George talked about Winds and publication time

[queen of meraxes]

It seems that deadlines made Grrm so stressed and TWOW is still not finished.ı am hopeful for 2016. George posted on livejournal a lo post and he is sorry about the bad news.

[Túrin the Turambar]

I was already hopeful for 2015... but at least he might be able to write more freely now and take his own time, since he left his deadlines behind. but still, even if his writing progress would be faster now, we should not expect WINDS in the first half of 2016.

 

his "spoiler-paragraph" might be quite revealing regarding the show; mentioning that Euron and Victarion will be introduced, but Young Griff and Manderly will not; and not mentioning Catelyn in line with those that are already dead in the show and not in the books. hm...

[First of the First Men]

I'm a bit surprised there still was a deadline at all.

[First of the First Men]

I'd really like to know if it's really just him not responding well to deadlines (that could be easily fixed in theory and apparently it has been now) or if there is also an underlying structural problem like the 5 year gap or the Meereenese Knot this time.

Does anybody here have a Livejournal account and could ask him that question?

[First of the First Men]

Here's the source:

 

http://grrm.livejournal.com/465247.html

 

 

[Ibbison from Ibben]

The key part of the post seems to be this:

Even as late as my birthday and our big Emmy win, I still thought I could do it... but the days and weeks flew by faster than the pile of pages grew, and (as I often do) I grew unhappy with some of the choices I'd made and began to revise... and suddenly it was October, and then November... and as the suspicion grew that I would not make it after all, a gloom set in, and I found myself struggling even more. The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became.

I remember GRRM posting an entry back in the late spring or early summer where he stated he was playing with a plot twist for one of the characters; it would be interesting to know if it was this particular choice that didn't work out. He seems to have run into a dead end. The idea of introducing new twists this late in the story made me uneasy at the time. Late summer is not a good time to be planting new crops in your garden.

It's disappointing, of course. The show will inevitably spoil some major plot points, no matter how far D&D depart from the books.

 

[Rhodan]

BTW, did he forgot that he has "The Winds of Winter" folder on Not A Blog? 

Obviously, this is disappointing as a whole, but the core message thet it won´t be published before GOT season 6 was kinda obvious for a long time now. At least it looks like that  we might read it this year. 

[sifth]

I had a feeling this would happen for a while now. He seemed to be ignoring a lot of questions about the book for nearly all of 2015 and in place simply talked about the TV show, Wild Cards, The World of Ice and Fire, his other anthology books and pretty much anything so long as it wasn't "The Winds of Winter". Other than the Sansa chapter we got last winter, I don't even think he talked about the book once, aside from a vague comment about "coming up with a great twist".

 

So yea, I get the feeling this book isn't coming out any time soon. I'm just glad I have plenty of other books to read at the moment, I've all but lost track where all of GRRM's characters are.

[HokieStone]

Well, it would seem that GRRM himself is the only one surprised by this development.  That blog post has lots of fodder for discussion, though I am unsure how much discussion will be allowed on this site.  I will say that I found the most amusing line in the whole post to be "Look, I never thought the series could possibly catch up with the books, but it has."  Considering the fact that both books 4 and 5 were published five (or more) years after their predecessors - there was plenty of discussion from almost the time episode 1 of the show aired as to whether it would eventually pass the books.

His whole answer of "Maybe.  Yes and No." as to whether the show will spoil the books is...unconvincing.  The answer is "of course the show will spoil the books", his list of characters that have had different fates in the show and books notwithstanding.  Is it possible the books and show could so wildly diverge that a completely different story results - well, sure - he is still writing the books, after all.  However, I think we all have a general sense that the major overarching plot will be the same.  Which minor characters (and even some major characters) are killed here and alive there will likely make little difference to grand overall story.

[Snikt5]

As much as I cannot comprehend his writing process and the delay of the book, I appreciate I could never write anything as good as this series. Therefore, despite my immense disappointment and annoyance I do not judge George. What I think is the real shame is that book 6 may be spoiled by a couple of months, but book 7 may well become irrelevant and an afterthought or screen adaptation for many casual readers who would have devoured the books before the TV show aired them.

It could well be like watching the final series of Breaking Bad and then reading it four years later. The books are terrific and personally I will always read them but for many this might be the case which is a real shame.

 

[Arkash]

So that is actually the official TWoW cover... always wondered if it was a fan-made or not. I always loved it so great news !

 

[Werthead]

It is a fan cover, although it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up using the horn anyway. It's a fairly iconic item in the series and makes a change from variations on swords and daggers.

[Valandil]

The show spoiling the books may speed the subsequent publication of the books as George will have to commit to broad plot developments in advance of writing them. The decisions he is struggling with making on his own will be made for him so.. That's positive for those who'd like to see this resolved in less than two decades 

[Werthead]

The show spoiling the books may speed the subsequent publication of the books as George will have to commit to broad plot developments in advance of writing them. The decisions he is struggling with making on his own will be made for him so.. That's positive for those who'd like to see this resolved in less than two decades 

Not even remotely, and that's already happened. George has told the producers what would happen to certain characters and they've chosen to go in another direction and he's not changed his mind at all.

