George R.R. Martin Says He’s ‘Struggling’ With ‘The Winds Of Winter’

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Game of Thrones is no longer following the events in published novels of George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which is a good thing considering the TV adaptation caught up with the last published book in 2016, and we’re still waiting for Martin to finish the last two of the seven novels — The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

In an interview with The Guardian, Martin spoke about Fire and Blood (a history of the Targaryen family set to publish this November 20th), and he also admitted he’s been “struggling” to finish The Winds of Winter in light of the show’s popularity leaving him particularly “conscious I have to do something great.”

“I’ve been struggling with it for a few years,” Martin said. (The previous book, A Dance With Dragons, was published seven years ago.) “The Winds of Winter is not so much a novel as a dozen novels, each with a different protagonist, each having a different cast of supporting players, antagonists, allies and lovers around them, and all of these weaving together against the march of time in an extremely complex fashion. So it’s very, very challenging.”

Martin was candid about the added pressure he feels due to the HBO show’s enormous success. “The show has achieved such popularity around the world, the books have been so popular and so well reviewed, that every time I sit down I’m very conscious I have to do something great, and trying to do something great is a considerable weight to bear. On the other hand, once I really get rolling, I get into the world. The rest of the world vanishes, and I don’t care what I’m having for dinner, what movies are on, what my email says or who’s mad at me this week because The Winds of Winter isn’t out — all that is gone and I’m just living in the world I’m writing about.”

The 70-year-old author said The Winds of Winter is his next priority, and he also spoke about A Dream of Spring, saying he may start that after Winds of Winter or he might do Fire and Blood II or more Dunk and Egg stories. If that all sounds like far too much waiting, may we suggest reading Brian Grubb’s guide to being more chill about it? Then again, that guide was written almost three years ago, so we’ll understand if the wait is getting to you. Just remember, every time you complain about The Winds of Winter, George R.R. Martin kills another character.

(Via The Guardian)

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