‘GOT’ Author R.R. Martin Updates On ‘The Winds Of Winter’, Was He Undergoing Writer’s Block?

George R.R. Martin, the mastermind behind the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ saga, which led to the creation of the Game Of Thrones’ series, has finally given updates about “The Winds Of Winter”. During a live stream, the 74-year-old novelist revealed details about the long-awaited book, the sixth book in his popular saga.

In Progress Since 2010…

George R.R. Martin has provided some solid details on his long-awaited book “The Winds Of Winter”, the sixth book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga. During a live stream, Martin revealed that the penultimate volume in the series has been in progress since 2010.

During his appearance with Stephen Colbert, “I think it’s going to be a very big book [more than 1500 pages] and I think I’m about three-quarters of the way done. The characters all interweave and I’m actually finished with a couple of the characters, but not others. I have to finish all that weaving.”

The 74-year-old novelist claimed that The Winds of Winter is “about three-quarters of the way done,” but he was hesitant to offer a release date. He also revealed that this will be the longest Game of Thrones title yet, calling it “a monstrous book as big as a dragon”. Well, it appears like producers got some real content to show in future.

“The Winds Of Winter”, which is a followup to 2011’s “A Dance With Dragons”, was originally scheduled to be published in 2014. Since then, its fate remained undecided. In fact, this book — a followup to 2011’s A Dance with Dragons — was originally scheduled to be published in 2014. Since then, the deadline has continued to shift, with seemingly no end in sight for the book he began writing back in 2010. 

A Classic Case Of Writer’s Block, Is It?

This isn’t the first time that George Martin has left us wondering about “The Winds Of Winter”.  “Most of you know by now that I do not like to give detailed updates on WINDS. I am working on it, I have been working on it, and I will continue to work on it. (Yes, I work on other things as well),” he shared in August 2022 in a blog post. ”

He continued, “I love nothing more than to surprise my readers with twists and turns they did not see coming, and I risk losing those moments if I go into too much detail. Spoilers, you know.” Even though he didn’t provide a “detailed report” on the book, Martin did address fans that he had been working in his winter garden.”.

“I will say this. I have been at work in my winter garden. Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels. Sounds mad, I know. But it’s how I write. Always has been. Always will be. For good or ill,” he concluded.

Well, it appears like Martin is beating around the bush when it comes to this much-awaited book. Knowing that the book is taking more than a decade to complete, it’s not hard for us to believe that the legendary author is suffering from writer’s block. The only detail he spoke clearly about this book, is that “it will be quite different”, but it’s still not enough to serve our thirst. Here are his previous revelations about long-long awaited book:

• November 8, 2020: “I was really on a rollback in June and July. Progress has continued since then, but more slowly…I suffered a gut punch in early August that really had me down for a time, and another, for different reasons, in early September. But I slogged on, and of late I am picking up steam again.”
• February 2, 2021: “I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of THE WINDS OF WINTER in 2020. The best year I’ve had on WOW since I began it. Why? I don’t know. Maybe the isolation. Or maybe I just got on a roll…I still have hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion. That’s what 2021 is for, I hope.”
• March 11, 2021: “I need to finish WINDS, and then maybe write another Dunk & Egg novella, and then get right into A DREAM OF SPRING, and in between edit some more Wild Cards books. Once more into the breach, dear friends…Westeros beckons.”

After the success of “A Song of Fire and Ice”, and the subsequent series of the saga, fans expect much more from “The American Tolkien”. As a fan of his writing, I feel a bit deceived by the details provided by him. Well, even he fears that fans may like this book less, considering the missed deadlines. What do you think is going on with him?