Why is The Winds Of Winter taking so long? 

A wise man once commented: "King writes like it's his job. George writes like it's a hobby that took off in a way he wasn't prepared for and now that there's so much pressure it's not so fun anymore."

George is just breaking the trope of finishing a story, it's the ultimate cliff hanger

I got my grandmother into ASOIAF after the first season of GoT came on. She re-reads all the books regularly. She is now 92 years old and increasingly frustrated at the prospect that she will never get to read the ending...

George may not owe his fans a finished series, but at minimum he does owe us honesty. I'd respect him a lot more if he just came out and admitted that he's having trouble wrapping up the story, that his heart's just not in it anymore, etc. As opposed to what he's doing in real life, going on 12 years with no end in sight while still being like, "Yes of course I'm almost done with Winds of Winter, I'm working on it constantly, why would anyone doubt me?"

I still have hope for Winds. It's the Dream of Spring I'm really worried about.

The most meta practical joke of all time. “the winds of winter” is literally “the dream of spring”

Can hardly blame George for keeping a VERY close eye on the spin off shows after what happened with Thrones.

I fully believe he stopped writing the book years ago and has no plans on finishing it.

I love that more has probably been written about why winds is taking so long than in the actual book😂

Imo The problem with Grrm is that while he is a gardener, he is bad at pruning unnecessary branches. He gets too carried away by minor plots, characters and elaborate descriptions. It's like a hydra, every time he concludes a plot or character he creates several more in its aftermath. Best example is the red wedding and how that created even more spread out plot in riverlands.

Seems insane to work on spinoff projects over finishing the core work.

I think you make a great point about the type of writer George is. Being a "gardener" type of writer is great in the first few novels where George is happily planting seeds and expanding the world, taking his characters on separate journeys and so on. However, at some point, these threads that have spun in different directions need to come back together in a cohesive story and then an ending. It's clear to me that George does NOT want to do that in his very heart of hearts. You can tell that from the way he introduces key characters with a lot of power to affect the world even in A Dance With Dragons and how he often avoids intersecting characters despite it being the logical thing to do (e.g. Arya Stark who is waylaid trying to go North then the Hound tries to take her to her mother and they arrive just slightly too late for the Red Wedding and then the same thing happens when the Hound tries to take her to Lysa). I honestly hope he does manage to finish ASOIAF. Regardless of what else he writes in that universe, ASOIAF will remain his magnum opus and it being unfinished would cast a stain on his legacy.

All these issues will just be compounded with the finale book, I find it extremely unlikely he finishes the series.

I get the impression that what Martin always truly wanted was to work in television. And now, with the success of his novels, he has the opportunity to work on multiple popular, critically acclaimed tv shows for HBO. This is his dream, and this is what is getting his attention. I don't blame him, but I also don't think the series will ever be finished.

I think that the TV show ending was definitively similar to George's original idea, at least in terms of outline. But the poor reception of it created a huge problem for him to write his final books.

This is a very respectful video. Well done. So much vitriol on the internet so it’s nice to listen to reasoned discourse

I’m not a George hater by any means, but I think he misunderstands his legacy. If Tolkien had never finished Return of the King no one today would be saying “but at least he gave us the Silmarrillion”. The main story has got to be wrapped up as he intends it or all the rest will fall by the wayside a few years after his death.

Let’s not joke ourselves, the only reason George haven’t finished the Winds of Winter is that he doesn’t know how to end it. He have an idea how to wrap up certain plots in the story but on other plots, he is stuck and can’t wrap it up. The book has become too complicated for it’s own good. That’s why we can see him taking up other projects instead of completing the series.

I think getting involved with all these side projects is actually his way of building towards wrapping up the story

One thing I find interesting is that (according to wikipedia, sourcing his blog) he considered an October 2015 deadline achievable in May 2015. And a year-end deadline achievable in September 2015. So about 8-9 years ago he thought he was almost there. This tells me that he must have thrown out pretty much everything he had written and started over in late 2015 or early 2016. And may have done the same several times since then.

Being married to a writer, and hanging around the members of the HWA, I think I can recognize when a writer has lost the fire for a certain project and I'm afraid I see that in GRRM. I am certain he is being completely sincere when he says he intends to finish Winds and Dream, I am also certain he never will. Everyone, for any project, has to have that inner NEED to continue to make it to the finish line. Once that's gone, it's extraordinarily hard to get it back. Think about any project of your own that you never finished.

