George R.R. Martin Is Still Working on The Winds of Winter

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George R. R. Martin has been working on The Winds of Winter, the second-to-last book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series since at least 2010.

He knows fans are waiting. In an interview, he said, "I’ve been working…I’m 12 years late with The Winds of Winter, as we know. I’m just gonna put it right out there, you guys don’t have to pester me about it."

In a blog post in July 2023, he shared he's been working on the book "almost every day. Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more. Making steady progress." He added, "Not as fast as I would like...certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless. It keeps me out of trouble."

Martin has been providing regular updates on The Winds of Winter for 12 years now. Last year, during a San Diego Comic Con panel for season one of House of the Dragon, the highly anticipated prequel about the Targaryen civil war, Martin revealed he won't be making a cameo on the show until he finishes the Winds of Winter.

"For the last couple years since COVID hit I’ve barely left my house," he said in response to a fan's question about a cameo. "Also, you may not know this but there’s this book I’m writing and it’s a little late. So I won’t be doing any acting until I finish and deliver that book and if the show is still running then then maybe."

A Dance with Dragons, Martin's fifth Game of Thrones novel, came out in July 2011. In the ensuing decade, Martin has provided updates on his blog about the status of the sixth novel and updates in various interviews and panels. In October 2022, he told 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."

He has frequently given status updates on his blog. "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, I will continue to work on it. (Yes, I work on other things as well)," he shared in August 2022 in a blog post. " 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."

So while he didn't want to prove a "detailed report" on Winds of Winter, Martin did write: "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."

Yet, he specified that "of late" his writing is taking him "further and further away from the television series." Though there may be some elements from the final seasons in the books, Martin writes, it will be "quite different."

Martin does admit that he fears readers will hate the book—based only on how long it's taken him to complete. As he writes, "I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread. That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind."

In an interview in the New York Times, Martin further clarified that his "ending will be very different" from the show, and that he was "out of the loop" on the show's ending.

We'll update this as soon as we learn more about The Winds of Winter by George R. R. Martin.

Fire & Blood

A Game of Thrones (Book 1)

A Clash of Kings (Book 2)

A Storm of Swords (Book 3)

A Feast for Crows (Book 4)

A Dance with Dragons (Book 5)

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