Lockdowns around the US have begun to lift a bit, allowing people to escape from mandated shelter-in-place rules that prompted many to rediscover books, binge those TV shows that they’ve been meaning to get to, or work on projects that they’ve been meaning to get to for a while.
George R.R. Martin was one such person, and he’s provided a handful of updates over the last couple of months about what he’s been up to while in quarantine. In his latest blog post, he explains that work on his long-awaited Song of Ice and Fire novel The Winds of Winter is still progressing, that he’s preparing for this year’s virtual WorldCon, and that he’s still juggling a bunch of TV projects.
While he’s been isolated in a literal cabin in the woods, Martin notes that he’s been “spending long hours everyday on The Winds of Winter, and making steady progress.”
I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week. But no, this does not mean that the book will be finished tomorrow or published next week. It’s going to be a huge book, and I still have a long way to go.
Isolation has allowed him to build up a bit of momentum behind the book, and he says that while he’s sad that CoNZealand won’t be an in-person trip this year, the fact that he won’t have to pause his work for an international trip means that he’ll keep chugging along.
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As far as what he’s been writing, he notes that, “Of late I have been visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah. I will be dropping back into Braavos next week.”
He also reveals that he has some other projects on his plate. Aside from pre-recording some video for the upcoming Hugo Awards ceremony, he’s been reading (Stephen King’s If It Bleeds and Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel particularly impressed him), and working on number of TV projects.
Those include the forthcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, which is tentatively due out in 2022, which he says is “still flying along wonderfully, thanks to Ryan Condal and his writers, and the tireless Ti Mikkel,” and that he’s been working on pushing Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death along. He also notes that he’s working to “relaunch the Wild Cards tv project,” which was originally announced in 2018 as a Hulu series (although given the changes between Hulu, Fox, and Disney since then, it’s possible that the series has since been quietly dropped.) He also notes that he’s been working on a TV series called The Lost Lands, “television shows in development based on works by Roger Zelazny and Tony Hillerman.” Finally, he notes that there are a couple of feature film projects based on his works in development: Sandkings, and The Ice Dragon.
At the end of the day, it seem as though work is progressing, and while The Winds of Winter doesn’t appear that it’ll be in stores in the immediate future, it’s at least moving forward, little by little.
I honestly don’t even care anymore. At this pace, he will need to live to be 150 to get the last book out , so does one more SoIF book really matter?
The show is now canon for the vast majority of people.
Martin is only 4 years older than me. So I have to wonder if I’ll be the one who dies before he ever finishes.
Yaaaaaa….<Yaaaawwwwnnnn>…aaaay!
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Good to hear – we’ll get it when we get it, I guess.
We can just hope…
I cam see why GRRM closed the comments on his blog post… I found his update to be refreshing though. It’s good to hear he has been making progress, and getting a glimpse of who he is working on, and where. It also has my mind racing to think, “Why will he be revisiting Braavos shortly? 2/3 or further into Winds Arya is still there? Or is this a different character?
I’ll be excited when the book is finally released. I’ve been disenchanted with franchise after the failure of the last two seasons of GoT, and I’m eager to see GRRM’s version.
It’s been a long wait, but on the other hand, it’s quite a difficult project and GRRM want to do it well.
Well, good for him, I guess.
I suppose his progress updates are, for him, a ‘damned if I do & damned if I don’t’ exercise. Some are happy, some are meh, & some let the snark fly.
I hope he can finish the book & possibly the series; at least for himself, if not his fans. I’m just not waiting for it anymore. As was pointed out above, at least the HBO series, flaw though it was, ended the saga for many.
As for me, I loved the first three books, found Feast to be a disappointing slog, & haven’t the interest pick up & to read ‘Dance.’
Kato
Although I used to be a massive GOT fan (cosplay, GOT cookbook, etc), the terrible ending of the TV show has really quenched my enthusiasm for this story. The next book will probably still be a library checkout, but not worth buying a copy. It would be great to be proven wrong, of course.
Truly, the only thing I’m concerned with is Elden Ring.
At this point, I would appreciate it if Martin simply told us that we aren’t getting the book.
It seems cruel to keep making announcements about “progress” when the last Song book was published in 2011. George R.R. Martin does not “owe” us a book, but perhaps he does owe his readers a certain degree of honesty.
If Martin wants to finish Winds of Winter, he should stop constantly taking on new projects. If he doesn’t want to finish Winds of Winter, he should say so.
If you have been paying attention in A Game of Thrones, both book I of aSoIaF and the show, one notices that people die and their secrets go with them and we dont always get the closure we hoped for. That’s what made it do good in the first place.
Unfortunately I’ve closed my heart to ASoIaF, I’ve accepted he’ll never finish them. I try not to become bitter about all the time and money I’ve given to him on the promise he’ll write an ending. Nobody payed Homer for him to tell most of Iliad or Odyssey.
So many people have had to move on like you do when a loved one dies. It’s the only way to make all the sorrow go away.