Cormac McCarthy said “An Author should spend there time writing instead of talking about writing” George immediately came to mind

Do you know what The Winds of Winter is? A story we agreed to tell ourselves, over and over until we forget that it's a lie

Thats from G.R.R. Martins latest blog update: "...Parris and I found one just last week; an animated series called BLUE EYE SAMURAI. I hardly know where to start on this one. Once we started watching it, we could not stop. Binged the whole thing in three nights, and I am already hungry for the second season. ..." 31.12.2023 AT 8:24 AM.

George has changed as a person and writer over the 30 years that have passed since he started ASOIAF, and I wonder if he is hesitating about where the story is going. Having watched every interview and read every blog post, there are multiple instances where he has referenced this. Last year he conveyed this best when he said "Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me, 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". He goes on to talk about how the ending will be drastically different in the books and it is continuing to become more and more dissimilar. It's my own personal belief that George has even less of an outline than he lets on and that he is most likely struggling with and changing the character development and endings of Jon, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Bran.

I’m sure this will tick off some folks, but I’m so over hearing “he’s a Gardner writter”…. I’ve grown my own forest, harvested the wood, and built my own darn house waiting for this book.

I was just floored that with the pandemic, it still wasn’t done. Over a long period of time when many people were forced to stay in their houses, projects on hold, no parties or events to attend, I’m really surprised he didn’t use such a unique opportunity to make this book his priority.

Personally my biggest concern with the length of time TWOW is taking is will he be able to complete the series in his lifetime. There is still one book to go after the next and he's already in his mid-70s. It would be a real shame if he didn't get to complete what is essentially his life's work.

I’m pretty sure everyone has given up on winds of winter especially George

"12 years" "don't want it to be rushed" you saidthese two things close together without irony

Unlikely hypothetical, but it kind of ties into when you were talking about him adjusting and readjusting his stories on the fly... *WHAT IF* (and it's a big "what if") he's been writing A Dream of Spring alongside Winds of Winter? Constantly bouncing back and forth between the two stories, adjusting them on the fly as he makes changes. It would definitely explain the gap between books, and give hope to "A Dream of Spring" actually being published before he retires or passes away.

The one main advantage alot of popular fantasy authors had with long series was less distractctions they were writing books while at the same time series were coming out and no internet and constant scurutiny and immediate popularity . That's alot of pressure especially with happened with the show

I love this channel and the kind, understanding tone that Robert strikes.

Quite frankly, I do not believe he will ever finish the series. It is my belief that he does not know how to get to the ending he wanted - the series keeps getting bloated with too many side stories, old and new ones yet to come. He will die before ever finishing.

Patience is indeed a virtue, however I feel like him being 75 years old it's becoming a race against the clock to finish.

I think the one reasonable part of the worry and crys for a finished book is from the perspective of him ever finishing the series. GRRM has been set up as the next Tolkien, an heir of sorts and the first fantasy universe to achieve something close to the complexity and overall coherence that the grand master set. That may be well and good but for Song to ever be in contention of being one of the best works of fantasy fiction, it will need to be completed. I understand the difficulties and I wish GRRM only the best for finishing his grand project but the man is in his mid 70s, hasnt publiced book 6/7 and thus not begun on the last book. So yeah, the worry is just: will it ever be finished?

In my opinion, the most important and most difficult challenge of telling a complicated story is wrapping it up cleanly. The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, and Harry Potter did phenomenal jobs of wrapping things up nicely by cleverly addressing numerous plot points and providing some surprises along the way. On the other hand there are authors/screenwriters/directors (JJ Abrams?) that are good at raising interesting ideas, but are absolutely incapable of completing the thoughts. Perhaps due to some misguided notion of subverting expectations, laziness, or simply a lack of sufficient talent. I say this as an observation not a criticism. I hope I am wrong, but I am starting to think that GRRM has bitten off too much to chew. He is a magnificent author and has created a wonderful universe. But I do worry that he simply doesn't have the ability to untangle the hugely complicated story he has written thus far. The last book seemed to me to want to simplify things, but he introduced even more characters and plot lines. At some point the story needs to converge and not continue to spiral into new directions.

If I'm to speculate I think the story have become "too wide to handle easily" the story is like a ever branching tree with every story and plot forming it's own branch. The tree have become so wide that tying it all together at their intended end point in a satisfying way have become a herculean task, partially for a author like him who likes to let his "branches grow freely" I also think the time jump he intended to implement but didn't put some additional strain on his plans

Thank you for doing a hopeful & sympathetic take on TWoW delays.

