Good Feeling on TWOW Release

[SuperMario]

So I have no concrete evidence to back this up as it's all conjecture, but I just have a good feeling that GRRM might be posting something very soon about TWOW being completed. He said back last summer that he thought he could get it done by the end of the year. Obviously that did not happen, but in his mind, he must have thought it feasible, which would cause one to imply the book was in the general realm of completion. (The realm might be light years wide, but it's at least the same realm.)

So since GRRM's depressing New Year's post about the status of TWOW, over three months have passed. Within that time, he hasn't traveled much and is also not posting on his blog as much. In fact, he hasn't posted in 11 days, which might be a record for him. Truly remarkable considering the fact that the Hugos voting was going on, and he typically cannot stop talking about the Hugos. So with all that said, I think he might see the light at the end of the tunnel and is buckling down to get this thing done.

Again, I could be (and probably am) way off on this. I was one who thought the book might never come out after reading his New Year's post. But I need to think positive on something. The upcoming season of the show gives me pause after the train wreck that was season 5, and I can only read about the same theories on secret Targs, Valyrian sword locations, R+L=J, Benjen = Coldhands/Night's King/Dead, Jojen Paste, etc., etc., so many times before I start to turn to paste myself. So I thought I would just post my thoughts to see what everyone else's general view is compared to a few months ago.

[katb93]

I must admit I check his blog often and began to get suspicious after 5 days of him not posting. I didn't realise it had been 11 days now. What surprises me is even his assistants haven't been positing anything on his behalf. There's usually a blog post from either of them every other day or so.

Im scared to start feeling hopeful but I do think it means he must be really working on getting it finished. Although I didn't expect it to be this soon. Im also really tired of all the same posts and theories, we really need some new material now. Here's hoping!

[David Selig]

I have a good feeling that it may come only after 4 more years.

[239JMFL34109]

2 minutes ago, David Selig said:

I have a good feeling that it may come only after 4 more years.

at least before the sun dies 

[Maester of Valyria]

1 hour ago, 239JMFL34109 said:

at least before the sun dies 

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves here...

Seriously, as long as it's out before I finally get bored of rereading the Worldbook, I'm happy

[Rogue Leader]

I hope you are right.

[Kyll.Ing.]

Well, if he thought in September that a deadline extension from October 31 to December 31 (effectively extending his remaining writing time from two to four months) would be sufficient to finish the book, he must have been somewhere near the end. That's roughly seven months ago, and it has only been three months since that interview, which admittedly isn't that much. Still, given some support from the near and dear ones, backing by the professionals at the publishing house, a franchise milestone coming with the release of the sixth season of the TV show, and having lifted the burden of a set deadline off his shoulders (with some confession to the fans too), I daresay there's a possibility that he's very near completion right now.

Good thing too, since this forum really needs some new plot points to walk around in circles.

[PCK]

My guess is he'll finish writing it by the end of 2016. Don't know if it will come out this year though. In that post, he said it would it take at least 3 months for editing. 

[Aedam Targaryen]

2 hours ago, SuperMario said:

I can only read about the same theories on secret Targs, Valyrian sword locations, R+L=J, Benjen = Coldhands/Night's King/Dead, Jojen Paste, etc., etc., so many times before I start to turn to paste myself.

My thoughts exactly. And that 'before I turn to paste myself' made me lol... 

[Rho'd Berth]

I did not consider his new years blog post about TWOW to be depressing. I thought it was promising. It showed that GRRM was near the end. It was obviously not finished as soon as he had wished, but it appeared to me as a positive sign.

I expect an announcement between today and the end of the year.

[Cas Stark]

2 hours ago, David Selig said:

I have a good feeling that it may come only after 4 more years.

Just so.  LOL.

[SuperMario]

6 minutes ago, Rho'd Berth said:

I did not consider his new years blog post about TWOW to be depressing. I thought it was promising. It showed that GRRM was near the end. It was obviously not finished as soon as he had wished, but it appeared to me as a positive sign.

I expect an announcement between today and the end of the year.

It wasn't depressing that he felt he was close but didn't finish because you're right, that seemed promising. It was more depressing because he seemed so defeated and frustrated. His tone, to me, made it seem like he was just stuck with the writing and was having a hard time finishing it. That's why I thought for a time, we wouldn't see the book for a long time, if ever.