Bless. I’m glad he’s still writing but I don’t care now either. It’s missed its moment for me. More excited for Harrow and Alecto, and more gutted Dead Empire isn’t happening
Yay, we’ll get more Braavos, my favorite ASOIAF location! Give me ALL of the Braavos, feed Victarion to a dragon, and free my Aeron. That’s all I ask. OK, I want more. But those are my strongest requests.
I’m as eager for TWOW as any reader (and more than many readers, apparently). But I can’t feel any regret for starting an unfinished series that has given me endless joy and sparked my current extensive involvement in literary discussions, here on Tor and elsewhere, that comprise much of my social life.
I’m glad he is making progress and actually saying he is. He was much more open in the months leading up to ADWD and got dragged for it, so it is nice to see him comfortable enough to report on progress with a few specific teasers.
I do have to say I’m disappointed a bit because last year at this time he wrote a funny post about New Zealand offering him an isolated place to stay and work following his Con New Zealand gig this summer and saying that if he wasn’t done with WoW by then (meaning now), he might take them up on it. So I was hoping to get notice of a completed manuscript just…about…now.
I remain hopeful about the overall progression and completion of the saga. He remains in the messy, complex middle of the tale, and needs to move forward and focus the story on the end game, at which time it should be easier and faster to write.
I have a certain sympathy for Martin. The end of Dance of Dragons has our characters spread over two continents, and multiple storylines reaching crisis. How the hell is he going to tie all this back together?
Messed up thing is that I dont care when the book is done since the show ruined everything already
@28 – Books are already VERY different from the show. Almost entirely different work product.
This will be interesting. Because it’s been 5-6 years since I finished reading the last book. Then I watched the series. So it’ll be fun picking up the new book whenever it actually comes out and spending half of it utterly confused because I’m getting show and book versions of characters and events mixed up.
I loved S8 and long ago gave up on Martin ever finishing the series. I’m mildly curious and will probably buy TWOW, but I’m long past the stage of excited.
I sort of agree with the commentators who have been saying that it’s a bit obnoxious for Martin to keep on giving these bullshit, teaser “updates”.
Look, he doesn’t owe anyone shit, and he’s free to work at his own pace or not at all. But at some point, have a little respect for the readers who have made you all this money and garnered you all this fame. It’s not secret why he keeps dropping these hints – he’s trying to keep enthusiasm high for Winds of Winter because that will drive not only sales of that book, but also keeps people vested in new adaptations and also buying the published books to remember where the story is. It’s a marketing push and nothing more, and that strikes me the wrong way. You want to be free to write at your own pace and “garden” your own story? That’s absolutely fair – again, he doesn’t owe us. But If that’s your position, then go and do that, go and write or not write or do whatever it is you want to do, and don’t keep shoving your “progress” down our throats and then act upset when people don’t sympathize with your inability to finish a sprawling story of your own creation, or are angry you haven’t made more substantial progress but still expect to be patted on the back for having done anything.
@27 princessroxana
That’s a good question, but it’s a question that Martin should have asked himself before he reached this point.
Sadly, successful authors seem to acquire a certain degree of immunity to editors, who can often point out that you should take care of some of your existing plot threads before you start adding more.
So happy to hear updates! Especially knowing that you are healthy and working during these unprecedented times. Huge kudos to your success, and we all know that life takes us down many many roads and roadblocks, pushing us harder each day! Stay strong and please keep sending us updates; as I truly enjoy the updates just as much as watching the shows and reading the books!!
Always love the non-update updates. I was hooked on the series in 2004, and thought waiting for AFFC in 2005 was a long wait. I agonized for ADWD and was so excited to read it in 2011. And then that book totally let down my expectations, and I haven’t cared much since. But I guess I still care enough to comment here. Hope he finishes the series one day, but I won’t buy any more of it until there is an end.
It is unfortunate that he is taking his fans for a ride. He is writing small amounts here and there and has other interests on his plate, but really how much has he written so far? Sorry, Mr Martin, but I will be long dead and buried before you will finish this book, less publish it.
My feelings are similar to what @20 and @32 express. I’m uninterested in the book at this point. That’s not because the show became my canon instead — I think I had read all the books before the show began? or finished around the time, who knows, it was so long ago — but because GRRM has promised and not-delivered so many times that the story he is telling about his work performance has drowned out whatever story he intended to tell in the book. The reality that he endlessly takes on projects that keep him away from it suggests he’s not very interested in it either; maybe he’s lost the commitment to his own creation that keeps an author going, maybe he’s written himself into a corner with too many characters and plots.
The relationship of authors and big fanbases is complex. I don’t think he owes his fans a book, no matter how many times he has promised one. I do think he owes them respect, as a return for the energy and money they have invested in his work. This constant re-promising doesn’t feel respectful.