I saw other videos doing what you set out to do in this video, still I learned a lot from your video!

He’s written himself into a corner. So many characters and different ways they can go. It’s gonna be a while

We only wish he was 30 years younger. I think we are all afraid he will not live long enough to finish the series. A Dream of spring may take another 10-15 years.. he will then be over 90! Will he live that long? Let's hope so...

I personally think he should allow himself some help from people he trust to get the books written more efficiently without it being rushed. It would allows more opinions and ideas.

My personal theory is when the directors were wrapping up the show they asked about how the story was going to end. (Denarys's death and bran getting the throne as possible examples.) And GRR gave them rough outlines, which we saw in the final season. But after seeing fan reactions he has to change the ending so they won't hate the books as well. Now he's in a corner, trying to make a new ending that makes sense, while also making the fans happy. He could be less and less confident about the ending he has planned, worrying it will have the same fan reaction as the final season of the show.

I asked a friend in publishing what was the attitude in the industry to the book being published. Her answer, "Not gonna happen".

I've personally gotten over waiting for WoW... George has given so much and I don't dare asking for more. The dunk & egg books, Fire & Blood, Game of Thrones. I'm simply grateful I was able to experience this story as it reached it's max popularity. Stories like these need to be made and shared. Thank you George!!!

Add to all the irons GRRM has in the fire as you detailed, he is also an executive producer on AMC's Dark Winds show, adapted from Tony Hillerman's books about Leaphorn and Che. While he may not be doing much day-to-day show running, I would think it would certainly take up some of his already precious time.

Awesome video! I've been hyped by Winds of Winter since I finished the last book. No matter how much it takes, the story is amazing and it will be EPIC! My speculation, is that George might make a hellishly long Winds of Winter, to release a short-to the point Dreams of Springs, to deal a finishing blow in a way nobody expects.

My theory is that as soon as he started to write about actual Targaryens, he lost interest in the "mundane" houses and politics of modern Westeros. He has a sort of dragon-sickness, his motivation centers accustomed to Balerion and The God's Eye so not even the greatest Battle on the Ice can satisfy him in the same way.

His problem is by the end of DoD he's got too many plates spinning. He's lost control of the story, quite literally lost the plot. He's got no idea how to pull it all together to finish it, and all these dozens of other projects are simply to distract him from that. I blame his editors, maybe they tried but by that stage of the series he was too powerful

Mark Twain, 1906: "As long as a book would write itself I was a faithful and interested amanuensis and my industry did not flag; but the minute that the book tried to shift to *my* head the labor of contriving its situations, inventing its adventures and conducting its conversations, I put it away and dropped it out of my mind."

Can we just take a moment to acknowledge the madness of writing 3-4 different versions of orders of arrival to find out which one works best. A good author shouldn’t need to fully write the different versions to figure out which one works best. This is just indecisiveness, and procrastination to avoid making a decision

I think one of the biggest problems is that GRRM keeps giving deadlines that he can't or won't commit to. Martin has offered repeated deadlines that he hasn't met: 1. In 2015, he said he wanted to have it published before Season 6 of Game of Thrones aired. In Jan 2016, he announced he hadn't met his end-of-year deadline. 2. In 2017, he said it would be released sometime that year. Never happened. 3. In April 2019, he said he didn't have a finished copy in-hand for the 2020 Worldcon New Zealand, then Air New Zealand had his permission to imprison him on White Island. Didn't happen. Neither the book, nor his imprisonment. 4. In February 2021, he said he was hopeful of finishing in 2021. The first rule of managing expectations is: Don't. Make. Promises. You. Can't. Keep. Honestly, I think people would have more patience for him if every time someone asked him, he just said "I am working on it, it will be done when it's done".

He’s not finishing that book. It’s that simple. He’s doing other things.

