The Winds of Winter has transitioned into a running pop culture gag after George R.R. Martin repeatedly failed to match the deadlines for his upcoming novel. As time passed by, we only got more delays and excuses centering around the sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series instead of any productive updates.
George R.R. Martin has often complained about the widespread criticism he has been receiving for the novel’s delay. However, in recent years, he has found an exciting method to distract the readers from The Winds of Winter‘s delay- teasing random hints about the upcoming novel.
George R.R. Martin found a new way to tackle the delay of The Winds of Winter
Surprisingly, The Winds of Winter was expected to be released sometime in 2014. The ardent followers of George R.R. Martin know that the author admitted in his blog about completing some chapters of the sixth novel even before the release of the fifth novel A Dance with Dragons.
Although Martin openly states that the initial drafts undergo numerous revisions before making it to the final copy. But the 76-year-old crossed all limits as it has been more than a decade since we received the fifth novel.
Recently, the author has also started to implement a unique strategy to divert the readers’ attention from the delay. George R.R. Martin cleverly teases his fans with hints from the upcoming novel. It is evident in a blog from 2022 where the Elden Ring writer discussed the possible difference between the ending of the novel and the TV series.
An architect would be able to give a short, concise, simple answer to that, but I am much more of a gardener. My stories grow and evolve and change as I write them. I generally know where I am going, sure…the final destinations, the big set pieces, they have been my head for years…for decades, in the case of A Song of Ice and Fire. There are lots of devils in the details, though, and sometimes the ground changes under my feet as the words pour forth.
It cannot be denied that the highly controversial ending of Game of Thrones forced the fans to be more keen to check out the forthcoming novel series’ conclusion. While the idea of a better ending sounds tempting, Martin is not only yet to give The Winds of Winter but also finish the planned seventh novel A Dream of Spring to reach there.
Despite promising a much different and grand finale for A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin admitted during a live stream (via Radio Times) that he has “given up making predictions” about The Winds of Winter‘s release. He added that the fans get mad whenever he fails to meet the deadlines.
The fate of The Winds of Winter is doubtful with all the questionable updates
On his way to complete The Winds of Winter, George R.R. Martin has also worked on multiple other projects. He previously confessed to releasing the book in 2016 by solely focusing on it, but he failed badly. Later multiple release dates passed by without any hopeful update. Ultimately, Martin also expressed disappointment at the widespread criticism surrounding the delay and stopped giving any deadlines.
As if the fans were not concerned enough, George R.R. Martin raised another wave of conversations when he said to Bangcast in November 2023 that he had written around 1100 pages. Shockingly, the author also quoted the same number of pages being completed during his interview with Stephen Colbert in December 2022.
In another recent blog post written in September this year, the Wild Cards co-creator once again noted that he has written some more pages of The Winds of Winter. The writer also added that he would have loved a little more progress. While everyone is still hopeful for the supposedly final 2 novels of the saga, such an immense delay has also raised many doubts in the fandom.