—Neil Gaiman
At this point I think he and the fans would be best served if he hires a ghost writer to work with him and smash out the final books a la Robert Jordan. Only way they are getting done, and the readers will make that compromise just to get closure…
@49 GiveHimABreak
The corollary is we are also not GRRM’s bitch.
He’s free to work at his own rate and in his own way.
We’re free to mock the announcement of “progress” in a series where the last book was released almost ten years ago.
@33, I agree. Martin has written himself into an insane tangle. You can almost sympathize with GOT’s kill ’em off solution.
Rh’llor alone knows what’s going on in the north with Jon apparently dead, Stannis supposedly dead and crazy pants Ramsay maybe victorious..Sansa is still being Alayne but well on her way to becoming a player not a pawn. Arya is killing people in Braavos. Dani is facing a Khal but she’s got a dragon with her. Back in Meereen the dragons are loose and with any luck will burn the place to the ground.. Prince Aegon, and if you believe that there’s a 700 foot ice wall in the North I’d like to sell you, has invaded and is doing well. Cersei is back in charge in King’s Landing, Seven help us all. And for Rh’llor’s sake somebody put Zombie Cat down! You hear me, Brienne? Oh and there’s a faceless man and a Sand Snake in the Citidel. I think that covers the major trouble spots.
What a mess.
Oops, no it doesn’t. I forgot Bran, probably because I’m thoroughly bored with his story line. And Euron and the rest of the Iron Island crazies who I’d prefer to to see at the bottom of the Summer Sea. I rather hope Sir Baristan gets out of Meereen alive but I’m thoroughly tired off Tyrion and his angst. And I do wonder what the real story is on Dragonstone.
The people who are making negative comments, obviously think writing is an instantaneous creation. Look at Stephen King, who took 30 years to finish his the Last Gunslinger novel series, while incorporating and writing many of his other novels. The problem has more to do with the network who took on Martin’s GOT novels, expecting him to finish while involving him in scriptwriting. They changed to the speed of the novels’ story beyond what is in the written books.
@45: You could hardly have chosen a less fitting person to point to than Stephen King.
King is insanely prolific. It is true that King stated that he found it difficult to find back into world which explains the longish gaps between books. But eventually, decided to make an effort to finish the series (I think because of the accident where he was hit by a minivan) and he wrote the remaining three books in a row resulting in their publication in quick succession (a period of less than 11 months!).
What’s more, he wrote tons of books in the 22 years between the first and concluding book of the main series.
I don’t think you’d see people making the harsh comments if Martin put out other books “on the side” as King does. The man has written over 60 novels, there’s only a handful of years since the mid-70s where King didn’t at least have one novel published, often it was two or three novels! And not a few of these are massive tomes. Add to that countless short stories and novellas.
Not so much Martin. From what I understand he might very well write a lot but due to his “gardener” approach coupled with an apparent perfectionism he is known to toss out and rewrite huge chunks of material, constantly rewriting and revising. (He also seems to have written himself in more than one corner, which might have a little something to do with the fact that he doesn’t outline – a questionable method when writing a complex multi-volume epic.)
It also doesn’t help that he only writes with his archaic DOS word processing software and that he only writes when he’s at home (as he’s said many times) while simultaneously having been traveling a lot over the past years cutting in his writing time.
The TV series didn’t in accelerating Martin’s writing but the fault lies almost exclusively with the choices Martin made, not with HBO.
Very happy to hear that George Martin has taken advantage of the lockdown this way. I have long since given up waiting for the next book, but I’m very happy that he isn’t copping out by accepting the TV ending, which I think was atrocious. I do hope he can restrain himself a bit by not getting two involved with other projects, but as many people have said here, it’s his business, and his story. A great pity the TV project steamrolled over all his brilliance, he should not have allowed it until he’d finished himself, but anyone can be persuaded to rashness. Good luck, George, stay in your cabin and living with your beloved characters!
Mary
We’ve heard this “making progress” for a couple of years now.
I’ve lost interest – he should just throw in the towel on this and focus on all the projects that have his attention.
I’ve long ago given up on this series – I do not think it will ever be finished in Martin’s lifetime (and likely mine, as well). Writer’s block or paralysis of not knowing where to go with it, or even just general disinterest. Maybe that is why he is distracting himself with so many side projects…
Yeah.
Does anyone remember The Last Dangerous Visions?
https://web.archive.org/web/20000902203835/http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf-texts/Ansible/Last_Deadloss_Visions,Chris_Priest
I will read Winds of Winter when it comes out.
I’m glad he’s progressing and I hope it turns out well for him, but – personally – I’m not touching that series again until it’s complete. The tv show ended rushed and sloppy for me, but it was an ending.
I will read any solo stories he publishes because, for the most part, I love his writing. But I’ve invested as much of my time and hopes on this series as I plan to.
GRRM was the first author I read that while in the middle of, I think it was Storm of Swords, I had the thought that it didn’t matter if the book was a million pages, and I wished it had been, because I was completely immersed and really enjoying it. So, whatever it takes, however long it takes.