Inb4: I have two theories that aren't mutually exclusive. 1) He just started to enjoy life more and what started as creative break turned into a spiral that he can't get out of. He no longer feels the drive to sit down for several weeks and get the foundation done, instead just noting bits here and there but never doing the treacherous work of connecting and polishing them. 2) He tried several times to connect the dots and come up with good ending but since he's more of a "just write and see where it takes me" guy (my pure speculation, just an asumption to get this theory going) rather than thorough planner, he can't really conclude the story at the same quality as he can add to it and therefore doesn't want to publish. It's way easier to create captivating setup than it is to tie everything together. It's easy to add mysterious cool characters that hint at something greater, it's hard to stop those characters from taking over the story, while keeping their plotline going and keeping their characters and actions intact. Curious to see what the video is about as I've just accepted that the books are over and haven't really checked onto the progress.

love how you explain this; respect to George

I think it is a coin toss between which more likely, Tolkien finishing the Silmarillion or Martin finishing ASOIAF

We have to remember that Geroge is a member of WGA. As a response to the studios refusing to negotiate in good faith, He's been striking from writing Winds for 13 years.

"Rather it'd be good than rushed." well if he finished it tomorrow, I wouldn't say that 12 years is a rush so...

I have made my peace with the next book in the series never being published. I enjoyed reading the books that have been published. I have plenty other books by plenty other writers to read. Martin appears to be having a ton of fun writing other things, involving himself in other projects, and good luck to him. If he can get it finished and published then great.

Steven King, after the epilogue in the first book of The Dark Tower series, when typing about thé monumental task of finishing his own series, said that once an author loses passion for a major work in progress it's impossible to inorganically manufacture and finish it satisfactorily.

I've already gone through the 5 stages of grief a loooong time ago...at this point, I am happy that we got the 5 books we have! I've read his other works and they are great as well...just sucks that it appears that he's painted himself into a corner. C'est la Vie mon ami...

Fascinating to hear about his attention to detail, writing out a section of story in different ways of when people arrive and how they interact. Love his attention to detail here. I love these books, and trust him to make them the best they can be. (AFOC was a slog for me, but thats okay)... I hope that the scope of TWOW sets a more focused path for ADOS, maybe allowing him to finish that one quicker

I think the answer to "What was Aragorn's tax code?" is that answering every single question like that about a story while you're writing it turns it into sprawling, unfinishable mess.

Honestly, with so many pov characters and side plots, it’s a good time for there to be some cataclysmic enemy who comes in and starts killing off characters. Good thing there are White Walkers in the story!

I’m honestly worried we’re not ever going to get to hear the true end to the Song of Ice and Fire story. With how long Winds of Winter is taking, I wouldn’t be surprised if George passes away before he completes a Dream of Spring. At this rate he’d be 90+ years old when he finally drops Dream of Spring and that’s assuming he finishes and releases Winds in the next couple years

It's taking a long time because he isn't writing it. Lol. I'm serious. He has no intention of finishing it, isn't even trying. He is not working on it. He just won't say this. I was once so obsessed with this series. Could talk about minor players like Lyn Corbray and less-known lore like when the Boltons actually had their own kingdom... obsessed. Now, I am not sure I would even read Winds of Winter if it came out. It won't come out, but regardless, I wouldn't read it because (1) I would have to spend the enormous amount of time rereading the old books just to remember everything and enjoy the new book like I once would have, which I won't do because (2) the last book won't ever come out, so why bother. Same reason I can't in good faith ever recommend the series to anyone. I see people optimistic like: "He will finish, he's always been a slow writer!" "He's already written so much," "He is 3/4 of the way done according to reports!" "GRRM says he is working on the book almost every day"... I used to be like that too... You know when that was? *7 years ago* ... I legitimately do not think Winds of Winter -- let alone the last book -- is ever going to come out. I don't think he has any intention on finishing it and isn't even trying, but won't say that because he will make people hate him and publishers sue him lol... I don't believe he is even working on it. I don't blame him. He was an impoverished screenwriter his whole life and now has loads of money in his twilight years... obviously he doesn't plan on spending precious time holed up and writing a very long, very complex book. But he won't admit this.

The process of writing several versions reminds me of my ADHD brain having an idea and then running through several variables unable to settle on one - no wonder my fanfiction ideas never left my head 😂 But seriously, I can list a few factors: 1. The story is vast, sprawling and complex. And yet, he cannot expand it any further. He must force the vine to grow in a specific direction, so things start coming closer together again in the run up to the end. His writing style doesn't sound suitable to finishing stories. Now, it's not about dropping clues, foreshadowing, and prophecies (which is always more fun) but paying them off. 2. The longer you put off a task, the more it's looming over you. And if doing the thing doesn't sound exciting enough, you procrastinate even more. 3. The negative reception of GOT finale. Vast majority of people found the conclusion of the show disappointing. And even story beats that came directly from George were so poorly presented that people simply didn't connect with them. If I were him, I would feel that disappointment in my bones. He may write the story in a way that everything makes 100% sense, but this preview reaction probably didn't add motivation to his writing endeavours. I wouldn't be surprised if part of him struggled with staying on course with his planned ending and wanted to give people what they seem to want. And don't come at me about there being no happy ending in Westeros. There were plenty of love stories, peaceful years, and unlikely victories. No one was expecting Disney but bittersweet can have many forms. Personally, I consider the ending of LOTR bittersweet, and some may call it happy 🤷🏼‍♀️

