George R.R. Martin discusses The Winds of Winter, confirms he’s not yet working on A Dream of Spring

Author George R.R. Martin has been talking a lot lately about The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. It started last week, when Martin confirmed on his Not a Blog that Winds will not be released in 2018, dashing the dreams of many fans against the rocks of the Stony Shore. Some of those fans — and many others who don’t have a problem with the announcement — took to the comments, and Martin has been mixing it up with them.

We already covered his comments about no longer releasing any advance chapters from Winds, but it ends up that was just the tip of the iceberg. Wading back into those comments today, Martin has plenty more to say, including a response to someone who asks if Winds might be broken up into two books, as is happening with his upcoming book of Targaryen history, Fire & Blood.

"Some of my publishers have suggested breaking up WINDS as we did with FEAST and DANCE. I am resisting that notion."

For those unaware, A Feast for Crows (2005) and A Dance with Dragons (2011) were originally planned to be one book. However, there was too much content for that, so the novel was split up by perspective, with some characters appearing in Feast but not Dance and vice versa, and both books covering roughly the same period of time.

If Martin’s publishers are suggesting he divide The Winds of Winter into two books, we can assume that it has a whole lot of content as well. We’re glad Martin is “resisting” a split, though.

Moving on, one commenter took umbrage with Martin comparing Fire & Blood to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, noting that the situations are different: The Silmarillion only came out after The Lord of the Rings, “the main story,” was complete, whereas A Song of Ice and Fire has yet to be finished. In his reply, Martin gave us a history lesson about incomplete works, and made some potentially troubling statements:

"You call LOTR “the main story,” but if you had asked Tolkien, he would have said the SIMARILLION was his main story, his life’s work. Yet he was never able to complete it during his lifetime. Not because he did not care, however……Just for the sake of argument, let me point out that many many people invest their time into works without endings. F. Scott Fitzgerald never finished THE LAST TYCOON, Charles Dickens never finished EDWIN DROOD, Mervyn Peake never finished TITUS ALONE, yet those works are still read.I do intend to finish A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, of course… but doubtless Peake, Dickens, Fitzgerald, and Tolkien would have said the same."

This is as close as Martin has ever come to saying that he might not finish A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s say a quick prayer to the Old Gods and the New that he does.

Martin also said that he’d like to write more of the Tales of Dunk and Egg — the last story in that series, “The Mystery Night,” came out eight years ago. “I will certainly do more Dunk & Egg at some point. The question is when and how I fit it into my schedule. So much to do…”

Next, Martin addresses a question a lot of fans have: just why is The Winds of Winter taking so long to write? There’s more than one answer to that question, of course. Martin admitted that he’s “done some rewriting” of the book, something he’s known to do in his novels. “But there have been distractions as well.” We can guess at what some of those might be — other writing projects, developing shows for HBO, etc — but some of it may just come down to the way he writes:

"When my work is going well — and no, it does not always go well, there are times of trouble — nothing exists for me but the scene I am writing. Publishers, editors, deadlines, readers, fans, none of that matters in the least, all of that is gone. Only the characters exist.Sometimes this is difficult to explain to readers. And even to other writers, whose approach and temperaments are different. But it has always been the way I’ve worked.When the real world intrudes… well, that’s it… one has to do what one can so the real world does not intrude."

In short, Martin seems to be the kind of writer who has to be in just the right headspace to write. That’s opposed to someone like Outlander author Diana Gabaldon, who can write “no matter where I am or what I’m doing,” as she once told Entertainment Weekly. Every writer has a different style, and Martin’s doesn’t seem well-suited to cranking out material at a rapid clip.

Another potential distraction is all the feedback, good and bad, Martin gets in the press and among the fans. It’s no secret that some fans are very vocal about their wish for Martin to speed things up. Does that ever get to him?

"Do I ever get frustrated at all the criticisms? Certainly. Though I’d be more inclined to say “annoyed” and “pissed off” rather than frustrated.I do try to keep it in proportion, and I realize that there are way way more positive comments than negative.The frustrations I feel are aimed mostly at myself and that stubborn, contrary, balky ‘moose’ (muse) of mine."

Martin also briefly address A Dream of Spring, the seventh book in his series. One theory holds that he’s writing that book concurrently with The Winds of Winter, the better to release them close in time.

"No, I have not started working on A DREAM OF SPRING."

Well, so much for that.

Lastly and most importantly, one commenter asked what POV Martin had been working on last. His answer: “Smudge.”

We don’t know, either.

Anyway, there’s lots to chew on here. How do you feel about the publishers suggesting The Winds of Winter be split into two volumes? Are you terrified by Martin’s admission that he may not finish the series? Are you looking forward to hearing chapters from Smudge’s perspective? Let us know!

Next: A key Game of Thrones actor returns to Belfast, the nerve center of filming on season 8

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