The Winds of Winter (Isn’t Coming This Spring)

(Note: the link to George R.R. Martin’s blog entry contains some spoilers pertaining to both the books and the HBO series.)

Sorry for the Stark — and somewhat stark — pun, but unfortunately, it’s appropriate. George R.R. Martin just penned a lengthy mea culpa on his blog, explaining that he missed his December 31st deadline to finish writing The Winds of Winter, the much-anticipated sixth book in the Song of Fire and Ice series.

In his blog post, dated January 2nd, Martin notes that he’s written a significant number of chapters in what will be the penultimate book in the series. He’s also editing and rewriting significant portions that he feels aren’t as good as he wants. Martin also reiterates what he’s said about his writing for years: he doesn’t work well under a deadline, saying “I was having more bad days than good ones.”

As a huge fan of A Song of Fire and Ice, I’m disappointed about the delay, as are many of you who love the books. Both HBO and his publishers sound supportive but unhappy about the most recent delay. No one is more dispirited about missing the year-end deadline, timed to allow The Winds of Winter to be on bookshelves when Season Six premieres on HBO in April, than Martin himself. He refuses to blame anyone but himself for delays. He knows how eagerly his fans anticipate both the latest book and the new material it generates for the hit TV series.

Until now, the assumption has been that The Winds of Winter would be completed in 2016, feeding new material to the showrunners and preventing the TV series from outpacing the books. Even as events in the books and the TV series have diverged, Season Six will have largely caught up to the books, and in some cases, gone beyond what has been published.

Martin’s blog post tries to address the question many of us suddenly have: “Will the show ‘spoil’ the novels?”  He hedges his bets by saying “Maybe.  Yes and no.” He warns that there will be “plot twists and reveals in season six of GAME OF THRONES that have not yet happened in the books.” So if you prefer to read the story before watching it, DVR season six and wait patiently.  

“Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing. Chapter at a time. Page at a time. Word at a time. That’s all I know how to do,” Martin promises, “WINDS OF WINTER should be pretty good too, when it comes out. As good as I can make it, anyway.”

I look forward to devouring The Winds of Winter the day it is published. I wish that day were sometime next April. In the meantime, I’m happy to wait if it means it will be the best book Martin can write.