The TV series will not set the future direction of the books at all. D&D may choose to do something differently from George's outline and George may choose to change something from the outline (as he already has). Nothing is set in stone and neither side is bound to follow through on decisions made by the others.

[BrettG]

Can't say I'm surprised.  Martin has always struck me as a sloppy writer and a relatively tone-deaf person in general, and this series of posts certainly hasn't changed that impression.  Write a series of updates about all the awesome travel you've done and the awards you've won for all your other projects and the cool shit you're doing in Santa Fe...and then expect people to feel bad for you when you say the book's not done.  Right.  At this point my interest in the books is almost non-existent.  I'd rather watch the show and get the ending that way.  At least the show can manage the Herculean task of meeting deadlines, aka something every single one of us manages to do at our jobs just fine on a daily basis.  Give me a fucking break.

[Valandil]

You sure about that? The non appearance of aegon so far in the show seems to indicate he won't have a huge role in the resolution of the major arcs in the book at the time the producers were given the outline, but according to George himself he changes his mind regularly so may have changed it on this one, but now won't because at the back of his mind he thinks, "I've already told the lads he's not important". 

[First of the First Men]

I was never really bothered by the show overtaking the books, which had to happen eventually. I didn't watch S5 and I will not watch S6. However, I still have a general idea about what went down in S5 and I will not be able to avoid learning about S6 either.

If I had watched S5 and then read the books, how would I feel about the different storylines?

• Dorne: I would probably simply enjoy meeting Arianne and Quentyn and reading a story that makes sense and leaves me wondering what will happen next. No spoilers, really.
• Theon: Even if you have in mind that Theon jumps in the end, there would only be a relatively short moment where what you remember from the show is confirmed, since you cannot assume it would turn out the same way. But before that Theon's state of mind and his recovery courtesy of Bran would be on display, and all the awesome stuff happening between the northern lords.
• Cersei: The Walk of Shame (of course they didn't change that) would be another example where you know where things are heading, but suddenly you get Cersei's perspective. And the ADWD epilogue hints that Kevan may be the one Cersei can thank for that, not the HS.
• Dany: While vaguely remembering her from her last S5 scene as a damsel in distress, I would suddenly be treated to the sheer awesomeness of her last ADWD chapter, where her relief at having escaped all the scheming in Meereen is palpable, where it suddenly feels so good to decide that dragons plant no trees (making me understand the appeal of the dark side better than seven Star Wars movies ever could), where I suddenly learn to pity Viserys ("You never mourned me, sister. It is hard to die unmourned.), where she reaches for the stars while shitting her guts out (the human condition, baby), where she finally receives the khalasar beside her dragon lazily eating horseflesh just like back in Vaes Dothrak.

By now the show seems to have deteriorated to a series of big moments from the books, loosely held together by nudity, without any concern for character motivation (Why burn Shireen, Stannis, why?) or even internal logic and consistency (why didn't the Sons of the Harpy just kill Tyrion et al. after Dany flew away?). Themes are for textbooks, after all.

With S6, D&D will run out of big moments from the books. George may have told them about some future ones, but if they keep misunderstanding things in such hilarious fashion as in the case of Shireen, viewers will miss out on what makes those moments, well, big. The show and the books are only going to diverge further from here. Readers will lose even less from knowing the show than in the case of S5.

There's a reason lots of people here keep rereading the books long after the suspense is gone. The books are art, the show is commerce. I don't care if the series finishes after the show, the only thing that matters is that it finishes at all, so I (and some day my son) can read the whole story one day.

[Arkash]

It is a fan cover, although it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up using the horn anyway. It's a fairly iconic item in the series and makes a change from variations on swords and daggers.

Late to the answer but ow, okay ! 

Funny to see George use it then ! And I agree, the horn (and the gloomy-wintery black atmosphere) are perfect for the official one, I think !

[direwolf_stark]

Late to the answer but ow, okay ! 

Funny to see George use it then ! And I agree, the horn (and the gloomy-wintery black atmosphere) are perfect for the official one, I think !

George replied to a comment on NAB that for now the horn is the official cover...but of course that could change.

Also one of the comments was " the night is dark and full of deadlines "

That gave me a giggle

[A spoon of knife and fork]

I've thought for a long time that the show version will be the only ending we get - and I'm OK with that.  

Still I very much hope George does finish it, for his own sense of accomplishment and closure if nothing else.  And I appreciate his remarkable candor about the process and his own thoughts/feelings as always.

I think that whatever GRRM told D and D during their big meeting is canon, as GRRM envisioned it at that time, and that the show will follow the major beats of this canon as it was communicated to them.  Howevet given GRRMs process, he might change the plot in significant ways moving forward (we can see the results when we look at the discarded outline).  As a result I'd argue we have two equally legitimate canons for the plot, since both came from the mind of GRRM.  the funny thing is that whether the books are finished or not we probably won't know what went on in that meeting and therefore won't ever know how closely D and D followed Georges original canon.  Certainly some will argue no matter that George never changed his mind so D and D must have made it all up.

anyway let's all follow Georges advice and enjoy both the show and books.  It's a gift to be an asoiaf fan.