[Ser Yorick Ampersand]

I have a baaaad feeling about this.

[ladie crow]

I really hope so! This would be my first ASOIAF book release, since I got addicted to it after it was all out.. So how does it go? How much time before the actual release is it announced? Are we going to camp outside a store to get the book?

[sarah.jenice]

5 minutes ago, SuperMario said:

It wasn't depressing that he felt he was close but didn't finish because you're right, that seemed promising. It was more depressing because he seemed so defeated and frustrated. His tone, to me, made it seem like he was just stuck with the writing and was having a hard time finishing it. That's why I thought for a time, we wouldn't see the book for a long time, if ever.

He sounded defeated to me too, so part of me is worried that he's going to go off the grid for the duration of S6 of GOT just so he doesn't have to keep hearing about it. The show is a constant reminder he didn't get it done, and I could see how that would make it hard to concentrate. 

[tallTale]

I think you're being overly optimistic because of Martin not posting for a while. 

And remember, once he does finish the manuscript publishing needs 3 more months to do their thing with it.

I was hopeful by December, but I'm thinking spring of next year.

[SuperMario]

22 minutes ago, tallTale said:

I think you're being overly optimistic because of Martin not posting for a while. 

And remember, once he does finish the manuscript publishing needs 3 more months to do their thing with it.

I was hopeful by December, but I'm thinking spring of next year.

Yeah, I know the editing and re-writes will take at least a few months, but just thinking he might have the first draft close to completion at least leant to some optimism. But like I said, I could be way off.

[Equilibrium]

Well he could be editing, it would take him a while, but he should force himself to do it 24/7, editing is unlike writing, you can tire of writing and quality will suffer while editing is grunt work, you know what you have to do and you must endure. I mean, he could turn in semi-coherent lines and others would edit, but he obviously doesn't want to do that. Only thing to be afraid in this case would be scraping and re-writing of some major stuff, but it can happen as it has happened before. Question is will he let us know when he starts editing out of fear for the possibility of re-writing. I think he should say if it is the case, people would understand, they do want the best possible book, and re-writing is not doing nothing. 

He thought he could write it from November to January, and not only has he written all that time, but he had 3 more months, he should be finished or close to finished with actual writing. He will need few months to edit and publisher will need two more months at least, so if he is done tomorrow we can expect the book in August or September. And if he is in fact powering through editing right now, we could have it in July.

Lucky Aussie bastards, they will read it in actual winter, Northern part of ADWD was much less atmospheric for me as I read it in 40 C temperatures. Not that I complain, I would still rather have it in August then in December.

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

19 minutes ago, Equilibrium said:

Lucky Aussie bastards, they will read it in actual winter, Northern part of ADWD was much less atmospheric for me as I read it in 40 C temperatures. Not that I complain, I would still rather have it in August then in December.

Bahahaha! I laughed reading this, where I live even the height of summer can feel like winter. I can't imagine reading about the Snows in 40 degree heat, hell I can't even imagine 40 degree heat! 

You're lucky if it's in double figures here.Add in the wind chill and coastal temperature drop. and well.  

 

I loved how positive your post was. I try very hard to be positive about the question of When.  I truly thought he was going to get it out for season 6. And his new yrs post to me said taht he had truly been attempting just that, but that stuff cropt up. I really hope to see it on the shelves by december. fingers crossed. (I'm even saving a book token in anticipation.)

 

[aryagonnakill#2]

Based on what happened with the ending of DOD, where his editor cut out a bunch of chapters to put them into TWOW, it seems likely that George will have a few chapters written from ADOS before actually deciding TWOW is finished.  It can't be easy deciding exactly which chapter is the last chapter for everyone.  Some are easy like the cliffhangers Dany, Jon, and Jaime, but others like Sansa and Arianne, Tyrion, Barristan, etc.  Hard to know exactly where to end it, and you can't really know where to end it unless you know where their next chapter will pick up and what will be included.

Since he thought he would be done and it has now been several months and people mentioned his defeated tone, It seems likely to me that he has hit another snag of some kind that he did not foresee.  Perhaps some character got caught somewhere they should not be able to survive and he does not know how to get them out, or he can't decide to include the death of a particular character etc. 

But I do think he will announce that the book is in editing sometime this year.