Still waiting on The Winds of Winter? Same. George R.R. Martin keeps saying the quiet part out loud: the book is a monster, and it is eating his life.
Why this one book feels like twelve
In a recent chat with The Guardian, Martin explained that the problem isn’t just scope; it’s structure. The man chose chaos by writing the saga through a rotating cast of point-of-view characters, and now he’s living with the consequences.
'The Winds of Winter is not so much a novel as a dozen novels, each with a different protagonist... all of these weaving together against the march of time in an extremely complex fashion. So it’s very, very challenging.'
He’s been at it for over a decade and says he’s already passed the 1,000-page mark on the manuscript (that tidbit came from his appearance on Tooning Out the News). And yet, no finish line in sight.
The POV choice that makes the story sing... and slows everything down
Martin has played with narrative styles over the years, but the classic omniscient narrator never felt right to him. In his Talk to Al Jazeera interview, he said he settled on tight, character-specific chapters because that’s how you actually get inside this world. A single perspective can’t carry a sprawling medieval world war. He needs multiple angles colliding and overlapping to build the full picture.
That storytelling choice is powerful, but it’s also a maze. Characters witness the same event differently, timelines have to interlock, and every chapter has its own cast of allies, enemies, and hangers-on. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes process detail that sounds cool until you realize it’s also why the pages take forever.
The non-writing stuff that eats his time
It’s not just the book’s complexity. Martin also admitted the job expanded after the franchise blew up: meetings, travel, book tours, and general obligations. All of that siphons hours away from the actual writing desk.
Does he know the ending?
Mostly. He says he’s mapped out where the big players land and how it wraps up in broad strokes. But he’s also clear that details can change as he writes, so nothing is nailed down yet.
Where the books stand right now
- A Game of Thrones — 1996
- A Clash of Kings — 1998
- A Storm of Swords — 2000
- A Feast for Crows — 2005
- A Dance with Dragons — 2011
- The Winds of Winter — TBA
- A Dream of Spring — TBA
So yeah, the wait continues. The plan is huge, the process is complicated, and the distractions are real. Not the update anyone wants, but at least it’s honest.