently, often with a few years between major publications. In fact, GRRM fans have been looking forward to his next novel since 2011 with some wondering if he ever will publish another one.
Not being an avid reader of either author, I was intrigued by the authors’ conversation because of the interesting case study it presented me. I pulled their Human Design charts and immediately saw several reasons why King has an easier time writing than does Martin.
Although I set out to discuss the differences in these authors’ charts, I was struck by several similarities between the two. They are both 6/2 profiles, wise and able to see the larger picture of humanity, with a drive to be of service to it. They also have a playful, natural side that requires time to be immersed in imagination away from others. Also, both authors have the same incarnation cross, or life theme of “The Earth Plane,” generally here to guide and mediate others in dealing with crisis and difficult emotional situations and to help people transform their agonies and disasters in life to pleasure and delight by helping them face their emotions and work through the difficulty. Another similarity in the authors’ charts is that they neither have definition in their crown centers nor their root centers. This means that neither author is designed to handle ongoing stress and would be advised to seek a calm, balanced life style to avoid chronic stress.
Back to how Stephen King can write so fast. Let’s start with the Human Design type. George R. R. Martin is a generator, King a manifesting generator. In a person’s chart, energy from one of the motor centers (root, sacral, emotions/solar plexus, heart) tries to move toward the throat to be expressed in words or actions. The throat is the center of manifestation for this reason. A generator is someone who has sacral definition (sacral center is colored in), whereas a manifesting generator not only has a defined sacral center, but also has a channel connecting one of the motors to the throat center. This key difference gives King constant access to expressing his raw sacral energy through his throat and manifesting books. Martin has no direct connection from any motor to his throat, so he only can access this manifesting energy occasionally, either through proximity to someone with a defined throat or by a planet in transit. If he were my client, I would advise him to pay attention to the transits to determine windows of time when the energies would be more supportive of manifesting (writing, in his case).
King also has a faster-working authority, or way of getting clarity, than does Martin. King’s sacral authority offers him input on making decisions with a gut response that is ready to be acted on. Martin has solar plexus authority, which means that after he gets a gut response, he must first ride the ups and downs of his emotional wave before coming to emotional clarity on his decisions; otherwise, his decisions may not work out for his best interests.
A big factor with the difference in the authors’ writing output is the split-definition design of Martin compared to the single-definition design of King. When looking at a Human Design chart as a whole, the overall definition refers to how connected the defined centers of the chart are. If there are channels connecting all the defined centers together, we call it single definition. The defined centers can be connected as islands that don’t connect to each other, either as split (two islands), triple-split (three islands), or the rare quadruple split (four distinct islands). In general split designs required “assistance” to integrate the entire chart together for a person to have a complete answer, realization, or sensation of clarity and grounding. This temporary full connection can come from walking around in public, experiencing others’ gates and channels becoming available for use through the broadcasting of energy through their defined centers. Split designs can also integrate through transit, meaning a particular planet activates gates and/or channels to connect the islands of a chart. In any case, a split design can take longer to process and make sense of the information coming in from each island of a design. In Martin’s case, he only needs gate 50 to be activated in order to integrate his entire design; he may experience this split as a searching for a missing piece of himself, perhaps seeking to understand which core values will endure through time.
Getting back to the throat center where manifestation and expression occurs, we see that Martin’s throat is undefined, whereas King’s is defined. King has constant access to energy flowing through the gates of his throat, leaving Martin at a disadvantage with occasional access to his throat gates. On closer inspection the two “voices” activated in Martin’s throat are gates 12 (Standstill) and 33 (Retreat), both bringing a sense of pausing and not doing. King enjoys no fewer than nine throat activations, providing ample opportunity to actively express himself in a number of ways.
Moving to the Ajna, or mind, center just below the crown center, King’s is defined while Martin’s is not. This means King has constant access to energy in this center, which happens to be connected to his throat through the 23-43 channel, giving voice to his powerful mental downloads and sudden knowing. Martin’s undefined mind, although brilliant at solving other peoples’ problems, suggests that he often gets stuck in his mind trying to make of thoughts that aren’t even his.
Looking at the energy in the chart, we can see Martin has two channels, one being the 26-44 which is about being enterprising. Because Jupiter is activating his gate 26 in line 5, Martin likely has a tendency to manipulate others in a big way to get what he wants in business, able to negotiate advantageous deals for himself. For comparison, King’s Jupiter is activating his gate 23, giving him expansive ways of expressing his off-the-wall insights. King has the channel 20-34 which means it’s correct for him to be constantly busy, as long as he’s using his gut response to guide him in where to put his energy. King’s gate 34 provides him with raw sacral power to sustain his manifestation. King also has the channel 1-8, the creative role model who leads in his unique way.
Although we could go further in this analysis, there is clearly a multitude of reasons why Stephen King is able to, as George R. R. Martin puts it, “write so ****ing fast!”
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