George Martin Clowns on Fans with New Winds of Winter Update: 'Still Have Hundreds More Pages to Go'

Summary:

• A Song of Ice and Fire fans have been waiting for The Winds of Winter since 2011.
• In his recent interview, George Martin claimed that he had written around 1,100 by then.
• Nine months before this interview, the author had named the same number of pages.

George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire gave birth to Game of Thrones, one of the most popular and famous TV shows in history. Thanks to the author’s genius, we were introduced to the world of Westeros and Essos — the world of blades and sorcery, horse-riding Dothraki and dragon-riding Targaryens, wars and politics.

We’re eternally grateful to the man, the myth, the legend for showing us the brutal beauty of the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities. But there is, as always, one big “but:” George Martin is now lagging behind his schedule for a staggering dozen years — and judging by the author’s updates, that’s not changing any time soon.

How Long Has George Martin Been Slacking?

The latest A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Dance with Dragons, was released in 2011, before the release of Game of Thrones. Today, it’s 2023, and the HBO show has been over for four years. During this entire time, George Martin’s been presumably “hard at work” on his next ASoIaF book — The Winds of Winter.

Any fan will tell you that writing one book for over 12 years is not OK; scratch that. Anyone in their right mind will tell you that. George Martin is an undeniably busy man with many a project, but a dozen years is still largely considered to be an incredibly long period to write a fiction book, no matter how large and detailed. But oh well.

From time to time, GRRM gives so-called “updates” on his writing progress, but they typically fall into one of two categories: it’s either an “I swear I’m working really hard guys” or an “imagine whining about a busy man being busy, nerds.” The latest news from Martin was no exception to this rule — and it triggered fans.

What’s George Martin’s Latest Winds of Winter Update?

The A Song of Ice and Fire author recently spoke to Bang about his creative work, and of course, there was no way around the most pressing issue: the calm weather with no Winds in sight since 2011. GRRM addressed his writing pace once again and provided an estimation of how much work was already done and was left to do.

“I wish I could write as fast as Bernard [Cornwell] but I’m 12 years late on this damn novel and I’m struggling with it. I have like 1,100 pages written but I still have hundreds more pages to go. It’s a big mother of a book for whatever reason. Maybe I should’ve started writing smaller books when I began this but it’s tough. That’s the main thing that dominates most of my working life,” GRRM shared with Bang.

Just so we’re clear, George Martin gave this interview on November 6, 2023, and claimed that he had written 1,100 pages thus far. But if we backtrack to January 31, 2023, the author gave the exact same number when speaking to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert! In over nine months, there has seemingly been no progress.

Fans are divided into two groups: some are exhaustedly flaming because of this joke of an update (as they have been for the past 12 years), and some are extremely supportive of GRRM and suggest he takes as long as he needs. What can we say?

Take your time, Mr. Martin: it’s only been over a decade. Anyone who’s worrying before at least two decades have passed clearly knows nothing about book-writing.

Sources: Bang, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert via YouTube