I sincerely hope the delay is because he is actually writing both Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring in tandem, so that he has them both finished should anything happen to him. But I also realize that is a fool’s hope.

ASOIF will end up like some of Tolkiens final works where Chris his son finished them. With GRRM it will be the editor friends of his.

/LOVE Agree fiercely and 100% with your open salvo of perspective on it. The potential he amassed in that story-whether or not he matches all my hopes for characters and plotlines...and we all know this won't happen for us. It is his story he is sharing with us- if he takes the time till he is pleased-mostly- it will be a read for the ages. Also a fan of the world building. The History with help from Elio and Linda alone was as though Merlin himself was stirring rich herbs into the imagination of my mind. When it is as ready as the perfectionist can get it-hopefully I can schedule some time to dive in "Never Ending Story style" Thank you Brother in Geekdom! Fare thee well.

In Deep Geek: This is not a defense, if you're looking for that, look elsewhere. Also In Deep Geek: So here's all the reasons why you should just chill out and let the man be.

The concept of the Meereenese knot is a great way to communicate the difficulty and complexity of such an undertaking. As little as I am invested in the book's release, and as much as I like to think that I am fully understanding of that, it strikes me that whenever I don't stop to let that sink in, I still find myself falling into the trap of thinking "how long can it take to type out a sequence of words describing the story in your head?" It's easy for an avid fan to read one book as such and have zero concept of the sheer amount of work it took to organize those words just so, to say nothing of the creative process of imagining the underlying stories to begin with, and filtering, editing, style and consistency checking, changing your mind and trying again, etc.

Rereading Malazan this year and I have so much respect for Erikson for pulling it off. 3.5 million words, tons of POV characters, 3 continents, hundreds of thousands of years of history, and it's completed. To boot, The Crippled God is hailed as one of the greatest finales in epic fantasy's history. And the contract gave him a deadline!!! We got a WoT ending, it would be great if we could get an ASOIAF ending too.

Because he's old, he's rich, he's not hungry anymore as you can all see.

It's quite clear that the style and pace of the story changes in the third book!

I think part of the problem is that the ending to the show was so poorly received that he now has to consider if he wants to end his books in a similar way or come up with an entirely new ending.

Honestly I think the truth is he doesn't want to finish it (at least, doesn't plan on finishing Dreams himself). Resolving the Meereenese knot amongst the dozen other plot lines in a clean manor in a way that doesn't anger fans is a f*&*king nightmare. Meanwhile there are many funner distraction like con events and side writing projects like Elden Ring. I think Martin, consciously or subconsciously, knows there is no way to cleanly resolve ASoIaF. So, he plans to polish Winds to as much of a sheen as he can even if it takes twice as long as i should, so HIS written books end on a high note. Then A Dream of Spring will be left for someone else to resolve after he dies. He'll leave whoever that is a mountain of notes and ideas, but let them fall on the sword of resolving the series.

Part of me wants him to go absolutely batshit insane with the story, like putting an alien invasion ala Independence Day in Westeros and having centaurs with shark arms as weapons be the aliens, Drogon suddenly speaking in Ye Olde English and Tyrion finding out Tywin was just a hologram and he still lives, but he's on the Moon. So a Zero G battle ensues after Tyrion farts so hard he rockets himself up there. All while the lyrics of ACDC's Hell's Bells play in the background.

I think the explanation is probably simpler than most wish it to be. When you're close to wrapping up, you would have to have the remaining story (the book(s) after this) pretty much done too from a planning point of view. That will obviously take a lot longer.

