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George is so cruel.
JUST FINISH IT WHILE I STILL LIVE.
(on his Not a Blog website. More teasers for the Winds of Winter.)
And one or two POV's, of the 16 isn't that much.
He also promises TWOW before he writes the second part of the Fire&Blood series.
We'll see about that huh.
He released some sample chapters of TWOW years ago, he could have kept doing that but OH NO that would have meant it would be all out by now.
The Horror!
I don't think that anyone will be so angry about all of this waiting that they'll refuse to read the book though as he fears.
There will be a run on that book like nothing known to man.
I'll be on the front lines, cursing and fighting.
(...)
August 12, 2022
'I hope to wrap up the story line for one of the viewpoint characters of WINDS OF WINTER this week. Maybe even two.'
(..)
July 12, 2022:
'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON will tell the story of the Targaryen civil war known as “the Dance of the Dragons.”
FIRE & BLOOD will include that tale… as well as a lot, lot more. Aegon’s Conquest. Maegor the Cruel and his war with the Faith. The long reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Good Queen Alysanne. Septon Moon, the Serpent in Scarlet, Elissa Farman and the stolen dragon eggs, the regency of King Aegon III… it’s all here, and much more.
(And yes, this is the first of two volumes. The second will follow… through not till the WINDS have blown).'
(...)
July 8, 2022:
'Which brings me to THE WINDS OF WINTER.
Most of you know by now that I do not like to give detailed updates on WINDS. I am working on it, I have been working on it, I will continue to work on it. (Yes, I work on other things as well). I love nothing more than to surprise my readers with twists and turns they did not see coming, and I risk losing those moments if I go into too much detail.
Spoilers, you know. Even saying that I am working on a Tyrion chapter, as I did last week, gives away the fact that Tyrion is not dead.
Reading sample chapters at cons, or posting them on line, which I did for years, gives away even more. I actually quite enjoyed doing that, until the day came that I realized I had read and/or posted the first couple of hundred pages of WINDS, or thereabouts. If I had kept on with the readings, half the book might be out by now.
So I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but…
I will say this.
I have been at work in my winter garden. Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels.
Sounds mad, I know. But it’s how I write. Always has been. Always will be. For good or ill.
What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.
And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa.
I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show.
I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling.
Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine. Quaithe still has a part to play.
So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long. This is hard, guys).
Oh, and there will be new characters as well. No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.
One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of GAME OF THRONES will survive until the end of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, and not all of the characters who died on GAME OF THRONES will die in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all) ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening)).
And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.
No doubt, once I am done, there will be huge debate about which version of the story is better. Some people will like my book, others will prefer the television show. And that’s fine, you pays your money and your makes your choice.
(I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread. That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind).
That’s all I can tell you right now. I need to get back to the garden. Tyrion is waiting for me.'
https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/page/3/
The released chapters of TWOW in case you haven't read them.
https://thehawke.github.io/twow-excerpts/