Let’s be honest at this point. This story will never be finished. Age will catch up with him before he finishes at this rate

12:08 This is only technically accurate. Wheel of Time has about 680 more named characters (2782) but the audiobook narration is split up between Kate Reading and Michael Kramer with each reading different chapters depend on if it focuses more on female or male characters. It is entirely possible that 40-60% of the characters are not voiced by both narrators especially if they only appear for a few chapters. So the WoT audiobooks have more speaking characters but the ASOIAF audiobooks are all read by one narrator. As I said, the record is only technically true based on the narrator but not true based on the voiced characters. Rosamund Pike (who plays Moiraine on the Amazon WoT show) is currently re-recording the WoT audiobooks by herself and is up to book 4 out of 14. When she finishes then ASOIAF will no longer hold the Most Characters in a Series Voiced By a Single Narrator record.

I am going to be objective about it that he is a fast writer for writing those side quests that distract from the main story line.

My theory is that the author has decided that someone else would need to figure out a compilation of his drafts akin to Silmarion. If he has so many variants of the same story points, but also a clear vision for the main plot points, to an extent it is more logical to complete and publish what he can in the time he has instead of waisting all his resources on 1 story which on top of everything already has an ending in the form of a tv show.

I've always taken it as an enthusiasm issue. He's a writer who feeds on pulling the rug from beneath the reader. With the TV show being finished he is probably struggling with the idea of either sticking to the ending that he now knows many people were disappointed with or taking the book down a different path which might feel more forced. It almost makes more sense that he has gone off to work on all the newer stuff as the book is essentially done in the terms of us knowing how things are going to play out.

I doubt Martin feels "tremendous pressure" about the Winds of Winter. As you point out, he has produced a copious amount of other ASOIF content, I believe partly because Martin found it more interesting and rewarding to do so. But beyond that, his development agreements with HBO have been very lucrative, so financial incentives are also at play here. I applaud you for your optimism, but it could very well be that ASOIAF becomes the best known unfinished series in the history of literature.

i actually don't expect him to finish the series 😭😭 i used to get really really pissed at him (i know i know - the audacity!) but now i'm like, okay we have the universe, he has given us enough to feed our imagination and that's fine. it's better to not have an end than have a crappy one 🙃🙃 maybe one day we will get his notes about the characters, places, timelines, etc

Here's a bold take: it's taking so long for Winds of Winter because he's secretly ALSO writing Dream of Spring and he's going to release BOTH of them simultaneously within the next few years. This will shut up all the haters and be a hell of a cool end to it all.

As a beginner in the writing world, I just released the first book in my series last weekend and am already almost done with the second book. But sometimes the love runs low or you hit a wall or several, and the process grinds to a halt. I really hope we get to read TWoW though 🙏🏾

Yes. But he said that he was months away more than once and told his editor that he would have it done more than once in like 5 months or so. That was over 7 years ago. He also said many years ago that he wasn’t going to write anything else until he delivers Winds. So it is completely fair for fans to be angry with him for deceiving us and going back on his word about not writing anything else until it is finished. If you looks at how much he had written in 2012 and add how much he wrote during the pandemic, it’s almost like he wrote NOTHING between 2012-2019. If there wasn’t a pandemic that essentially forced him to stay inside and away from parties, red carpets, vacations, football games, and myriad other trips and events that he filled his time with then we probably never would’ve gotten the book. We STILL might not get it. I’m at the bargaining stage of grief where I just want to get winds and a summary of what happens to all of the main and larger supporting characters in ADOS. I’ve given up on getting ADOS or it being the end since he has added multiple books twice to the story before. But who knows? Maybe he will surprise me and write both 1500+ books and have them published along with the second half of fire and blood and all of the dunk and egg stories. But I’ve given up hope on that happening. We shall see everyone

winter may come but the same thing cant be said of the winds of winter.

Basically, you mentioned all that to say we are NEVER getting “Winds Of Winter” ultimately it’s not a priority to finish because he has others more financially rewarding projects

I think it started as a combination of the books and plots expanding and getting more complicated as well as him not being a fast writer in the first place, but now? He saw the reaction to the ending of his series and it killed his interest to do it in print form. I think what he may not realize or have confidence in, is that the audience didn't hate his ending , necessarily, they hated the way D@D got to it. I don't expect the book to ever come out. It is what it is.

I saw Bernard Cornwell in Guildford Theatre a few years back (he is friends with both George and Sean Bean) and one of the things he said was a writer cannot have writers block. At the end of the day it is their job to be a writer and there is now excuses. There is no excuse for George.

My biggest problem with him is just the passive agressive comments when asked why he released other books and tv-series while not finished with asoiaf and him saying that people must realise that asoiaf is not the only story about westeros and we have to understand that other stories are also important. And i am like no dude. The other stories are nice but not why we are here for and not why he is famous in the first place

You ended the video with "And then we all be dreaming of spring" correction I bet it should be "And then we all wanna be dreaming of spring". He already say that winter is comming, and it's gonna be harsh. Jajaja Cheers mate, love your videos.

I'm just worried he won't be able to finish it,people tend to die when they get old, and George is not the most "In shape" human I've seen sooo... I'm really getting anxious here....

Thanks for summarising everything there is to consider when trying to answer this question - i tried multiple times to find an answer on the internet but was quickly either confronted with very emotional discussions and complains or overwhelmed by the amount of text i would have to read on GRRM blog. So thank you very much for organising the information! And lets hope that we will soon be able to discuss the contents of winds of winter, not the publication date 😊

it's funny, because I just finished A Clash of Kings as I'm chewing my way through the books, and one of the complaints I have is how dumb they made Jon in the show. He spent almost an entire season with the wildlings (and I assume he'll spend most of the next book with them), and he got there by lying and killing his brother of the Night's Watch. But he couldn't lie to Cersei in King's Landing when asked to do EXACTLY what he did beyond the Wall, even though it had proven fruitful before. Like wtf? I enjoy Bran's chapters a lot more in the books than I did his scenes in the show as well. The entire burning of Winterfell went down in a much better fashion in the books, and I fucking love the wolf-dreams. I even found myself wanting to get to the next Arya chapter even though I didn't find her Harrenhal-plot that good in the show, but it was great in the books. Davos and Tyrion are my favorites though. Dany's chapters are easy to get through but not very exciting, at least as of yet, but that may very well be because I find the story of Westeros more exciting than her wanting ships in Qarth, though the visions in the House of the Undying was much better executed in the book. I feel they dumbed down all of the characters for the show even when they had plenty of sourcematerial, but when they ran out, every dumb character became STUPID. Jon spending an entire season saying "I'on want it" when he left for the Night's Watch because even a bastard can rise high there. Him doing all these kingly things beyond the Wall, like when Gilly says kings are supposed to protect the weak, then stumbles and gets caught by Jon, but he'ont wan it. They made whiners of great characters, destoryed character arcs and kinda forgot about Azor Ahai because they wanted a shockfactor in the show. The show could have been the best show ever with their simply dumbed down characters and plots (and I get they have to cut stuff from the books; I'm not disputing that and I still would think it would be the greatest show of all time, had it not been for seasons 6-9), but instead they rushed the plot, forgot about Jon, made Dany a tyrant in the span of 60 minutes instead of easing into it. They had Arya kill the Night King because no one would expect that, as if that makes for good storytelling. They made Tyrion's most famous line "I drink and I know things", then showed him knowing less than Jon Snow for three seasons. I mean what the actual fuck. I do believe that Martin meant for Bran to sit the Iron Throne by the end, and it makes perfect sense if he writes him a lot better than the geniuses at HBO (which he will). This kind of monarchy was actually the way it worked in Denmark in medieval times, where a council would choose the king (granted, it was ofttimes the eldest son who'd inherit, but not always, and he would be chosen by the council none the less). Also Bran's chapter is the first, and all the events of the story takes place because of Bran's fall from the tower. I also believe that Jon's parentage has some actual meaning in the books, though: him being Azor Ahai. In the House of the Undying, Dany sees Rhaegar tell "some woman" that the child she birthed is the song of ice and fire and his name is Aegon. Jorah tells her that Aegon is dead (the Aegon birthed to Elia Martell), so Jon is probably Aegon in the books as well, and his is the song of ice and fire, and therefore Azor Ahai. I don't believe Martin just kinda forgot about Azor Ahai being gender-neutral for five books, and I don't believe it will have as much insignificance as it had in the show. Everything in the show saddens me now. So many plotpoints to help them develop the final three seasons, almost an unlimited budget, yet it failed to stay a cultural phenomenon because of Dumb&Dumber. I want to read the entire series, I do, but I want a good, coherent story, and only Martin will give us that with time. Time is finite, though, and lives fragile, as his books depict ever so eloquently, so we probably will never read the end. But at least we still have theories am I right

That quote from Gaiman perfectly encapsulates his sense of humor. Usually he makes these poetic statements about things, or might tinge some with irony. Then here he just bluntly says things the way they are. Love it.